BSH interviews Mike Farmer (part four)

BSH: The Railway seems to be your regular haunt and features many good musicians including Dean Stockdale who seems to be constantly crossing the Pennines in both directions. What other venues do you occasionally visit?

Mike: Yes The Railway is my ideal jazz venue with all the things that make it so, such as great acoustics, a good choice of beer at reasonable prices, plenty of parking nearby, great bar staff, and a landlord who likes jazz. I go there as often as possible and the policy of free admission may attract some non-jazz loving people - they usually move to another room! Fortunately, some have become converts to the cause. Dean Stockdale likes playing here and his trio gigs always go down well with the Railway's jazz fans. 

Other venues I visit are the Slug and Lettuce in Didsbury, Manchester 20 but the problem is a lot of jazz promoters choose to hold their events on Tuesdays so I’m always saying to them why not try shifting to a Wednesday or a Thursday. Jazz at the Slug is run by Janet Higgins and Phil Portus under the title Creative Space and I sometimes go there for the jam sessions that occur every 2 months. I was there last Tuesday (Aug 23) with my quartet playing to a small but select audience but the staircase is a killer.

Another venue that again takes place on a Tuesday is the Morley Green Club just a short drive from Wilmslow. I went there recently to see Greg Abate playing a duo gig with Dave Newton and this is a new venture by Graham Brook who for many years used Wilmslow Conservative Club as his base of operations. Morley Green Club has a huge car park and is on ground level so their are no stairs to climb.

A place I liked to go to on the first Monday of the month is the Olde Boar's Head in Middleton which claims to be the oldest pub in England. Dave Chamarette is a guitarist friend from way back and his band plays there with Ed Kainyek and Tim Franks as his regular crew and sitters in are permitted.  It is a long drive for me from Handforth and it’s at least a year since I last went. My friend Jeff Pritchard goes there and gives me a verbal review of the night. For any jazz fans around Middleton the monthly Monday nights are well worth a visit.

I’m hoping to check out Jazz Club Woodhouses - a venue which operates  Mondays on a weekly basis but I always find Mondays to be a good time to catch up on mundane things like cleaning the apartment etc! I used to go there regularly when it was based at Woodhouses Working Mens Club but I’ve not been since they moved. I believe that is another place that Dean appears at - he sure gets around!