Today’s jazz musicians have to have a lot of fingers in a lot of pies in order to survive, and one with more than a few digits in more than a few steak-and-kidneys is drummer Jonathan Silk. He’s not only… Read More ›
Preview
Italian pair add one and are on in Birmingham tonight
Pericopes comprises Italian pianist Alessandro Sgobbio and his compatriot saxophonist Emiliano Vernizzi. For their album, called These Human Beings, they are joined by Brooklyn drummer Nick Wight. In the Spring the trio played a European tour and now they are back… Read More ›
My top five Midland gigs – October 2016
If you are going to try a few gigs in the English Midlands this month, these are the ones I’d choose from first: Saturday 8 The Impossible Gentlemen Jazz @ The Arena, Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton 8pm, £15 The Anglo-American band now numbers five… Read More ›
Square One sounds like a good place to start
The young Glasgow-based quartet of guitarist Joe Williamson, pianist Peter Johnstone, bassist David Bowden and drummer Stephen Henderson have a new album out called In Motion and are currently out and about promoting it with a series of gigs in… Read More ›
Chicago drummer Hamid Drake plays UK dates
One of jazz and improvised music’s very finest percussionists, Hamid Drake, is coming to the UK early next month for a three-date tour. He will be playing with saxophonist Paul Dunmall, trumpeter Percy Pursglove, pianist Steve Tromans and double bassist… Read More ›
Perfect Houseplants? How about an exotic hybrid?
Back in the early ’90s saxophonist Mark Lockheart, pianist/accordionist Huw Warren and bassist Dudley Phillips were three Perfect Houseplants (drummer Martin France was the fourth). Since then they have been involved in countless other bands either as leaders or sidemen. And they are… Read More ›
Birmingham Jazz Orchestra will squeeze five cities onto the Symphony Hall stage
On Wednesday evening next week Birmingham Jazz Orchestra and their audience will sit on the Symphony Hall stage. But we will all be travelling- to Moscow, Stockholm and Reykjavik up north, to Bilbao and Marrakech down south. And we’ll be… Read More ›
My top five Midland gigs – September 2016
If you are going to try a few gigs in the West Midlands this month, these are the ones I’d choose from first: Tuesday 20 Corrie Dick’s Impossible Things Jazz at The Spotted Dog, Digbeth, Birmingham, 9pm, £5 donation Thoroughly original and… Read More ›
Birmingham and Scotland – a special jazz relationship
The strong jazz connections between Birmingham and Scotland are manifested this week with no fewer than seven “ex-pat Scots Brummies” included in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland (NYJOS) performances at the Wiltshire Music Centre near Bath on Thursday… Read More ›
Big Band Sunday at The Dog – it’s almost upon us
It has developed into a much anticipated annual event – the summer Sunday afternoon gathering in back garden of The Spotted Dog in Digbeth. With as many musicians as punters – and a healthy overlap between the two – it… Read More ›
What a real British city jazz festival should look like
An exceptionally fine international band which is very much of the moment and has a new album to launch; the world premiere of a specially commissioned new work featuring a composer with strong local links; a healthy mix of prestige… Read More ›
The 2016 JQ Jazz Legends Festival – part two
Birmingham Jazz is giving us not one but two Legends Festivals in 2016 on their home patch in the Jewellery Quarter to the north-west of the city centre, and that’s before we get to BJ’s big birthday celebrations in the… Read More ›
Tobie’s new trio is coming to Cogs next week
There’s another new regular jazz night in Birmingham. This one is at Cogs Bar in Newhall Street and next Thursday 21 July guitarist Tobie Carpenter will be there with his organ trio. I caught up with Tobie via email and asked about… Read More ›
Sean and four stir up some Fervour
Trumpeter, composer and band leader Sean Gibbs has a new group and it is peforming at The Red Lion on Friday evening. The line-up is completed by Ben Lee on guitar, Andy Bunting on piano, Nick Jurd on bass and… Read More ›
My top ten Midland gigs – July 2016
If you are going to try a few gigs in Birmingham this month, these are the ones I’d choose from: Friday 8 Sean Gibbs’ Fervour Birmingham Jazz, The Red Lion, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, 7.45pm, £6 New jazz quintet with rock/blues leanings led… Read More ›
Claire Martin brings Hollywood Romance to Lichfield Cathedral
For glamour and romance the singing of Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae and Anita O’Day, the songs of the great Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths and lyricists, and the timeless orchestral settings from the middle of the last century take some… Read More ›
Mondays at Yorks – the finest free jazz in town?
It’s a sign of a sophisticated city when good quality live music is acknowledged to be a vital and regular part of the cafe bar mix. And when that live music starts to feature international musicians of exceptional calibre, then… Read More ›
thejazzbreakfast 