The Birmingham Jazz organisation, in conjunction with Aston arts centre The Drum, is presenting a performance by the Township Comets on Friday. The band mixes British and South African musicians and dedicates itself to the South African jazz style that was… Read More ›
Birmingham Jazz has announced its autumn season and it’s full of exciting stuff, including a few large groups and a visit from Chris Batchelor’s Township Comets, the band the Loose Tubes trumpeter formed to celebrate the jazz of South Africa… Read More ›
Saxophonist Courtney Pine has been announced, together with poet Benjamin Zephaniah, as a patron of Birmingham intercultural arts centre The Drum, and will be crucial in encouraging high profile support of the centre’s expansion campaign. The Drum’s press release reads… Read More ›
Tomorrow evening there are interesting “concept” gigs in Birmingham and Shrewsbury. The Forgotten Fairground Project is a nine-piece jazz group with string quartet and vocals, masterminded by trumpeter Matt Gough and drummer Jonathan Silk. The central piece is a Matt… Read More ›
It’s another busy jazz week in the smaller or sometimes novel venues with lots of very exciting homegrown music plus some visitors from elsewhere in the land. Plus there’s a supergroup or two in the Wednesday triple-stretch grand finale. First… Read More ›
There are two great gigs marked on the calendar this week. One is the mature folk/jazz trio Quercus at Warwick Arts Centre on Monday and the other is the brilliant young saxophonist Marius Neset at the mac on Wednesday. Quercus… Read More ›
No year is a particularly secure one for jazz, but if 2012 is being predicted as a particularly precarious year economically, does this necessarily mean that jazz will suffer? I’m not sure that it will, for the simple reason that… Read More ›
A flashmob is the name for an organised but seemingly spontaneous mass arts event in a public place. Flashmob is also the name of Cornish guitarist Ryan Williams’ band with Rory Simmons on trumpet, Will Collier on bass and Nick… Read More ›
After what seems like an awfully long time, Birmingham Jazz finally gets fully into gear this week with a prestige double bill on Saturday, the first of the new Jazz Club season on Wednesday and collaboration with the Supersonic Festival… Read More ›
Some choice small gigs over the next four days, with a great variety of music, from contemporary song-writing to classic big band charts, with a little Gambian roots sounds thrown in. Tonight in Birmingham the vibes player Julian Powell brings… Read More ›
Watch the video for info about the new album, The Tide Has Changed, and hear the band live tonight at The Drum in Birmingham (not Coventry as some of the publicity material, confusingly, startes). It’s a Live Box Special, it… Read More ›
Someone important arrived in Birmingham last Sunday. We know this because Birmingham Jazz director Tony Dudley-Evans washed his car. And we know this – and that he only washes it once a year – because he tweeted as much. Who… Read More ›
Live Box at The Drum, Birmingham UK 31-10-10 It was a question of Empirical turning Cannonical, with the whole point of the evening, subtitled Walk Tall, a tribute to the memory of Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. And not just Cannonball the… Read More ›
It must be the bargain of the year! Award-winning journalist Kevin Le Gendre and super-jazz group Empirical join forces this evening at the Live Box at The Drum to celebrate the musical legacy of the stunning alto saxophonist and human… Read More ›
Guitarist Ciyo Brown is at the Live Box at The Drum Arts Centre this evening playing in his World Music Acoustic Trio, with Colin McNeish on double bass and Lenny Edwards on percussion. Following a high powered performance at the… Read More ›
If you are in Birmingham on Sunday evening (yes, I know, many of us will be in Cheltenham), nip along to The Drum for 7.45pm and take in La Boutique Fantastique. According to the promoters a “delicatessen of delights” is… Read More ›
A new and regular feature on thejazzbreakfast. Each week photographer Russ Escritt sends me his favourite picture of the week, or perhaps one from his extensive archive. Here’s Jay Phelps at the Live Box at The Drum last night. Russ has been… Read More ›
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