NJ Advent Calendar - Venues in Merseyside & Nearby (December 14th)

Behind door 14 is a look into the venues that promote live jazz in Liverpool and the surrounding areas. This is a scene that continues to grow, with the Liverpool International Jazz Festival running annually and venues that promote jazz year round, too.


Parr Jazz, Liverpool

PARRJAZZ is now 6 years old and presents live jazz weekly in a number of venues. Their usual home is Frederiks on Hope Street, where they put on gigs every Tuesday evening. They also host gigs at Monte Carlo restaurant in Heswall on Thursdays and move to the Capstone Theatre for their larger events. The team that runs everything consists of Geni Lamb, John McCormick, Danny Ward and Anthony Ormesher. Previously, they've hosted a huge number of musicians from the UK scene like Corey Mwamba, Steve Parry, Ant Law and Dave O'Higgins and international acts like Snarky Puppy and the Robert Castelli Boom Quartet.


Jazz@Davenham

Davenham Jazz is NORVOL's most southern member and are based in Davenham Theatre. They host monthly gigs, mostly on Thursdays but with the occasional Friday thrown in and their upcoming gig season will see performances by a number of Jazz North's current Northern Line groups like Manjula, Graeme Wilson quartet and Cameron Vale.

Capstone Theatre, Liverpool

The Capstone Theatre is the home of Liverpool's International Jazz Festival which runs annually in February and is run by Neil Campbell. The venue also hosts year round events - as mentioned above, they have ParrJazz's large events.

The Caledonia, Liverpool

This venue hosts a huge number of events all year round and they are a regular home for Liverpool's jazz musicians. The Weave play there regularly, as do Marley Chingus Jazz Explosion and more. All of their gigs are free to attend.

Honourable Mention - Liverpooljazz.org

This incredibly informative website keeps audiences in the loop about all the live jazz going on in the region as well as providing information on the musicians in the area and details on how to book a band if you want jazz for your venue or event.