The Tequila Slammers @ Anglesey Golf Club - April 21

Ray Brook  (flute); Neil Yates (trumpet, tenor sax); Huw Warren (keyboards); Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley (double bass); Johnny Hunter (drums)

A day trip to Anglesey in Wales is always a pleasure and never more so than when it is combined with a jazz gig. The Tequila Slammers are normally a quintet playing Latin jazz  formed by flute player Ray Brooks an outfit I have seen play a few times at different venues in North Wales sometimes with different personnel. 

A message from Mike Carton

Hello Lance, The best laid plans of mice and men..... ? Problems/issues on this side of the Pond with the renewal of US residency papers. Pretty much par for the course with govt agencies everywhere, I suppose. Been waiting since December 2024 !! expecting another [official] 8 to 14 months wait. I haven't forgotten my thoughts on visiting the North East!!

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes Phil Shotton’s ‘Kind of Cool’ Nonet to the Moor Club, performing the entire iconic Miles Davis ‘Birth of the Cool’ album. 

Not only is 2026 is the centenary of Miles Davis’s birth, Sunday’s concert also looks forward to this year’s International Jazz Day held at the end of April. 

The lineup consists of :

Album review: Ben Crosland Quartet with special guest Steve Waterman - Wooltown Reflections (Jazz Cat)

Ben Crosland (bass); Rod Mason (soprano/alto/tenor/baritone sax, flute); Steve Waterman (trumpet, flugelhorn); Dean Stockdale (piano, Rhodes); Dave Tyas (drums)

I missed the Ben Crosland Quartet's gig at Sunderland last Friday and, by all accounts, I missed a treat. However, this, his latest album, goes a long way to making up for it and not least because of the addition of special guest Steve Waterman. I'm always amused at the use of 'Special Guest' as it seems to be applied to anyone who augments a band with ill regard as to how special they are (or aren't).

In the case of Steve Waterman the question is purely hypothetical. There are few trumpet players who are more special than he. His soaring flights of fancy, his mellow flugel or the tightly muted solos are the stuff that dreams are made of for many other brassmen.

The Cable Street Rag Band @ Jamboree, London - Apr. 16

Lewis Taylor (trumpet, vocals); Dave Shulman (clarinet, tenor sax); John Kelly (guitar); Harry Evans (double bass)

A Limehouse de Reverie without Ewan Bleach! The indisposed Cable Street Rag Band MD left matters in the capable hands of Lewis Taylor and his bandmates to keep the show on the road. The band's regular date at Jamboree continues to pull a crowd and the absence of multi-instrumentalist Bleach wasn't about to dampen the enthusiasm of the many regulars who were there to dance the night away.

Jamboree is something of a hidden gem. Tucked away down St Chad's Place, little more than a stone's throw from King's Cross Station, the history of the former Victorian warehouse was probably lost on the majority of the dancers taking to the floor. From teens to a nonagenarian, they danced to the beat of the Cable Street Rag Band.

Press release: BBC Proms in the North East returns in 2026 with its biggest regional programme yet, spanning Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough

BBC Proms in the North East returns from 23-25 July 2026, marking its fifth year in the region and its biggest programme to date.

• For the first time, the weekend spans three cities, with events across Gateshead, Sunderland and Middlesbrough, reflecting a growing North East‑wide music region.
• Royal Northern Sinfonia sits at the heart of the festival, leading bold cross‑genre Proms performances alongside classical, contemporary, indie, folk, jazz and choral music.
• Programme highlights include North East artists including Northumberland folk pioneers The Unthanks, and South Tyneside-born Nadine Shah, in her BBC Proms debut, alongside Royal Northern Sinfonia, a Sunderland Proms premiere by Mendelssohn, Morton Feldman’s Crippled Symmetry and a large‑scale choral gathering featuring the BBC Singers.
• Accessible ticketing, emerging artist showcases and national BBC Radio 3 broadcasts continue the Proms’ commitment to reaching new audiences locally and sharing the region’s music‑making nationally. 

Album review: Isabella Isherwood - The Sweetest Sounds (Sabrina Records)

Isabella Isherwood (piano, vocals); Mike Allemana (guitar); Joe Policastro (bass); Alejandro Salazar (drums)

Yet another new jazz singer rolls off the conveyor belt. This may be Isherwood's debut as a recording artist but, as a live performer, she is held in high respect in her native Chicago where she has been featured with that city's symphony orchestra and at the local jazz festival as well as touring extensively in Europe. Not bad for a 23 year old.

The Sweetest Sounds sees Isherwood take a choice mix of standards, vintage pops, show tunes and a well known jazz classic and, if not making them her own, borrows them with interest that is compounded with repeated listening. This isn't totally surprising as the session was produced by Champian Fulton and readers of BSH will know the high regard I have for that singer.

Mozes Rosenberg Trio @ The London Gypsy Jazz Festival, Toulouse Lautrec, London - Apr. 16

Mozes Rosenberg (guitar); Filippo Dall'Asta (guitar); Andy Crowdy (double bass) 

A first visit to Toulouse Lautrec Jazz Club. From Kennington underground, little more than five minutes' walk and there it was, an unprepossessing corner site, back in the day, likely as not a south London boozer. The reason for the excursion? The London Gypsy Jazz Festival, specifically the Mozes Rosenberg Trio!

A ground floor restaurant offering French cuisine, a first floor piano bar and, on the top floor,  Toulouse Lautrec's well-appointed jazz club. All of the cabaret style tables occupied, the lights dimmed, the evening's MC introduced the great Mozes Rosenberg. Joined by Italian guitarist Filippo Dall'Asta and the UK's string bassist Andy Crowdy, Rosenberg would play for seventy five minutes. 

Riketté Genesis @ Cafe Boheme, Soho, London - Apr. 16

Riketté Genesis (vocals); George Webster (piano)

When in London it's always worth looking in on Cafe Boheme. The Old Compton Street venue presents an afternoon gig every day of the week. Nominally free admission, it costs no more than the price of a beer or a coffee. In Soho, that's a bargain! 

This Thursday afternoon we were listening to the first of two sets by vocalist Riketté Genesis and pianist George Webster. I Can't Give You Anything but Love, Baby for openers: bold, bright, engaging, our duo playing for themselves, the listening few and a dancing couple.

Album review: David Bowden - Unsung Songs (self released)

David Bowden (solo double bass)

I must confess that 26 minutes of solo double bass playing can be a daunting prospect even when the perp. is the award-winning Glasgow based bassist David Bowden.

A musician and composer, Bowden is a former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year, a crucial member of Fergus McCreadie's internationally acclaimed, Mercury Prize-nominated trio as well as being a much sought after bassist in the Scottish jazz and folk scene.