Jazz Coffee Morning for MacMillan Cancer Support in York

Jazz In York is a website run by bassist John Marley. As the name would suggest, it keeps audiences up to date with all the jazz going on in York. On November 14th, Jazz In York will be running a Jazz Coffee Morning in order to raise money for MacMillan Cancer Care.

John says...

On Saturday 14th November, we will be having a coffee morning with live jazz for Macmillan Cancer Support. The event will take place at Clements Hall which is located close to York city centre. The Kate Peters Trio will be performing and guests musicians are more than welcome to play as well.

Please come along and help raise lots of money for this great charity....and enjoy some coffee and cake while you're at it!

10am-12pm. 

MacMillan Cancer provides valuable support to those diagnosed with cancer and their families. For more information on the work they do, visit their website.

Jazz In The Round & Rising Stars at Seven Jazz

With autumn upon us, jazz venues in the North are launching their new season of gigs. Seven Jazz in Leeds has taken this opportunity to introduce two strands of gigs in their programme - Seven Jazz Unplugged and Seven Jazz Introduces.

The Unplugged series has grown from their experience presenting gigs at the Inkwell and will feature a programme of groups playing acoustically. Pictured above is the Matt Anderson/Jiannis Pavlidis Duo at the first of these gigs and as you can see, the audience will be able to be in amongst the action with the new Jazz in the Round lay-out.

The Seven Jazz Introduces strand features the wealth of talent produced by the jazz course at LCoM (plus some students from the music department at Leeds Uni). There are a range of gigs on Sunday afternoons featuring these groups and the main Thursday evening programme will also have support slots led by student groups.

Below is the gig listings for these two strands - visit the Seven Jazz website for more information on these and all other Seven Jazz events.

Unplugged Gigs

4 October : “The Kumpus Quartet” -Higgins, Mulvenna, Blackstone, MacDonald

18 October : Bad Ass Brass (pictured)

1 November: Tom Rivière’s Family Band

Seven Jazz Introduces Gigs

October 8th - Georgina Barr/Calvin Travers (pictured)

October 22nd - Ben Powling/Will Powell Quartet

November 12th - Sam Dutton-Taylor Quartet

November 26th - Johnny Tunnard Trio

December 3rd - DS Murray Quartet

December 10th - Sam Hamstead/Dan Clarkson

Laura Kinsella and Ben Crosland premiere new work at Marsden Jazz Festival

The 2015 Marsden Jazz Festival is fast approaching (9th-11th October). The festival are committed to supporting new music and each year commission artists to produce new work to be premiered at the festival. This year, these commissions come from vocalist Lauren Kinsella and bassist Ben Crosland.

Lauren Kinsella's project is called What Window Do You Look Out Of? and features Tom Challenger (sax), Dan Nicholls (keys and electronics), Conor Chaplin (bass) and Simon Roth (drums).

I've been inspired by so many different aspects of culture over the past few months. An important starting point was the documentary 'Salt of the Earth', a beautiful film about photographer Sebastião Salgado and his work through a political, social and cultural lens. What his pictures convey about the world and human suffering are some of the most moving images I've ever seen.
 
The music was also inspired by other artists and writers, including Marsden-born poet Simon Armitage and his book 'Gig' and Patti Smith and her autobiography 'Just Kids'. Lastly and most importantly, I am inspired by the wonderful musicians in my ensemble that will play with me at Marsden.

Ben Crosland will present his interpretation of songs by the Kinks' Ray Davies. He is joined by John Etheridge (guitar), Dave O'Higgins (sax), Steve Lodder (piano) and Sebastiaan De Krom (drums).

I began my musical education at 13 by taking up the drums and the Kinks’ singles were constantly on as I played along in my bedroom. Fifty years on, as a bandleader and composer, I am again discovering new subtleties and strengths in these wonderful compositions. 

Ray Davies is a songwriter whose work is rooted in the blues, music hall, popular song, variety and musical theatre. His songs provide the perfect vehicles for jazz interpretation. He is self-evidently one of the greatest ever British songwriters. To my knowledge, no one has yet undertaken a serious study of his work in a jazz context.

Ben performs on Friday 9th October at the Marsden Royal British Legion with tickets costing £14. Lauren performs on Saturday 10th October at the same details and tickets cost £7. 

Full details can be found on the Marsden Jazz Festival website. 

BlueJam Arts team up with NYJC

BlueJam Arts in Cumbria are teaming up with the National Youth Jazz Collective for their first collaborative weekend starting tomorrow. As part of the project, they are running a CPD event for music educators interested in developing their jazz education skills.

Led by Issie Barratt, this music educators CPD initiative aims to improve the provision and accessibility of jazz education for young people across the country. There are four sessions, the first on September 26th and then subsequent sessions on 14th November, 23rd January and 27th February.

Sessions will cover -

• Comping on guitar and piano
• Diatonic harmony jazz standards
• Grooves and feels
• Support in choosing appropriate repertoire with a list of 100 graded tunes each linked to a spotify folder. 

Plus much more. It costs £100 to attend all four session and concessionary rates are available. Those who wish to attend only one of two of the sessions should get in touch with BlueJam to discuss costs.

This event is part of a larger collaboration with NYJC which will see 4 intensive weekend workshops taking place in Cumbria for young jazz musicians.

Full information on these events is available on the BlueJam Arts website and their facebook page also contains up to date info. 

PRS Open Funding and Women Make Music - September 28th Deadlines

There are two funding programmes through PRSF that will close for submissions on September 28th so ensembles and composers are advised to get their application in soon for a chance at financial support for an upcoming project.

Women Make Music is a scheme open to female music creators in any genre and will award up to £5000 to a project. Their aim is to raise the profile of female composers and musicians in the industry and support the creation of new work and collaborations. They wish to break down gender stereotypes and support female role models for future generations.

Deadline: Monday September 28th 

PRSF's Open Funding scheme is, as the name suggests, open to individuals and composers creating new work in any genre. This could the commission of new work, touring, recording or creative residencies for example. Again, up to £5000 is available for a project (those who have previously been successful in receiving PRSF funding are able to apply for larger amounts of money).

Deadline: Monday September 28th

Both of these schemes have two stage application processes - those successful at the first stage will be invited to progress to stage two.

Full information on eligibity criteria, previously funded projects and access to the application forms can be found on the PRSF website. Best of luck!

The Big Score - Jazz On The Screen

Jazz on the the big screen. Actual films about jazz notwithstanding, many motion pictures have been enhanced by scores featuring and/or written by jazz musicians. Think Ascenseur pour l'échafaud and Miles Davis, Duke Ellington's score of Anatomy of a Murder and more recently Antonio Sanchez's solo drum score for Birdman.

On October 7th, music historian Chris Phipps will give a talk in Newcastle (Bewick Hall, City Library) entitled The Big Score - Jazz On The Screen. The talk will explore the links between jazz and film, looking at the contributions made by composers and improvisers to movies over the past 50+ years.

Music Historian Phipps is no stranger to interesting events; last year he teamed up with a Newcastle City Centre restaurant Two Fifths to run a series of events with music-themed menus and talks. (Read more about that here)

The event starts at 6.30pm on Wednesday 7th October and tickets can be booked via the Newcastle council website or by calling 0191 2774100.

Calling All Emerging Jazz Talent - Peter Whittingham Award 2016

Help Musicians UK have opened submissions for the 2016 Peter Whittingham Award, marking its 25th year supporting emerging jazz talent in the UK.

The award is presented each year to a musician or ensemble to support a career-building project with a cash prize of £5,000. An expert in survival medicine, Peter Whittingham was also a pianist who enjoyed the music of Gershwin, Porter, Sondheim, Bernstein, Shearing and Peterson. After his death in 1987 his family set up this award in his memory – and their connection with the award continues.

In recent years, musicians from the North have dominated the recipient list - Roller Trio, Reuben Fowler, Phil Meadows and Stretch Trio (pictured above) from 2011 to 2014.

Auditions will be held at Premises Studio in Hackney, London on December 2nd and the deadline for applications is Monday 2nd November at 6pm.The award is open to musicians in the first two years of their professional careers or those in higher education.

For more information, visit the Help Musicians UK website.
 

How To Run A Jazz Club with NORVOL

It's the Lancaster Jazz Festival this weekend and if previous years are anything to go by, expect a lot of high quality music and lots of sold out performances. We reported on the festival a while back and listed our highlights, but check out the Lancaster Jazz Festival website to see what's going on.

NORVOL Jazz are going to be holding an event on Saturday September 19th as part of the festival entitled How To Run A Jazz Club. It's a free seminar event aimed at encouraging new people to become jazz promoters. (It's fitting that the event should be held at Lancaster Festival as the director Matt Robinson is a prime example of an ambitious young promoter really making a difference to the scene).

This event is aimed at people who want to become jazz promoters, or who may already do some jazz promotion and want to do it better. You may be a musician wanting to develop venue for people to play, a volunteer with an interest in jazz, or a promoter in other areas of the arts wanting to include more jazz in your festival or programme. This event will help you achieve that.

The seminar will focus on: finding a venue, developing an audience, planning a programme, developing the local jazz community through workshops, masterclasses, jam session and paying for it all! It also provides a prime opportunity to network with successful Northern Jazz promoters.

Find out more on the festival website. 

Jazz at The Ropewalk, North Lincolnshire

 Look closely at rural locations across the North and you will often find beautiful buildings and spaces used by the arts community. These buildings often have an artistic remit that spans everything from live jazz to sculpture gardens and act as a central point for the community to access the arts.

Situated in Barton-upon-Humber, The Ropewalk is one such space. An art gallery, sculpture garden and performance space that hosts a huge variety of exhibitions and events.  Housed in a Grade II listed former rope factory, Ropery Hall is used to host live music, cinema and theatre.

Their live programme has a variety of events coming up soon from Lau to T'Pau (do you remember China In Your Hands?) and there are two jazz performances, too - Snake Davis and Matthew Halsall's Gondwana Orchestra.

Information on these concerts is listed below but do check out the Ropewalk website for more information on the venue and upcoming events.

September 19th at 8pm - Snake Davis ( £14/16 OTD)

Returning to their favourite local haunt is the Snake Davis Band. In demand with the biggest names on the British pop music scene, as well as visiting artists from overseas, Snake Davis is regarded as one of the most talented saxophonists in the music business today

October 2nd at 8pm - Matthew Halsall & Gondwana Orchestra (£14/16 OTD)

A very special concert from acclaimed trumpeter, composer and bandleader Matthew Halsall and the remarkable Eastern-tinged, hard grooving Gondwana Orchestra. Featuring string quartet and very special guest vocalist Josephine Oniyama, expect an unforgettable night of soulful, string-laden and deeply spiritual jazz.

Apply Now to Play at Manchester Jazz Festival 2016

With the summer jazz festival season drawing to a close, so begins the start of a new season - the season of musicians applying to play at next year's summer jazz festivals.

With only a few weeks since this year's festival ended (which was their 20th year no less), Manchester Jazz Festival have opened submissions for their 2016 festival. The online application form is very clear and easy to use and they'll be accepting submissions until 5pm on December 11th 2015. Successful artists will be contacted by around 5th February 2016.

To apply, you will need -

- Audio recordings (you can submit multiple tracks totalling no more than 20 minutes max)
- High quality photographs (300dpi colour shots preferred)
- A Bio for the band (Reading the 2015 programme may give you some hints as to the kind of descriptions they like to see)

These files can be linked to through Soundcloud or Dropbox (making sure there isn't an expiry date on the Dropbox links)

As well as submissions for the regular festival programme, there is also an opportunity for young musicians to apply to their MJF Introduces scheme and for composers to apply to the Irwin Mitchell MJF Originals Commission scheme.

All information can be found on the Manchester Jazz Festival website. Good luck!

Martin Taylor UK Tour

Martin Taylor has one of the busiest touring schedules in the business. His solo and duo shows tour across the world and he runs guitar retreats in picturesque locations like the Amalfi Coast, Upstate New York and California. Starting from today, though, he will be travelling a bit closer to home as he embarks on an 11 date tour of the UK.

Martin is considered, both by audiences and by his peers, as being right at the top of his field. His work with the legendary Stephane Grappelli is well-known and the unique style of his solo performances has led to a global community of guitarists who look to him for advice and tuition.

The tour kicks off tonight (Tuesday 15th September) in Guildford and continues until the 27th of September with a number of dates in the North. Full tour dates can be found below and you can visit Martin's website for more information on shows, guitar retreats and more.

UK Tour - September

15th - G Live, Guildford
16th - The Stables, Milton Keynes
17th - Brewery Arts, Kendal
18th - Town Hall, High Wycombe
19th - Arts Depot, Finchley, London
22nd - Gala Theatre, Durham
23rd - East Riding Arts Centre, Beverley
24th - Gardyne Theatre, Dundee
25th - Band on the Wall, Manchester
26th - Beaufort Theatre, Ebbw Vale
27th - Cheese and Grain, Frome

Juxtavoices shake up Wirksworth Arts Festival

Jazz and improvised music has a rich history of giving a voice to the bold and the rebellious. 'Jazz is the big brother of revolution', so said Miles Davis. Well, Sheffield's premiere anti-choir Juxtavoices did their bit for the rebellion recently by being ejected from the Wirksworth Arts Festival midway through their performance.

According to MD and Discus Music owner Martin Archer -

Juxtavoices were ejected en masse from St Mary's Church 1 hour into our 3 hour performance at this years Wirksworth Festival! The performance was halted by the church on the grounds that the visual artists with whom we were sharing the space felt our music was "too challenging" and was preventing people discussing their visual works, and that some members of the public were disinclined to enter the space. This despite the fact that plenty of people were sitting and listening, and enjoying the performance. And all this despite us having paid to book the space for the afternoon.

 Audiences will have another chance to see Juxtavoices perform live soon, when they perform alongside the Bennett-Cole Orchestra in Sheffield on October 18th (fingers crossed they get to finish their set this time!)

On The Snap - Jazz, Film & Crime Fiction

As part of the Sensoria Festival in Sheffield (25th September - 3rd October), there will be a talk by music writer, author and avid jazz fan Brian Case.

Case has a career spanning over 5 decades of writing for publications like NME, Melody Maker, Time Out, Uncut and The Times. Writing about his passions - jazz, film and crime fiction, he developed a strong readership and some rather unusual accolades, like being the first journalists to go on tour with the Sex Pistols.

In this event, Brian Case will be interviewed by the CEO of Film London, Andrew Wooton and will discuss his life and new book, On The Snap.

“His writing was surprising, funny, elusive, erudite, emotionally engaged and all his subjects in this book from Ian Dury to Norman Mailer, from Don McCullin to Tom Waits, the whole gang of motormouths and shutterbugs, junkies and pussy hounds, the witnesses to bebop and Belsen, get a fair hearing and words shaped by acute sensibility.” Richard Williams Melody Maker

The event will be held at Trippets Lounge Bar in Sheffield with tickets priced £5/4. Details on the event and how to buy tickets can be found on the Sensoria 2015 festival website.

La Gitane Jazz Club to re-open in Manchester

Manchester is to add another jazz club to its streets soon, as La Gitane will re-open on Bridge Street.

Restaurant owner Sacit Onur previously ran a jazz club with the same name nearby the new location in the 1990s and has been considering this new opening for a while.

The club will be downstairs at the Cafe Istanbul restaurant that Onur owns, located in the Spinningfields area. Matt Nickson, the co-founder of Matt & Phreds, will be in charge of the progamming of gigs in the new space.

Launch night is September 17th with a performance from singer Lucy Hope. From then on, the club will be open every Thursday to Saturday from 9pm until late.

Glimpses at the new interior suggest a style similar to Ronnies in London and the club will operate a smart dress policy.

La Gitane Jazz Club is located at 55 Back Bridge Street, Manchester.

Glasshopper UK Tour

Glasshopper is a trio based in London led by tenor saxophonist Jonathan Chung and featuring Corrie Dick on drums and James Kitchman on guitar.

Influenced by the free, jazz, rock and folk worlds, the band performs Jonathan’s emotionally sophisticated compositions with reverence and abandon, intricately weaving together moments of sonic bliss and euphoric rock-outs. With improvisation at the heart of each performance, Jonathan, Corrie and James are unified in creating original interpretations that inspire fresh stories to unravel within the listener’s imagination…

Next month, they will embark on a short UK Tour fresh out of the studio after recording their first EP. Below are the dates of the tour and a short video featuring music by Glasshopper and animation by Firdaw Fourcroy.

October 2015
 
8th Edinburgh, the Jazz Bar
10th Glasgow, Tchai Ovna
11th Newcastle, Splinter
12th Sproggits, Leeds
13th Birmingham, the Spotted dog 

 
Jenny by Glasshopper from Jonathan chung on Vimeo.

Jazz Radio in Bradford - artists submit your work!

As well as running live jazz at JATP in Bradford, for the past few years promoter Martin Powell has also been presenting a jazz radio show called Jazzscene on BCB Radio 106.6fm.

The show features a range of jazz with a particular focus on UK and Continental groups. He is a big supporter of current musicians on the scene and his recent broadcasts have included music by John Bailey, Zeitgeist, Girls In Airports, The Weave, Outhouse and Michael Garrick.

Martin has an open invitation for artists to send their recordings to be broadcast - if you'd like him to play your music (or to request a particular band/song) send him an email at martin.powellATbcbradio.co.uk (replacing AT with @)

More information and a Listen Again function for past shows can be found on the BCB Radio website.

Congratulations, Jazz North East!

Jazz North East have recently received news that they will have Arts Council England funding to support their work until the end of 2016.

They have been programming live jazz in the North East for 50 years and continue to be one of the UK's leading organisations to support improvised music and contemporary jazz.

Congratulations to the team - looking forward to hearing great things in this new programme! Keep up to date on their website.

Upcoming gigs...

13th September - OZMA (french quartet improvises to Buster Keaton's Three Ages)
23rd September - Yoko Miura & Charlie Collins plus Zoe Gilby
4th October - Toby Delius Quartet
11th October - Triptych/ Glasshopper Double Bill
27th October - Let Spin

Gig Preview: Brian Auger's Oblivion Express

Hammond Organ legend Brian Auger is doing his first Leeds gig in years with his band Oblivion Express. On Saturday November 7th he will perform at the Wardrobe in Leeds with a band that features Alex Ligertwood.

Auger has been played with the likes of Jimmy Page, Rod Steward and John McLaughlin and had a Top 5 hit with Julie Driscoll covering Bob Dylan's Wheels on Fire in 1967.

From the Wardrobe website -

It’s his first gig at The Wardrobe for over a decade and he brings with him his latest version of Oblivion Express. Featuring himself on Hammond B3 organ and electric piano, electric bassist Travis Carlton, drummer Karma Auger (his son) plus special guest and original 1972 Oblivion Express vocalist Alex Ligertwood on lead vocals and electric guitar. They’ll be playing a firing set of original song and anthemic Brian Auger covers from his extensive back catalogue, many which are featured on the “Back To The Beginning” anthology. Expect an amazing night of world class live jazz, blues, soul and rock all blended together in that unique Brian Auger way!

Tickets cost £14 and can be bought from Crash Records, Jumbo Records and from the Wardrobe bar. For full information on the gig, visit the Wardrobe website.

Elliot Galvin Trio UK Tour

Award-winning pianist Elliot Galvin is embarking on a 14 date tour of the UK with his trio and is making a few stops in the North along the way.

Described by the Guardian as 'audaciously accomplished', Elliot last year won the European Young Jazz Musician of the Year. His trio features Simon Roth on drums and Tom McCredie on double bass. They've already kicked off their tour, playing at the Lescar in Sheffield on the 2nd and in Birmingham on the 3rd. Below are the remaining tour dates and you can find more information on his website.

Tour Dates

September 4th - The Verdict, Brighton
September 6th - The Lighthouse, Deal
September 7th - Pizza Express, Maidstone
September 8th - Dempseys, Cardiff
September 9th - The Vortex, London
September 10th - Cambridge Hidden Rooms
September 11th - Colston Hall, Bristol
September 12th - Zefirelli's, Ambleside
September 13th - Seven Jazz, Leeds
September 15th - Secret House Concert, Edinburgh
September 16th - Butterfly and Pig, Glasgow
September 17th - Blue Lamp, Aberdeen

Upcoming gigs & a new promoter at Sela Bar, Leeds

It's all change for the jazz at Sela Bar in Leeds; saxophonist Matt Anderson has moved to London and taking the helm now is bassist Tom Riviere.

Matt has run The Cooler for a number of years and it's been the host of some great international guests (Jerry Bergonzi and Eric Harland, for example) as well as a regular line-up of local and national groups.

Tom's reign begins on September 20th with an LCoM Tutors Special featuring Joel Purnell, Jamil Sheriff, Dave Walsh and Garry Jackson.

Keep an eye on future listings on the Cooler at Sela Bar facebook page.