(Stoney Lane Records) This is the most ambitious release yet from the young Birmingham jazz scene, and quite possibly from any Birmingham-based jazz musician. Drummer Jonathan Silk has expanded his big band to 20 players and then added a 13-piece… Read More ›
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 ›
The healthy links between jazz and cinema continue to be explored and in innovative ways. In Birmingham on Saturday 18 June Jazzlines and The Electric Cinema collaborate on the Otto Preminger classic from 1959, Anatomy Of A Murder. James Stewart… Read More ›
David Austin Grey is not a man to let the grass grow under his feet. It’s only five minutes ago – or so it seems – that David was presenting a multi-arts jazz/ballet/illustration project, and his band Hansu-Tori already had a… Read More ›
Various venues, Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham UK 17-07-2015 This is a new weekend festival established by Birmingham Jazz and set in the area where it already presents most of its regular gigs. It has been supported by the Jewellery Quarter Bid… Read More ›
Various venues 26-06-2015 to 01-07-2015 The Südtirol Jazz Festival is based in that part of northern Italy that is right up near the Austrian border in the Dolomite mountains in some of the most stunning scenery in Europe, and is probably the festival in… Read More ›
It has been something of a musical landmark, The Yardbird Jazz Club, squeezed there in the shadow of the old Birmingham Central Library, between the Meccano of the Copthorne Hotel and that epitome of misnomers, Paradise Forum. But it meets… Read More ›
(HANSU001) Hansu-Tori is a Birmingham-based mainly acoustic jazz group led by pianist David Austin Grey. With him are Sam Wooster on trumpet, Nick Jurd on bass and Jim Bashford on drums, and on some tracks they are joined by vocalist… Read More ›
David Austin Grey, pianist, composer, teacher, leader of the band Hansu-Tori, chats over a couple of paper cups and a CD upstairs at the Library of Birmingham. David is already waiting, sitting in one of those red ‘60s-style, wingback pods… Read More ›
A busy stretch of gigs has proved to be a very stimulating experience and has led to the following summaries and reflections. First up was a trip to Paris on 20 June to catch a new band In Bed With In set up by… Read More ›
They are so often the drums and bass team in Birmingham jazz gigs, you could call Jonathan Silk and Nick Jurd our very own Sly and Robbie. They step forward tonight as co-leaders for a gig at The Red Lion…. Read More ›
That charming gentleman behind the red keyboard is leading five other charming gents this evening in The Spotted Dog in Digbeth, Birmingham. It’s the Toby Boalch Sextet and with Toby are Chris Maddock on alto saxophone, John Fleming on tenor… Read More ›
(www.tobyboalch.co.uk) This Birmingham Conservatoire graduate affair has been bringing me great joy for the past week and is likely to continue to do so for many years. It is one of the best examples yet of the marvellous jazz being… Read More ›
mac, Birmingham UK 26-10-2013 The saxophonist turned 60 earlier this year and Jazzlines had commissioned him to write a suite to be performed here and then at a couple more venues round the land. It’s called Life In Four Parts, Paul… Read More ›
Recital Hall, Birmingham Conservatoire, Birmingham The Spotted Dog, Digbeth, Birmingham My intentions were honourable. There were three good gigs on the same night and I was going to get to all three. But my game plan was flawed – I… Read More ›
The Ort Cafe, Balsall Heath, Birmingham UK 19-07-2013 “I’m so sorry – late for my own gig!” were the tenor saxophonist’s opening words to the small audience in this marvellously rough and ready little cafe. But Fleming and pianist Andy… Read More ›
The Cobweb Collective, a group of young Birmingham Conservatoire jazz course graduates who had decided to stay in the city and promote their music collectively, is no more. But this doesn’t mean the energy of the young, local jazz scene… Read More ›
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