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 the North West (December 21st)

The North West has a number of venues and festivals programming live jazz year round and with only four days left of our advent calendar, we take a look at some of them...

Matt & Phreds, Manchester

Situated in Manchester's Northern Quarter, Matt & Phreds programmes live music every day of the week. There's quite a mixture in the bands they programme but you can expect to see Manchester's favourite Stuart McCallum, New York Brass Band and regular jam sessions. Plus you can get a pizza named after drummer Dave Walsh, so who can say fairer than that?

Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester

The RNCM has a year round programme of live music events, often programming international and touring jazz musicians. Their own RNCM Big Band often appears with special guests and in January trumpeter Ryan Quigley will join them. Early 2016 will also bring Clark Tracey to work with the band.

Ribble Valley Jazz Club, Clitheroe

As well as the annual Jazz Festival, there is also year round jazz going on in Ribble Valley. Most of the gigs take place in the Atrium Cafe Bar and happen one Friday a month. Coming up after the Christmas break will be Graeme Wilson Quartet, JJ Wheeler and Tim Garland.

Southport Melodic Jazz, Southport

Southport Melodic Jazz programmes jazz gigs on Sunday evenings and is programmed by Geoff Matthews. Early next year brings a focus on emerging talent with Artephis and the Jam Experiment. And of course, their festival is in February!

The Cinnamon Club, Altrinham

The Cinnamon Club programmes jazz, soul and Motown at their venue in Altrinham. Their schedule has some local musicians like Sam Healey as well as touring and international acts like Liane Carroll and Barb Jungr.

Wigan Jazz Club

Wigan Jazz Club hosts gigs on Sunday afternoons, usually on the last Sunday of the month. They are big fans of big bands so expect a few of those popping up on the programme. There's a big band bash on the 28th December and Al Wood's quintet plays tribute to Mulligan and Carter in March.

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.
 
 

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.

NJ Advent Calendar - Venues in the North East (December 12th)

Jazz audiences and musicians alike are fortunate to have a huge number of venues that promote live jazz in the North. Some weekly, some monthly, festivals and jams - there is something for everyone. We're using broad strokes with the categorisation of these articles - we'll be giving a list for the North East, North West, Yorkshire & the Humber and Merseyside. We hope no-one is offended if we've mentioned your venue in the wrong region (!) but we wanted to include as many as possible. As ever, if we've missed anything out let us know by commenting and sharing a link.

The Globe, Newcastle- Run by the Jazz Coop there are gigs, workshops and jam session that run in this cooperatively owned venue. Programming is varied from mainstream to contemporary and recent artists include Euan Burton quartet and Maciek Pysz Trio

Jazz Cafe, Newcastle - Situated on Pink Lane in Newcastle, the jazz cafe promotes live jazz upstairs and a cafe bar downstairs. Gigs are usually on Fridays, Saturdays and Tuesdays and there also jam sessions held there. Recent artists include Manjula, Unfurl and Loz Speyer's Inner Space Music.

Lit & Phil, Newcastle - Pianist Paul Edis programmes live jazz at this historic building in Newcastle. Local and touring bands play there and recently, Paul's duo with Graham Hardy and Sue Ferris have featured in the programme.

Darlington Jazz Club - A club that focuses on New Orleans jazz, Darlington Jazz Club is found at St Augustines Parish Centre and they host gigs monthly on a Saturday. Frank Booker and Thomas 'Spats' Langham are amongst their latest gig offerings.

The Sage, Gateshead - Jazz is just one of the many strands that the Sage feature in their year round programme. Of course, there's the International Jazz Festival in April but events happen year round like Jambone & Paul Edis on December 20th and the Glenn Miller Orchestra on December 29th.

Saltburn Jazz, Saltburn - This arts centre hosts many things with Saltburn Jazz Club being just one. There are monthly gigs, often featuring musicians in the North East scene and coming up next is LEASH, a trio with Mark Williams, Andy Champion and Adrian Tilbrook on January 8th.

Jazz North East - Jazz North East just celebrated their 50th birthday and continue to programme jazz at various venues. Their programme is varied but they are real champions of contemporary and improvised music. Roller Trio and Entropi will be hosted in early 2016.