MILES. @ Southwark Playhouse (Borough), London - Mar. 2

Benjamin Akintuyosi (Miles) Jay Phelps (Jay & Others)

The Little Theatre is Southwark's flexible theatre-in-the-round space. As the audience was ushered in, a motionless body lay prostrate on a piano. The lights dimmed until the auditorium was in total darkness. Undercover of darkness, the hitherto motionless body exited the scene. 

In the centenary year of the birth of Miles Dewey Davis III, writer and director Oliver Kaderbhai has revived his 2025 Edinburgh Festival stage play MILES.. A two-hander starring recent RADA graduate Benjamin Akintuyosi and trumpeter Jay Phelps, the final week of performances at Southwark Playhouse are playing to sold out audiences. 

Stockport Jazz

This Sunday Stockport Jazz welcomes Trio JDM to the Moor Club. Led by drummer Dave Walsh, the trio features Jamie Taylor on guitar and Martin Longhawn on Hammond organ. 

Drawing inspiration from the legacy of Jimmy Smith and Larry Young, as extended today by acts like Goldings/Bernstein/Stewart, expect a compelling and varied set of contemporary mainstream jazz, with dashes of fusion and funk for good measure.

Sunday 8th March 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)

Marius Neset Quartet @ Capstone Theatre - March 1

Marius Neset (saxophones and piano);  Anton Eger (drums and percussion); Elliot Galvin (piano and keyboards); Conor Chaplin (electric bass)

This concert closed Liverpool International Jazz Festival (LIJF) 2026 at the Capstone Theatre.  To say that this quartet received a rapturous reception from a large audience would be a massive understatement. Norwegian saxophonist and composer Marius Neset is undoubtedly one of Europe’s finest saxophone players. Moving seamlessly between tenor and soprano saxophones he exhibited huge power but also great sensitivity in his playing. This is a very high energy quartet. Comparisons have been drawn to the music of Weather Report and their music references 1980’s fusion. The drummer Anton Eger was worth the ticket fee alone with his energetic style and flamboyant looks. Whilst I had not seen Marius and Anton before I had seen Elliot and Conor several times previously. Most recently I saw Conor play acoustic bass with Emma Smith at Kings Place in London this year. Elliott is known for his work with his trio and the band Dinosaur. Both are extraordinary musicians.

Frank Griffith Ensemble @ Commune, Liverpool - February 28

Frank Griffith  (tenor sax); Vidar Norheim (drums); Dan Barreto (electric bass)

This concert was billed as “Jazz and Cakes” and was part of the Fringe Festival running concurrently with the Liverpool International Jazz Festival 2026. This event took place in the afternoon in between two other concerts at the nearby Capstone Theatre which hosted the main Festival.

It was my first time to hear Frank Griffith play. As a renowned jazz saxophonist and clarinettist Frank has been performing for over 40 years primarily in New York and London. He has been based in the UK since 1996 but moved to the Liverpool area in 2018. He has received acclaim as a composer, arranger and radio broadcaster. 

Tenement Jazz Band @ The Spice of Life, London - Mar. 2

Chuck Dearness (cornet); Stephen Feast (clarinet); Paddy Darley (trombone); Rory Clark (sousaphone); John Youngs (banjo, vocals) 

On a Monday lunchtime at Cambridge Circus you can drop by a top class jazz gig for the princely sum of ten pounds. Week to week, Richard Pite's promotion at the Spice of Life never fails to disappoint. From New Orleans to modern jazz, it's always a winner. 

This week's offering featured a return visit by Edinburgh's Tenement Jazz Band. Folowing a successful gig the previous evening on the south coast, the popular five piece outfit set off nice and early from Hayling Island, Portsmouth. 

Press release: Buxton International Festival Announces Its Stand-Out 2026 Programme

Six Operas - including four brand new productions.

Books - with broadcasters, politicians, historians & commentators of the day.

Classical Music - featuring world-class orchestras, ensembles and recitals.

Jazz - including a special Jazz Weekender.

Buxton International Festival (9-26 July) announces its stand-out 2026 programme with more than 160 events planned across 17 days including six operas, four of them brand new productions; book events with leading opinion-formers of the day; world-class classical concerts; and a bigger than ever jazz programme.

Max Rosen Trio and Maria Sanderson @ the Moor Club, Stockport - March 1

© Jeff Pritchard

Max Rosen (keys); Peter Hartley (bass guitar/stick bass); George Bingham (drums); Maria Sanderson (trumpet)

This was a gig supported by Jazz North New Northern and in the first half we heard the trio then after the interval Maria Sanderson who played a set.

Max Rosen has played here before and made a big impression on the audience with his high energy approach and formidable technique. This is an exciting trio and the interplay between the musicians was outstanding. During the show Rosen held the attention and announced all the numbers which were a mixture of originals and standards.

Sunday night @ the Globe: Jack Littlewood Trio + Support _ March 1

© John Lyons

Marcus Dawe (keys, electronics, flute); Ifedi Osiyemi (bass guitar); Jack Littlewood (drums)The Globe was awash with students and the bar was doing good business. On stage Dawe, Osiyemi and Littlewood were known to us post-graduates from gigs with the Bold Big Band, the latter was also in the driving seat on Olly Styles' recent gig at the venue. 

© John Lyons

Opening up with Poinciana it only took a few bars to realise this was no ordinary piano, bass and drums trio but a supercharged, high octane fuelled powerhouse of sound. The decibels were off the scale. It was fff and then some. Nevertheless, as my ears adjusted I liked what they were putting down.

Pete Tanton's Chet Set @ Central Bar, Gateshead - Mar. 1

© Russell

Pete Tanton (trumpet, flugelhorn, vocals); Alan Law (piano); Mick Shoulder (double bass); John Bradford (drums)

A full house. So much so, more chairs were commandeered from an adjoining room. Faces old and new, this would be one attentive audience, whoopin' and a hollerin' in all the right places.

The Chet Set was premiered at Central Bar and it was something of a homecoming for Pete Tanton's project here on Half Moon Lane. The quartet - Tanton, Alan Law, Mick Shoulder and John Bradford - plays Chet Baker, but not in a slavish way. Yes, it's unmistakably 'Chet' but these guys stamp their own sound on the material. 

Bandleader Tanton, from Alabama, but long since resident in the UK (it's only a matter of time before 'Honorary Geordie' status is conferred upon our trumpeter/vocalist), knows his stuff about Chesney Henry 'Chet' Baker. A potted history of his subject punctuated the many musical delights on offer. 

Album review: Walter Smith III – Twio Vol.2 (Blue Note)

Walter Smith III (tenor sax); Ron Carter (bass 4,6,7,9,10); Joe Sanders (bass 1,2,3,5,8); Kendrick Scott (drums) + Branford Marsalis (tenor sax 4 & 10)

An ideal take on My Ideal opens up this rather beautiful album with Smith's warm sound and Sanders' rich toned bass coupled with some unobtrusive drumming from Scott setting the scene.

Circus has Scott in a more prominent role. Pushing and driving Smith before taking his journey into the unknown. A drum roll brings in Light Blue which bears an uncanny likeness to I'm Getting Sentimental Over You. The combination of tenor, bass and drums is just so perfect that any other instrument would be superfluous - unless it was another saxophone...