NJ Advent Calendar - Venues in Yorkshire & Humber part 2 (December 24th)

                                                                   The Phoenix Inn, York

It's Christmas Eve! For our final advent calendar door, we take a look at part two of our Yorkshire and Humber venues.

The Phoenix Inn, York

This independently run pub in York programmes live jazz two or three a week. Trumpeter Ian Chalk has a residency that brings him there every 1st and 3rd Sunday and there's a weekly jam session with James Lancaster, Chris Moore, Christian Topman and Trevor King every Wednesday.

NCEM, York

The National Centre for Early Music occasionally includes jazz in their year round programming. The hall lends itself well to acoustic jazz and in early 2016, there will be a celebration of pianist John Taylor and then a visit from guitarist Martin Taylor.

Jazz in the Spa, Boston Spa

The team at jazz in the spa are champions of traditional and mainstream jazz and have been hosting live events every Saturday evening for a number of years. Early 2016 will bring Frank Brooker's Happy Chappies, Alan Barnes and the Savannah Jazz Band.

The Lescar, Sheffield

Pianist Jez Matthews runs Jazz at the Lescar and programmes a huge variety of acts year round, with a gig every Wednesday. There are touring groups and local acts and everything from vocal jazz to experimental improvised music.

Sheffield Jazz

Sheffield Jazz at the Crucible Theatre and the Millenium Hall. Their focus is on national and international acts, many of whom stop by to perform as part of UK tours. 2016 will bring Pete King, Gilad Atzmon, Jason Rebello and Partisans amongst others.

Wakefield Jazz

Wakefield Jazz has been named Best Venue in the Parlimentary Jazz Awards and continues to promote high quality live jazz on Friday evenings thoughout the year. Early 2016 sees performances by two Northern Line groups Panjumby and Graeme Wilson Quartet as well as Iain Dixon/Les Chisnall duo and the Manhattan Sound Big Band.

Huddersfield Jazz Club

The team at Huddersfield Jazz programme music at the Keys Restaurant on Friday and Saturdays throughout the year. Their programme focuses on UK jazz and recent gigs have included Bruce Adams and Snake Davis.

Jazz at Heart, Leeds

Open since 2011, Jazz at Heart have been programming monthly jam sessions and gigs and weekly workshops since then. Their gig programme is varied and often features emerging talent and their workshops and jams are run by musicians Kim Macari, Ben Lowman and Sam Dunn.

Sela Bar, Leeds

Sela Bar is a well known gig destination in the centre of Leeds and currently the monthly jazz gigs are run by bassist Tom Riviere. Groups like the Sam Leak Trio and pianist Andy Woodhead have played there recently, as well as guitarist Stuart McCallum.

NJ Advent Calendar - Venues in Yorkshire & Humber part 1 (December 18th)

                                                           Scarborough Sea Front


We're splitting the venues in Yorkshire and Humber into two parts for this one because there are so many of them! 

Scarborough Jazz

As well as running the annual festival, Mike Gordon and his team run weekly Wednesday gigs at the Cask in Scarborough. They have visiting musicians perform with the house band each week (with Mike himself behind the piano) and occasionally have full bands there, too. Upcoming gigs include Russ Henderson and Dennis Rollins.

Grimsby Jazz

Gill Wilde is another promoter with seemingly limitless energy, promoting both a year round series of gigs at the Old Clee Club in Grimsby and an annual festival in Cleethorpes. Their Thursday evening gigs host a range of UK jazz artists, from local groups to visiting touring groups. Upcoming gigs include Rob Barron Quartet and Chetrio with Neil Yates and Percy Pursglove. 

Hull Truck Theatre

J-Night, the organisation responsible for the Hull Jazz Festival also promote gigs year round at the Hull Truck Theatre. There's a focus on established UK acts with people like Ruby Turne, Snake Davis and the James Taylor Quartet scheduled to appear in 2016.

JATP, Bradford

Run by Martin Powell and his team, this jazz night has been running for many years. Recently, it moved home to The Glyde in Bradford and it continues to host a whole range of groups, many visiting as part of a UK tour on the first Friday of every month. Their upcoming gigs include Emily Brown and the Matt Holborn Quartet.

The Shed, North Yorkshire

This venue was described by BBC's Jez Nelson as North Yorkshire's hub of improvised happenings and its hugely varied programme features comedy, poetry and music. Simon Thackray schedules all sorts of music with people like Lol Coxhill and Mark Sanders making appearances. (As an added incentive, there is also a special Shed Bitter to enjoy at the gigs...)

Square Chapel, Halifax

Like the Shed, the Square Chapel promotes all sorts of arts event including theatre,film and music. Jazz audiences in Halifax can look forward to a big band swing night and Snake Davis in early 2016.

Fusebox, Leeds

Fusebox is a champion of experimental and improvised music. Set up by the late Dave Hatfield, it's played host to artists from all over the world and has a loyal following in the region. Recently, they hosted Metamoprhic and Royst as part of their tour as well as Beats & Pieces and Loz Speyer's Inner Space Music and their next gig is the Graeme Wilson Quartet in January.

Seven Jazz

Seven Jazz is run by Steve Crocker and his team and programmes gigs year round in addition to a busy workshop and jazz choir schedule. They host gigs on Sunday afternoons and jam sessions as well as an international programme on Thursday evenings and their upcoming gigs include Rommi Smith, Zoe Gilby and Pete King.

Leeds College of Music

LCoM has a concert venue attached to its premises and hosts a year round series of concerts in all genres of music. They're currently celebrating their 50th year with a series of events and the programme in early 2016 includes Mike Walker, Steve Fishwick and Stuart McCallum.