“You Are Here”: Kevin Figes Sextet plays the music of Keith Tippett and contemporaries. 25th February, 2023

You could say that it was ‘the shock of the old’ as the Kevin Figes Sextet played the music of Keith Tippett and his contemporaries.

Greg Abate and Wakefield Jazz House Trio, 18th November 2022

Greg was on powerful form—power that was expressed lyrically, with wonderful Parkeresque articulation and fluency

Tori Freestone Trio, 11th November 2022.

Tori Freestone, tenor sax. Dave Mannington, bass. Tim Giles, drums. Pic by Pete Woodman A pianoless saxophone trio is a high-wire act. The mere fact of it is an assertion of confident musicianship and group coherence. But what kind of approach might it take? What repertoire? How to provide dynamism and variety over two full…

Hannah Horton Quartet, 28th October 2022.

Hannah Horton, tenor and baritone sax. John Crawford, piano. Rob Statham, bass. Steve Taylor, drums. The best saxophonists are able to display the instrument’s many, quite contrasting facets: urgent and piercing with tender; soulfully expressive with punchy and raw; joyous with wistfully melancholic.  But the real test of a jazz performer is whether she can…

Art Themen Organ Trio: 14th October, 2022.

Art Themen, tenor sax. Pete Whittaker, organ. George Double, Drums. It is one of the glories of jazz that a trio (at least one of this calibre) can perform with such expressive range. It’s not just a matter of wide-ranging material, or the particulars of instrumentation or styles that cover the span of jazz history…

Chris Batchelor’s Zoetic. 10th June 2022

Chris Batchelor, trumpet.Margrit Hasler, viola.John Parricelli, guitar.Steve Watts, bass.Paul Clarvis, table and percussion. There are many ways of expressing power in music—and these days, there’s no shortage of ‘fast and furious’. But good writing and deft musicianship combine economy of effort with something rather special: revealing the power of beauty. It’s soon gone on the…

Tim Knowles Quartet. May 6th, 2022

Tim Knowles, guitarEmma Johnson, tenor saxJohn Pope, bassSarah Heneghan, drums Bands have personalities, too. The Tim Knowles Quartet displayed an unaffected sweetness, a relaxed demeanour and a sense of playfulness and fun. Just add committed playing—there in abundance—and a warm, responsive audience was guaranteed. The world is not short of very able guitarists in all…

The Koller-Wallen Quartet and the Trinity Laban Jazz Orchestra. 25th March 2022

Hans Koller,  piano. Byron Wallen,  trumpet.Calum Gourlay,   double bass.Cassius Cobbson,  drums. Talfan Jenkins, Gabriel Maric, Matty Lambert and Morgan Wallace,  saxes.Josh Short, Alex Polack and Byron Wallen,  trumpets.Matt Seddon, Marty Gionis and Olivia Hughes,  trombones. The evening was a remarkably rich two sets: a top-flight quartet playing Thelonious Monk, followed by students of each of…

Liam Noble’s Long Game, 4th March 2022.

Liam Noble – piano and keyboards.Tom Herbert – bass.Will Glaser – drums. Most evenings, if you turn up at a jazz club you can expect a band that will play a mixture of swinging standards and ballads, with a well-judged mix of chorus and solo turns. But sometimes a band will adopt a very different…

Shirley Smart Trio, 11th February 2022

Shirley Smart, cello.John Crawford, piano.Demi Garcia Sabat, drums and percussion. No one with even a glancing familiarity with jazz would have any difficulty naming numerous bass players; and one probably wouldn’t need to strain to name half a dozen violinists. But cellists? It’s an enduring mystery why an instrument held dear by countless music lovers…

Dave Newton and Denny Ilett, 28th January 2022

David Newton – piano. Denny Ilett – voice and guitar. A full house is an expectant one—and both are assured whenever Dave Newton is on the bill. A long-time favourite of Wakefield Jazz regulars, Dave was to have appeared with the singer Liz Fletcher who was unfortunately indisposed. Up stepped guitarist and vocalist Denny Ilett—and…

The Wakefield Jazz Christmas Gig, 10 December 2021

Patsy Gilbert and Jenny Smith, vocals.Richard Ormrod, saxes, flute and clarinet.Ben Gilbert, piano. Pete Rosser, piano and accordion.José Canha, bass.Caroline Boaden, drums. In a year marked by uncertainty and disruption, Wakefield Jazz didn’t escape entirely, but thanks to quick thinking by the Promoter and Treasurer and a bit of good luck, the peak of the…