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.

 

Five valve trombonists

Juan Tizol, the long term member of the Duke Ellington Orchestra is probably best remembered as the composer of such jazz standards as, among others, Perdido and Caravan. However, it was as a valve trombonist that he made his mark with Ellington and later Harry James, Louie Bellson and various singers including Peggy Lee and Nat 'King' Cole. Listen to his sympathetic accompaniment to Cole's 1956 recording of Blame it on my Youth HERE. 

Brad Gowans played 'em all. Cornet, clarinet and slide trombone although to most of us of a certain age it is as a valve trombonist that we have him filed under. Listen to this 1946 recording of Jada by his New York Nine HERE - it's quite a blast!

Legendary North Sea Jazz Festival Reveals Full Line-Up For Historic 50th Anniversary Edition

 North Sea Jazz Festival 2026

Charlie Puth • The Roots with special guests Bilal and Jon Batiste • John Legend • The Isley Brothers • Thundercat • Questlove & Friends • Burna Boy • DJ Pee .Wee (aka Anderson .Paak) • Robert Glasper • Flea and The Honora Band • Pat Metheny • Nile Rodgers & CHIC • Snarky Puppy & Metropole Orkest • Diana Krall • Cécile McLorin Salvant  • Marcus Miller • Esperanza Spalding • Jalen Ngonda • Nate Smith • Kokoroko • The RH Factor • Christian McBride Trio • Shabaka • Joe Armon-Jones • SML • Dee Dee Bridgewater • Sienna Spiro • Joy Crookes • Julian Lage • Annie & The Caldwells • Charles Lloyd Quartet • Hiromi's Sonicwonder • Cassandra Wilson • Sun Ra Arkestra • Joshua Redman • Terence Blanchard & Ravi Coltrane • Incognito • Amaro Freitas• Bill Frisell • Fred Hersch • Nils Petter Molvær • Alex Isley • Adrian Younge • Emma Rawicz and more

*Cécile McLorin Salvant is this year’s Artist In Residence and will perform a different set on each day of the festival*

**Tickets are on sale now via www.northseajazzfestival.com**

Newcastle Jazz Festival 2026 - June 26-27

 INFO/TICKETS

Album review: Joe Webb Trio - Neath Beat (Edition)

Joe Webb (piano); Will Sach (bass); Sam Jesson 

Mercury Prize nominee Joe Webb is the quiet phenomenon of the UK/European scene. Not just for his piano technique, which is prestigious, but for his ability to reach corners of the music world that jazz rarely penetrates to any great depth.

Part of this may be due to his relative youth and affinity to Britpop and bands like Oasis - rare common denominators amongst your average jazz musician.

Neath Beat refers to the town of his Welsh birthplace where he studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama before moving to London. 

Leah Rose Kirk (Jazz Voice): Final Recital @ Band Room, Music Studios, Newcastle University - May 5

Leah Kirk (vocals) with Alan Law (Piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Theo Nolan (drums)

Leah Kirk's time at Newcastle University seems to have flown by. First heard at Newcastle Arts Centre's fabled jam session, this afternoon, third year music student Leah gave her final recital. Taking to the stage with three Black Swan (Newcastle Arts Centre) jam session regulars, Leah presented seven songs for consideration by the examiners. 

Opening with Leonard Feather's lyrics to Benny Golson's Whisper Not, it was immediately clear that, nervous or not, Leah was in fine voice. Accompanists Alan Law, Paul Grainger and Theo Nolan did what they were there to do - provide sympathetic support to the examinee. 

Nick Mondello chats with Cat Connor

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqnHYStCnxc

Late Night Chicago Radio w. Denny Farrell (April 30 - May 6)

Sonny Rollins: Night and Day.

Ray Brown: Just a Gigolo. 

Sarah Vaughan: East of the Sun.

Toots Thielemans: Unforgettable.

Diane Schuur/B.B. King: At Last.

Eddie Higgins: Moon River.

Buddy DeFranco: Twelve Tone Blues (dedicated to BSH).

Nat 'King' Cole: I'll String Along With You.

?: You Belong to me.

Rosemary Clooney: I Wished on the Moon.

Buck Clayton: After Hours.

LISTEN 24/7

Tom Waits for No Man: Neckties & Boxing Gloves @ Oxygenic, Whitley Bay - May 3

Lindsay Hannon (vocals); Alan Law (piano); Paul Grainger (double bass); Brendan Murphy (percussion, old boot, spanner)

A new venue (new to BSH), a new album, a sold out concert performance. All on a dank bank holiday afternoon down at the coast. Tom Waits for No Man were in town and, so it seemed, every member of Lindsay Hannon's large fan club.

The new album - Neckties and Boxing Gloves - would be played in its entirety, wouldn't it? Wrong! In a move that wrong-footed your reviewer and probably everyone else on the premises, Lindsay chose to play just one number from the album, instead opting to play numbers from Tom Waits' extensive back catalogue.

Album review: Ben Wolfe - Any Time After Now (Resident Arts Records)

Ben Wolfe (bass); Joel Ross (vibes); Sullivan Fortner (piano); Chris Lewis (tenor sax); Aaron Kimmel (drums)

An album of sheer delight and beauty. Ten originals by bassist, composer Wolfe and perfectly executed by five of New York's finest including the leader himself.

Any Time After Now: The title track of the album more or less lays down what it's all about - gentle swinging sounds that were born in the 1950s and, like good wine and single malt whisky left to mature until potable to the palate. An up tempo romp recorded last year with solos all round 'cept that of the leader who's content to provide solid support,

Waltz II: As the title implies, a cool "May I have the next one?" type of number. Ross's vibes featured at length it's a delicate, handle me with care, number and, of course, Ross does just that.

Vocalist Vangie Gunn-Goodwin, GoodGunn Creative, Inc. and Grammy®-Winning Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band® to Launch The Big Phat Podcast®

May 4, 2026 Locust Valley, NY –  Vangie Gunn-Goodwin in conjunction with GoodGunn Creative, Inc. and the Gordon Goodwin’s Big Phat Band has announced the launch of the inaugural Big Phat Podcast. The 13-episode video podcast which will launch on May 25^th, 2026. will feature Gunn-Goodwin along with co-hosts Andrew Kesler, et al, will be a unique multi-media presentation all about the life, compositions, arrangements, recordings and ancillary activities of Grammy-winner Gordon Goodwin and his world famous, award-winning Big Phat Band. The Big Phat Podcast will be available via YouTube® and all other podcast platforms.

“This unique podcast series is a special acknowledgement and retrospective of the incredible legacy of Gordon Goodwin, his life, compositions and arrangements, diverse projects, and his 25-year history leading the world-famous Big Phat Band,” said Gunn-Goodwin. She added: “Over the years, we have had so many inquiries about Gordon and his music. The podcast will allow us to share all things Gordon Goodwin and the Big Phat Band with fans and students  world and cyberspace wide.”

Midnite Follies Orchestra @ Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club - May 2

Alan Barnes, Richard Exall, Michael McQuaid (reeds); Mike Henry, Pete Rudeforth, Rico Tomasso (trumpets); Alistair Allan (trombone, vocals); Gordon Campbell (trombone); Dean Stockdale (piano); Tom 'Spats' Langham (banjo, guitar, vocals); Malcolm Sked (string bass, sousaphone); Richard Pite (drums)

The late Keith Nichols' legacy lives on. A couple of years ago, trombonist Alistair Allan set about reviving the Midnite Follies Orchestra. Putting together an ace line-up, the twelve piece ensemble can be heard on occasion, whether in London (recently at the Spice of Life) or here in the 'far north', ie Darlington. 

This afternoon's Darlington New Orleans Jazz Club promotion attracted a large turnout, little wonder considering the calibre of musician on show. Essentially an Ellington programme, to the strains of C Jam Blues, one by one, members of the ensemble strolled onto the stage. Their ever-increasing number upped the decibel count, we were in the Cotton Club, Harlem, NYC. From here on in, the Midnite Follies could do no wrong.

Jazz Time Aycliffe Radio - Sundays 6.30-8.00pm (repeated Tuesdays 8.00-9.30pm).

https://www.ayclifferadio.co.uk/listen.

Playlist 03/05/26 (repeated Tuesday 05/05/26)

Seasonal: Dulcie May.

Requests: Dave Brubeck, Benny Golson, Walter Smith III.

Memories: Alan Skidmore.

Requests: Jean Goldkette & His Orchestra, Eddie Condon and His All Stars. MJQ + Wynton Marsalis, Oscar Peterson.

Tony Eales' Best of British Big Bands: Guy Barker.

Requests: Mal Waldron, Tina May.

Aycliffe Radio is now available on DAB in County Durham & the Darlington area or via your smart speaker.    

Vintage jazz on vintage TV

Watching an old episode of The Cheaters on Talking Pictures - a grainy TV series from the early 1960s starring John Ireland - I was impressed by the soundtrack which captured the essence of what was happening on screen - rather like the pianist's back in the day when pictures were silent.

I had to wait until the credits rolled before I discovered that it was no less a musician than Bill le Sage!

Apparently Bill, seen here with a recreated Dankworth Seven, provided the soundtracks for all 29 episodes. The only other musician mentioned by IMDB is Ronnie Ross.

Jazz is out there, you just have to look for it between the ads for 'Pure Cremation' and 'Sun Life Insurance'. Lance

More Duke Junction @ the Globe

© Ken Drew

Further to Sylvia's review of Duke Junction's contribution to the Globe's celebration of International Jazz Day at the Jazz Co-op's HQ on the corner of Railway & Plummer (I know it doesn't sound as hip as '12th Street & Vine' but what the heck...?) Ken Drew sent me some additional photos.

Rendezvous Jazz @ The Monkseaton Arms - May 1

Maureen Hall (vocals); Herbie Hudson (harmonica, vocals); Gordon Solomon (trombone); Alan Law (keyboards); John Robinson (bass guitar); Scotty Adair (drums, vocals)

May Day. Monkseaton. Blue skies. Warm sunshine. A bustling Front Street with its small, independent retailers, cafes, micro pubs (three of 'em), not one, but two chippies, how many out on the street knew that a weekly jazz gig was about to begin on their doorstep? 

International Jazz Day @ the Globe: Duke Junction - April 30

© Sylvia T

Nadim Teimoori (tenor saxophone);  Jeff Hewer (guitar);  Martin Longhawn (Organ);   Steve Hanley (drums) + Richard Hall (guest tenor saxophone on two numbers).

There were several reasons to celebrate at the Globe on  April 30. The first was that it was International Jazz Day. The second reason was that it was the Globe’s 12th birthday as a community run music venue and the third was that Duke Junction were appearing.  Little wonder then that by 7.30pm the house was filling up  and tables and chairs were being brought in to fill any vacant corner.

© Russell

Duke Junction bill themselves as being inspired by, amongst others, Art Pepper, Thelonious Monk, and Duke Ellington (from where they took their name), and although  there was only one Ellington number in the set, it was the beautiful Prelude to a Kiss with a lovely guitar intro by Mr Hewer.  However,  there were a couple by Billy Strayhorn, Ellington’s long time collaborator. The others included tunes by Jack McDuff, Booker Little, and Grant Green who’s Jean de Fleur Mr Hanley took round the block and back again! There was also an intriguing original entitled  Anemonia by Nadim Teimoori which, apparently means nostalgia for things that never existed.

Buxton International Festival 2026 - Jazz

Thanks to some astute programming by the recently appointed Jazz Director for Buxton International Festival, Wesley Stephenson, the jazz content of this year's festival looks particularly appetising.

Tyneside based Wes, a director of Jazz North East and organiser of the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music has put together 19 concerts featuring many top jazz acts both national and international.

Details of the various concerts taking place at the festival - which runs from July 9 - 26 with an emphasis on the 'Jazz Weekender' (July 9 - 12) - can be found HERE. Lance

Single review: Freddie Benedict - Colours (self)

Freddie Benedict (vocal); Chris Bland (piano); Kieran Gunter (guitar); Luke Fowler (bass); Floyer Sydenham (drums)

There’s something about a debut that tells you whether it’s going to be a moment… or just another tune that drifts past. Colours doesn’t drift. It moves. It shifts. It finds its shape as it goes - never settling in one place for too long.

This isn’t a tentative first step. It carries a kind of natural assurance, the sort that comes from understanding how to let a song unfold rather than trying to pin it down. Nothing forced, nothing overplayed. Just a line set in motion, and the confidence to follow where it leads.

 

Tickets now on sale for Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival

 

PROGRAMME, MORE INFO, TICKETS.

Arts education needs your voice

I am forwarding an email from Campaign for the Arts regarding a consultation on arts and music education in schools. Please complete the consultation. Campaign for the Arts have prepared templates with answers and it does not take long to complete. There is a deadline and it is May 4th. Chris Hodgkins

Back in November, after years of campaigning, we got some good news: the Government pledged to scrap the EBacc and reform Progress 8 – two measures that have contributed to the decline of arts subjects in England's secondary schools.

But scrapping unhelpful measures isn't enough. If we don't shape what replaces them, the arts could continue to be squeezed out of our schools for another generation.

The Government is consulting on reforms to Progress 8 right now, and we've heard that in this consultation, numbers matter.

Please make sure your voice is counted, so that the arts count in the government's final plans. Respond to the Government's consultation before the 4 May deadline – we've made a step-by-step guide to help you do it easily and effectively in just 15 minutes.

Submit your response →

Stockport Jazz

On Bank Holiday Monday Stockport Jazz welcomes the return of the Gair Carson/Paul Hartley Quartet to the Moor Club, featuring Gair on saxophones/flutes with Paul on guitar alongside Ken Marley (bass) and Eryl Roberts (drums). 

**Please note this gig is on Monday rather than Sunday to accommodate other events being held over the weekend at the Club**

Monday 4th 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)

Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Apr. 26

Daniel John Martin (violin, vocals); Mick Shoulder (guitar); Dave Smith (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass)

Standing on Half Moon Lane, Central Bar is not unlike a New York City 'flat iron' in design. The independent pub, situated in the regeneration area known as the 'Gateshead Railway Quarter', welcomed Paris-based violin virtuoso Daniel John Martin. This final concert of DJM's tour of the BSH heartland would, as always, be in the company of Mick Shoulder's Swing Manouche.

Portrait in Evans: Noa Levy & Paul Edis @ The Glasshouse, Gateshead - Apr. 25

© John Lyons

Noa Levy (vocals); Paul Edis (MD, piano); Alan Barnes (alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet); Andy Champion (double bass); Steve Hanley (drums)

A familiar name and a new name. The returning Paul Edis was on home turf, Noa Levy, from San Francisco by way of London, was making her regional debut. Portrait in Evans is their collaborative project saluting the late, great pianist Bill Evans. Gateshead's Glasshouse (formerly Sage Gateshead) welcomed the principals and their amazing band.

Noel Dennis Trio @ The Gala, Durham - Apr. 24

Noel Dennis (trumpet, flugelhorn); Mark Williams (guitar); Andy Champion (double bass)

A Noel Dennis gig is a cause for celebration. Appearances across the region are few and far between and this lunchtime Jazz at the Gala concert had been in the diary for some time. An advance sellout, trumpeter Dennis would be sharing the stage with guitarist Mark Williams and bassist Andy Champion. 

All seats occupied, the trio opened with the Harry Warren/Mack Gordon standard There Will Never be Another You. Fluent, lyrical, assured, Noel Dennis is, without question, an A-list musician. Mark Williams and Andy Champion are similarly first class musicians. Pat Metheny's Snova came out of left field, but, hey, the sound of surprise and all that.

Album review: Harry Skoler - Echoes (Red Brick Hill)

Harry Skoler (clarinet); Bill Frisell (guitar); Dezron Douglas (bass); Johnathan Blake (drums)

Of all the instruments in the jazz pantheon, apart from when wielded by Pee Wee Russell or Sidney Bechet, in my opinion the clarinet has the purist sound of all. Harry Skoler goes some way - some not all - to validate my opinion. Skoler tailors his sound according to the subject matter thus his portrait of Marian (McPartland) is different to that of Rahsaan Roland Kirk in Everything's Cool, Everything's Cool!.

Jazz is everywhere but where is this?

 

Tony Momrelle: Upstairs @ Ronnie's - April 12

Tony Momrelle (vocals); Emiliano Pari (keys, piano, vocal); David D'Andrade (guitar, vocals); Julian Crampton (bass guitar); Alessio Wildes Barelli (drums); Massimo Orselli (perc,)

On what was arguably the hottest day of the year so far, London had spilt out onto the pavements. Soho was alive in the way that only it can be: pub doors thrown open, bars humming, coats long gone, replaced by shorts, T-shirts and the easy colour of a city remembering summer. Drink flowed, conversations drifted, and the heady scent of Chinatown hung in the warm evening air. And there it was again - that reminder of what Soho really is.

Not just a postcode, not just a night out, but the vibrant epicentre of jazz in this country. It’s all still there, just under the surface; you only need to look for it. At the centre of it all sits Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club - still the beating heart of the UK jazz scene - and upstairs, in that intimate room, the kind of space where music doesn’t just play, it settles into you.

Album Review: Tierney Sutton and Tamir Hendelman – Spring (BFM Jazz)

Tierney Sutton (vocals, producer); Tamir Hendelman (piano)

It might be one of the most glaring errors of judgment – or perhaps “Jazz Luck,” as I call it - that Tierney Sutton has never won a Grammy. She’s been nominated nine times and those in the know tend not only to relish her work (I certainly do), but anticipate her recordings and performances with delightful anticipation.

With Spring, her 17^th recording, Sutton offers something novel for her – a duo studio recording with longtime associate, Tamir Hendelman. With Spring, the duo presents 12 selections, most drawn from the Songbook, and all dealing with things vernal.

Eva Fox & the Sound Hounds @ Black Swan, Newcastle – April 23

© Colin Muirhead

Eva Fox (vocals); Jude Murphy (double bass, vocals); Steve Chambers (keys); Sid White (drums).  + Steve Glendinning (guitars); David Gray (trumpet, trombone)

The latest in the series of Thursday evening gigs at the Black Swan saw the return of Eva Fox and her band, the Sound Hounds. Eva describes her music as being a mixture of traditional jazz and old & new songs arranged in jazz styles. All these elements were well represented and delivered with panache at the Black Swan.

Two aspects of the music stood out for me. Firstly, the willingness to adopt fresh arrangements of well-known songs, such as a very funky version of Leonard Cohen’s Dance Me to the End of Love and a bluesy version of Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy.  Secondly, the way in which the blues permeated many of the songs and gave them extra edge and energy. On 1970s' classics Sugar Man and He Brings the Rain in particular, all the musicians were clearly having a great time!

Press release: Love Supreme Jazz Festival Announces Full 2026 Line-Up

Ezra Collective Presents Temple Of Joy • Loyle Carner • De La Soul

Anderson .Paak (as DJ Pee .Wee) • Jalen Ngonda • Free Nationals • Sister Sledge • Gabrielle • The Temptations & The Four Tops • Franc Moody • Maze • Durand Bernarr • Kokoroko • Samara Joy • esperanza spalding • Alex Isley • Courtney Pine • Lemar • Bill Frisell & Greg Tardy • Moses Boyd • Joe Lovano & Antonio Faraò • Olive Jones • The War & Treaty • Young Gun Silver Fox • Loose Ends • Annie & the Caldwells • Luke Una • Light of the World • CARRTOONS • Joe Webb Trio • Tony Momrelle and Natalie Williams Soul Family  • Kiefer • D.K. Harrell • Emma Rawicz INKYRA and more [full line-up below]

 

*Kofi Stone, Horse Meat Disco, Colleen ‘Cosmo’ Murphy, The Bad Plus, cktrl, NYJO presents Miles Davis 100, Judith Owen, TC & The Groove Family, Olympia Vitalis and anon! among final additions*

FILM: Big Mama Thornton: I Can't Be Anyone but Me @ Tyneside Cinema - Apr. 23

The so-called 'art house' film is rarely screened more than a couple of times and then it's gone. The Tyneside Cinema recently programmed just one screening of Robert Clem's 2025 documentary film Big Mama Thornton: I Can't Be Anybody but Me. It was too good an opportunity not to go and see it...

Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton (b. 1026, d. 1984) on screen is quite the experience. On stage, director Robert Clem's subject is portrayed as an artist fully in control: bold as brass vocals, no mean harp player, fearless in the spotlight. Off stage, Big Mama encounters rip-off merchants, the story of her demise a familiar one. 

Phil Shotton's Kind of Cool Nonet @ the Moor Club, Stockport - April 26

© Jeff Pritchard

Phil Shotton (baritone sax); John Padfield (alto sax); Owen Bryce (trumpet); Mike Monument (French horn); Mathew Horner (trombone); Adam Dutch (tuba); Tom Sykes (keyboards); Matt Lawton  (double bass); Andy Bold (drums).

As Paul Hartley in his welcoming speech, this nine-piece ensemble is the largest to be featured at the Moor Club's Sunday jazz nights.

Phil Shotton provided the charts and assembled a very talented group of musicians to play them. As well as tackling the Birth of the Cool tunes, there was enough time to delve into the Kind of Blue repertoire which featured some nice harmon mute work from Owen Bryce a person, I have heard about but never seen live. Miles would have nodded his approval of his version of All Blues.

Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche @ Bishop Auckland Methodist Church - Apr. 22

Daniel John Martin (violin, vocals); Mick Shoulder (guitar); Dave Smith (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass)

The monthly, Friday lunchtime Bishop Auckland Jazz concert series is attracting ever-increasing numbers. This first evening concert presentation, featuring Daniel John Martin with Swing Manouche, would, perhaps, reveal the level of support for midweek evening gigs up on Cockton Hill Road. 

Neil Cowley Trio: Built on Bach @ The Fire Station, Sunderland - April 21

Neil Cowley (piano); Rex Horan (double bass); Evans Jenkins (drums)

Built on Bach was something of a clue as to what we would be listening to. Touring his new album, Cowley was paying a first visit to Sunderland's Fire Station. Our pianist said he was impressed. And it came as no surprise, the High Street West venue is a match for similar concert halls up and down the land and a credit to Wearside. 

Tracks from the new album (Built on Bach) featured heavily, alongside a few from Cowley's back catalogue. Cowley's percussive approach lends itself to Bach counterpoint, his long-time bandmates - bassist Rex Horan and drummer Evan Jenkins - very much 'on point'. 

Dean Stockdale Trio @ Blaydon Jazz Club - Apr. 20

© Ken Drew

Dean Stockdale (keyboards); Mick Shoulder (double bass); Abbie Finn (drums)

On a mild spring evening down on Bridge Street, would an audience materialise for Blaydon Jazz Club's April concert? The Black Bull's lounge started to fill up nicely. We should never have doubted the regulars! 

Milt Jackson's Reunion Blues opened the show in style with Dean Stockdale, Mick Shoulder and Abbie Finn swinging it like nobody's business. Blaydon is renowned for its mainstream, swinging sessions and pianist Dean Stockdale didn't depart from the brief, not that there is one - a brief, that is. 

Daniel John Martin w. Swing Manouche @ The Ship Isis (The Vaux Room): Sunderland - April 24

© Ken Drew

Daniel John Martin (violin, vocals); Mick Shoulder (guitar); Dave Smith (guitar); Paul Grainger (double bass)

We're very fortunate in the north east that DJM is good friends with Mick Shoulder, as he's a gypsy jazz superstar, and he regularly plays a handful of north east dates with Mick's band Swing Manouche.

An away gig for the Old Black Cat club coincided with their footballing namesakes playing at home, and with the Ship Isis within walking distance of the Stadium of Light, it was very busy at the bar. Fortunately the Vaux Room was up the stairs, a cosy room, ideal for some top quality gypsy jazz.