A REPLACEMENT headliner has been brought in for the Swanage Jazz Festival after an act withdrew for ‘health reasons’.

Issie Barratt’s Interchange has withdrawn from closing the Sunday night of the event, which runs from July 7 to 9 across four main town venues, to be replaced by the 18-Piece Dan Mar-Molinero Jazz Orchestra, featuring renowned British Jazz pianist Ivo Neame.

Dan Mar Molinero’s orchestra will be performing his recent composition Taproot, recently released on his own Sea Miller label.

Festival director, Paul Kelly, said: “We are really sad to lose Issie Barratt and her superb 10-piece band from the festival and will be working to bring her to Swanage at a future date.

“Meanwhile we are delighted to have secured a worthy replacement.

“The moment I heard Dan Mar-Molinero’s Taproot I was struck by the power and imagination of his compositions and arrangements. They rank with the best traditions of large-scale jazz composition.

“Festivals give the opportunity to programme things you can’t do in small jazz clubs and we are very pleased to have turned unfortunate circumstances to our advantage and bring this great band and piece to the festival.”

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Swanage Jazz Festival has also added Bristol duo Sarsen Drift, an electro-improvisation duo featuring Rebecca Nash and Nick Walters, to the programme plus the more conventional duo of Julian Phillips and Mike Denham performing Ragtime to Boogie Woogie.

Tickets are selling well with over 70% of the target sold and new sales coming in daily, Paul added.

“We’re pleased with ticket sales to date, but people need to book soon to guarantee a place at what we expect will be a fantastic weekend with a wide range of Jazz styles from New Orleans to electro-jazz fusion,” he said.

For full details and to buy tickets, log on to www.swanagejazzfestival.co.uk.