The week ahead in gigs
Saxophonist Tim Whitehead does not often get a chance to visit the Midlands, so we should take advantage when he does. On Monday he brings his Colour Beginnings project to the Warwick Arts Centre. It’s...
View ArticleBen Markland by Garry Corbett
And on tenor saxophone it’s… Who? Well I never! The man who is usually standing behind a double bass, or sometimes has a bass guitar slung over his shoulder, Ben Markland, seen here as part of Me &...
View ArticleConcert review: Sara Colman & Claire Martin
CBSO Centre, Birmingham, UK 12-10-2012 This was the first of what promoters Jazzlines intends to be a series of gigs focussing on vocal jazz and curated by Birmingham-trained singer Sara Colman. Sara...
View ArticleKofi’s Standards lead the Birmingham jazz week ahead
The new jazz year is in full swing this week with lots of Birmingham-based bands doing their thing around town. But first, a Nottingham-born, Berklee-trained saxophonist who has built a fine reputation...
View ArticleWhat a welcome back to Stratford this will be
One of those things I feel immensely proud of – though with absolutely no justification, because I didn’t know at the time that I’d booked him – is that Bryan Corbett has played in my living room. It...
View ArticleGig review: Blue Note Celebration
The Barton Arms, Birmingham UK 20-04-2013 The premise was a good one: conjure up the spirit of the classic era of Blue Note Records – the ’60s basically – with the aid of a bunch of Birmingham’s finest...
View ArticleThe insufficiently sung heroes of British jazz and the week’s other great...
When it comes to unsung heroes – or maybe insufficiently sung heroes – jazz, being itself rather an unsung art form, is likely to have a good few. One of this illustrious group’s UK contingent is...
View ArticleBowden and gang in Will’s neck of the woods
Stratford Jazz opens its autumn season on Wednesday with some of the Midlands’ most familiar and best-loved players. Leading the quartet from the alto saxophone is Chris Bowden, with Ben Markland on...
View ArticleBen Markland – bass man with a new band
Ben Markland has been a familiar face behind a double bass (and sometimes above an electric one, too) for as long as I have been listening to jazz in Birmingham. He is terrifically versatile, whether...
View ArticleOrganic Phil Robson is the week’s guitar highlight
A band line-up that has been insufficiently explored – certainly compared to the piano trio – and has great potential as well as promising a fine time is the organ trio: Hammond organ, guitar and...
View ArticleBryan flies in from Japan
Just back from playing with Us3 at the Motion Blue in Yokohama, trumpeter Bryan Corbett braves the snow and ice to front his long-standing and ever-popular quartet with Levi French on piano, Ben...
View ArticleGig review: Bryan Corbett Quartet
Symphony Hall Foyer, Birmingham UK 08-01-10 The first free Rush Hour session of 2010 and a lovely start for the intrepid crowd who braved icy pavements and snowy streets to get there. This band has...
View ArticleBook now for Harmonic Festival
Some of the hottest players in New York and some of the brightest young things in Birmingham will come together at the Harmonic Festival, a brand new venture, between 10 and 13 March. And you can book...
View ArticleChris and Percy talk Harmonics
There is a distinct “can-do” attitude among the young musicians living in Birmingham, UK, whose first love is jazz. Maybe it comes for the independent spirit they need to have become interested in this...
View ArticleFonseca and other treats this week
The finest jazz musicians are not always the easiest to “sell” to a young and suspicious pop audience. Too old, not sexy enough, too intellectual in their attitude to the music. Far too serious. So...
View ArticleThe week ahead in gigs
The second weekend of September means just one thing: Artsfest. As usual there is a bit of jazz in there among the dance, classical music, theatre, pop and street entertainment. Tomorrow Birmingham...
View ArticleRuss’s pic of the week: Ben Markland
Ben Markland leading his quintet at the Symphony Hall foyer bar on Friday as part of Birmingham Jazz’s contribution to ArtsFest 2010. It’s Russ Escritt’s pic of the week. Russ has hundreds more...
View ArticleReminder: jazzy weekend for Warwickshire
The county of Shakespeare and gastropubs is also the place to be for jazz lovers this weekend. Tonight in the Studio at the Warwick Arts Centre, on the outskirts of Coventry, double bassist Michael...
View ArticleThe week ahead in gigs
It’s a week of great gigs in small venues, with a jam-packed programme tonight. Down at Andy Hamilton’s regular Thursday Bearwood Jazz night in the Bearwood Corks Club, tenor saxophonist, Birmingham...
View ArticleNew Sunday pm sessions from Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz brings a lot of fine jazz to Friday evenings, and now it’s going to do the same on Sunday afternoons, in collaboration with Urban Coffee. The venue is Urban Coffee’s branch in Church...
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