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The Lunatics are taking over

You don’t have to be mad to work here but it helps – is that the slogan on the rehearsal room door when Andy Sheppard meets with fellow Bristolian saxophonist James Morton and his band called The Lunatics? Read

Double date for Rahmans

The Rahmans, pianist Zoe and clarinettist Idris, bring their gorgeous melding of jazz and Bengali music to the Midlands this weekend for two gigs. Read

It's Bobo a go-go at Much Wenlock

There is some “real jazz” on this week but there is also some excellent jazz-tinged music that is well worth checking out.Jazz/World Diary Read

Spring has sprung and Django is breaking out with exotic colours

Should it be worrying that arguably our finest jazz musician of the last 25 years has found more lucrative employment outside the United Kingdom? Read

Finn Peters at The Polish Club

The 21st century jazz group keeps the core principles of jazz instrumentation there from the beginning. Saxophone, piano, guitar, bass, drums – Sidney Bechet’s band had them, and so does Finn Peters’. Read

Finn Peters one of many top names in town this week

The autumn jazz season gets underway this week with two very exciting gigs – one featuring a crack New York band that has British links and the other featuring some of the freshest music to come out of London in a while. Read

Lizzy Parks perks up an already buzzing bill

Jazz goes clubby this week with the big gig being a long one too – from 7.30pm on Friday until the early hours of Saturday at the Town Hall. Read

Stan Tracey Hexad at CBSO Centre

Listening to Stemless – drummer Clark Tracey and bassist Andrew Cleyndert sprinting in perfect synch at the back, the front line of Simon Allen on alto, Mark Armstrong on trumpet and Mornington Lockett on tenor blowing hard-bop bright, and Stan adding chunky fills to the spaces – it struck me this was jazz listening pleasure at its most essential. Read

Get Ready for Ms Colman's stunning new album

Album launches are always fun – there is a neat little artefact in a jewel case to celebrate, and there is the air of euphoria that comes with the relief that all those months of hard studio labour have at last borne fruit. Read

Stan's still the man who can on the piano

When is a sextet not a sextet? When it’s a hexad. And when is it a hexad? When Stan Tracey is at the piano, which he will be in Birmingham on Saturday. Read

Let ArtsFest light up your life at Town Hall

It could be a good year for ArtsFest. It usually rains on ArtsFest weekend, but surely there’s none left to fall? Read

Chris Bowden's Tomorrow Band back in the zone

Familiarity can breed complacency - and I say that fully acknowledging the risk that by stating the obvious I am just fanning those complacent flames. Read

Herbie's backing band provides many treats in its own right

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back, the big jazz news for the autumn is that Herbie Hancock is playing Symphony Hall on Thursday, November 20. Read

Relaxing reads for all those lazy days on the beach

With a certain summer holiday atmosphere showing itself in the jazz calendar this week – yep, not a lot of gigs – maybe the best way to spend your time is choosing something to read during those lazy days back in the hotel or caravan while it’s raining down on the beach. Read

All-star band to kick start the 25th Brecon Jazz Festival

There is one weekend when the sound of a saxophone and the taste of a Welsh cake feel like a wholly appropriate combination of sensual delights, and the coming one is it. Read

Soweto Kinch at Birmingham Town Hall

The ticket offer was that anyone under 21 and living in certain inner city postcodes could get free entry – an acknowledgement of Town Hall’s community function and Soweto Kinch’s dedication to the people he writes about and has been working with. Read

Sublime jazz for people who didn't know they liked jazz

Summer, it seems, has finally arrived. There is a certain sublime satisfaction in bringing sweating bodies and cold beer into close proximity, and not only will that be possible on Wednesday evening but the perfect soundtrack for such a conjunction is also on hand. Read

It's time for another peak into Soweto's fabled Basement

We’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, but at 8pm on Friday it finally arrives: Birmingham Town Hall associate artist Soweto Kinch presents Part 2, Basement Fables, of his A Day in the Life of B19 project for a big city centre home crowd. Read

Where have all the jazz gigs gone

The THSH brochure for September to November has arrived and I am browsing through it with a certain déjà vu. Read

Opportunities to remember the one and only Humph

Journalists are taught to approach the word "unique" with extreme caution, but their use of the editing scalpel may, perhaps, be avoided if the name Humphrey Lyttelton is mentioned. Read