Press release: The Globe Wins National Music Award

Stephen Ferrell accepts the award

Tyneside’s community-owned music venue The Globe won a major music industry award announced at a prestigious event held in London on 7 May. The Globe triumphed in the publicly-voted category of Grassroots Venue: Spirit of the Scene, supported by the Music Venue Trust.

The Music Week Awards are the UK's only music awards that recognise labels, publishing, live, A&R, radio, marketing and PR - all the parts of the industry that make music happen. 

Accepting the Spirit of the Scene award on behalf of The Globe, Stephen Ferrell, the volunteer events manager, said: “Thank you, but this is not just for The Globe. This is really a win for all the grassroots venues that help to keep live music alive.”

Lady Blackbird @ Ronnie Scott's - May 4

© Monika S. Jakubowska

Lady Blackbird (vocals); Chris Seefried (electric & acoustic guitar, piano); Johnny Flaugher (bass & double bass); Tamir Barzilay (drums) + Jo Harrop (vocals)

There’s a moment in every artist’s life when they move on and up. From a club to a hall, and for some a stadium. Financially it makes perfect sense… but artistically, something can get lost in the translation. And it’s not until they return to the type of space that first defined them that you realise what’s been missing.

Nights like this.

There was a sense of anticipation as we approached Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, the queue stretching right up to The Dog and Duck—not the usual split between members and general admission, not the quiet slipping in for an early seat and a drink. Just one line. One shared purpose. And the fact this sat alongside three other shows that had vanished in minutes during the members’ pre-sale told you everything. This was an internationally acclaimed artist capable of selling out thousands of seats across multiple dates… choosing instead to stand in front of just 250 people in the type of space that first made audiences fall in love with her.

Farewell to Norman Redhead - May 7

Today we said goodbye to a staunch supporter of the Tyneside jazz scene. A fair few folk filed into St Peter's Church, Monkseaton. They came from across Tyneside and further afield (Edinburgh) to pay their respects to Norman Redhead. 

Prayer, eulogy, address, commendation and farewell, the jazz element came in the form of Norman being played in by Miles Davis' Flamenco Sketches, a reading of Howard Dietz's lyrics to Alone Together, before being played out to Nat Adderley's One for Daddy-O.      

Press release: manchester jazz festival: lighting up venues across the city this May!

The festival season is now well and truly up and running

• Manchester’s longest-running music festival is back this Summer for 10 days of jam-packed festival fun and musical vibes across the city this May!
• manchester jazz festival (mjf2026) will take place between 15-24 May 2026 at venues and sites across Manchester, celebrating the latest up and coming talent from across the North, and the best names in contemporary jazz.
• Headliners include: China Moses, Andy Sheppard Trio, Yellowjackets, Toni Kofi/Denys Baptiste Quintet, Cassie Kinoshi’s seed., Bel Cobain, Lau Noah, NOUT, Cotonete, Sarsen Drift + Tom Cawley, Olivia Cuttill & Friends, Orchestra Mambo International and many more...

Farewell to a friend...

My thoughts are with the family and friends of Norman Redhead whose funeral takes place today at St. Peter's Church, Monkseaton at 12:30pm.

A quiet and unassuming person (unusual characteristics for a drummer) I have yet to meet anyone who had anything other than kind words to say about him.

One of the good guys.

Condolences and apologies for not being able to attend in person.

Rest In Peace.

Lance

Globe wins Music Week Grassroots Venue of the Year 2026

 

Well done the Globe we were all rooting for you and you delivered! Lance

Press release: Cheltenham Jazz Festival Celebrates Record-Breaking 30th Anniversary Year with Record Ticket Sales

Cheltenham Jazz Festival has celebrated its most successful year to date, with its 30th anniversary edition welcoming record numbers of festivalgoers to Montpellier Gardens, connecting over music across a sun- soaked Bank Holiday weekend.

Marking three decades of world-class music, the 2026 Festival (29th April – 4th May), brought together international headliners, genre-defying artists and emerging talent in a vibrant celebration of past, present and future. With over 41,000 tickets sold - more than ever before - this landmark year reaffirmed Cheltenham Jazz Festival’s place as one of Europe’s leading music festivals.

 

30 Years Young: A Festival Looking to the Future

At the heart of this year’s Festival was a renewed focus on the future of jazz, with GRAMMY award-winning singer and songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae stepping into her new role as Guest Curator for 2026–2028. Across the week Corinne immersed herself in the Festival, not only performing a standout show in the Festival’s Big Top but also supporting emerging artists and spending time at the Jazz It Up programme, reinforcing her commitment to music education and access.

 

VOTE, VOTE, VOTE, FOR ...

It's time to put on your thinking caps and cast your votes. I'm not talking about those Jacks and Jills seeking sanctuary in your local town hall - BSH is above such things, we are impartial.

No, it's the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) awards where you can nominate your favourite blog, venue, album, instrumentalist etc. for consideration. But hurry, hurry, hurry the public vote closes 'Round Midnight on May 15.

NOMINATE HERE Lance

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes the Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley Sextet to the Moor Club. The band features Joshua on double bass, alongside Graham South (trumpet), Kyran Matthews (tenor sax), Ellie Whiteley (trombone), Rich Jones (piano), and Johnny Hunter (drums). 

Sunday 10th May 2026

8-10pm, doors open at 7.30pm

£5 entry on the door, all welcome

The Moor Club, 35 Heaton Moor Road, Stockport SK4 4PB  (next to the Elizabethan PH)

Five-Way Split @ Pizza Express, Soho - April 27

Quentin Collins (trumpet/flugelhorn); Vasilis Xenopoulos (saxes); Rob Barron (piano); Matyas Hofecker (bass); Matt Home (drums)

There’s something about a Monday night at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho that always feels like it’s holding something back… like the room knows more than it lets on. You walk down those steps, past the hum of the street, and the world tightens. Sound sharpens. Conversations soften. And then, without fuss, five musicians walk on and remind you why this place still matters.

 

Five-Way Split don’t arrive with ego. They arrive with intent. A collective in the truest sense—no bandleader, no hierarchy, just five voices moving as one. You feel that immediately. Not in what’s said, but in how they listen to each other. Space is shared, not taken.

 

There’s a danger in calling a band a democracy—it can sometimes feel like a soft compromise, a levelling out where edges are dulled and nothing quite catches. That’s not what’s happening here.