Jazz musician Chris Ingham and folk music's Chris Wilbraham with all the gigs happening in the Suffolk area
JAZZ with Chris Ingham: cjr.ingham@outlook.com/chrisingham.co.uk
Sunday, October 12
BLUES & GREENE (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15/£7.50, ipswichjazzandblues.com) Exploring the intersection of blues and jazz while showcasing the remarkable talents of Harry Greene (sax/guitar), with Chris Ingham (piano/vocal), Owen Morgan (bass) and George Double (drums).
ANDY BOWIE QUARTET (The Tram Depot, Cambridge, 7.30pm, free) Long-established weekly session featuring philosophy professor Bowie on saxophone plus rhythm section.
FOR THE DIARY
Sunday, October 19
NIGEL PRICE ORGAN TRIO + ALEX GARNETT (Yalm Food Hall, Norwich, 7.30pm, £15, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Top UK groove guitarist backed by the powerhouse rhythm section of Ross Stanley (organ) and Joel Barford (drums), plus special guest Alex Garnett (saxophone).
Wednesday, October 22
JOSEPHINE DAVIES (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Saxophonist/composer blending classical, jazz and folk music, creating an intensely dynamic sound infused with the Nordic quality of her Shetland roots. With Alcyona Mick (piano), Dave Whitford (bass) and James Maddren (drums).
Friday, October 24
PETE LONG QUINTET: BIRD & DIZ (Hunter Club Arts Centre, Bury, 7.30pm, £20, headhunterslive.org) An erudite, exciting salute to the vintage modern jazz of saxophonist Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and John Birks ‘Dizzy’ Gillespie, featuring musical director of Ronnie Scott’s Orchestra Pete Long (alto sax) and music director of NYJO Mark Armstrong (trumpet).
Thursday, October 30
FREDDIE GAVITA (Diss Corn Hall, 7.30pm, £18, thecornhall.co.uk) Best Trumpet winner of the 2017 UK Jazz Awards, Norwich boy made good Freddie Gavita has cemented his place as a stalwart of the British Jazz scene as a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Club Quintet. Tonight he salutes one of his trumpet heroes, the legendary Freddie Hubbard, with Chris Ingham (piano), Malcolm Creese (bass) and George Double (drums).
Wednesday, November 12
JOHN ETHERIDGE’S BLUE SPIRITS (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £22, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Master guitarist leads a groove-based organ trio showcasing a creative, bluesy attitude. With Pete Whittaker (organ) and George Double (drums).
Saturday, November 15
STEVE WATERMAN (Haverhill Arts Centre, 8pm, £15.50, haverhillartscentre.co.uk) Waterman is a leading UK trumpeter, winner of numerous British Jazz awards, and with credits that include John Surman, Carla Bley, Andy Sheppard, Tony Coe, Don Weller and many others. He appears with hostess/saxophonist Hannah Horton and her band.
Friday, November 21
ELLA & DUKE (The Apex, Bury, 7.30pm, £27, theapex.co.uk) Top-flight swing sounds as Peter Long’s renowned Echoes of Ellington Orchestra joins with vocalist Sara Oschlag to celebrate the recordings made by Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington in the 1950s and 1960s.
Wednesday, November 26
DEREK NASH SAX APPEAL (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £33, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Long-running, entertaining mini – big band featuring five saxophonists (leader Nash, Matt Wates, Vasilis Xenopoulos, Gary Plomley, Bob McKay) plus Neil Angilley (piano), Phil Scragg (bass) and Mike Bradley (drums).
Saturday, November 29
HARRY DIPLOCK TRIO + 1 (Hunter Club Arts Centre, Bury, 7.30pm, £20, headhunterslive.org) Django-style acoustic jazz with Harry Diplock (guitar), Remi Oswald (guitar) and Pete Thomas (double bass) with special guest Casey Whyte (violin).
FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@ tinyonline.co.uk
Last month, I received this message about an event happening on Friday, October 17, from Mark Baker, who is one fifth of singing group ShantyFolk:
“We are sponsoring an event at the Hunter Club, Bury St Edmunds, in aid of St Nicholas Hospice: ‘Songs for St Nic’s’. Sound Tradition are headlining the evening. We have long admired their wonderful harmonious arrangements of traditional folk songs and were delighted when they readily agreed to sing at this event. ShantyFolk will be in support, with a selection of rousing singalong sea shanties.
“Every penny of the ticket price will go to St Nic’s. We are looking forward to what will undoubtedly be a great night of joyful unaccompanied singing. Tickets are available on the Hunter Club website.”
ShantyFolk consist of five friends who met while singing with a community choir in Lavenham in 2014.
“We started singing shanties after being asked to ‘do something different’ for the choir and were fortunate that we could continue to practice in 2020 under the ‘rule of six’ when the choir had to stop meeting. As a result, we emerged from lockdown in 2021 with a repertoire of sea shanties and songs of the sea, using our choral background to improvise harmonies. We have enjoyed singing at local groups, clubs and festivals ever since. We find that shanties appeal to a broad age range, from those familiar with the Wellerman, a chart success during lockdown, to those who remember singing shanties at school. The history of these old songs is fascinating, and although never having set foot on a sailing ship, we can now talk confidently about halyards, capstans and Cape Horn!”
Sound Tradition’s Dave Bartlett told me about his own journey into unaccompanied singing.
“Moving to Suffolk in 2000 meant opening a jewel box of folk singers and their traditional songs: Sam Larner, Harry Cox, Walter Pardon, Phoebe Smith and, for me, the brightest gem, Peter Bellamy. Most of these remain unknowns to the casual or contemporary folk fan but this does not diminish their value. Inspired by their wonderful singing and a dormant passion to revive old songs, Sound Tradition was born shortly after settling here and was nurtured by local folk song followers at The Milkmaid Folk Club in Bury. After some line-up changes, we became the four-piece a cappella group that exists today. We had one mission: to sing unaccompanied traditional English Folk. And this amidst a profusion of instrument-laden folk groups. There we were: four voices. ‘So. . . you just. . . sing’ has often been the surprised reaction to our modus operandi. For some it’s a difficult concept when guitars, and associated chordophones, have become so inextricably linked to folk. Perhaps we have a second secret mission: to champion the voice within voices – a truly wondrous and harmonious instrument. Also easy to carry and set up on stage. Sound Tradition would like to thank ShantyFolk for inviting us to sing alongside them at The Hunter Club for this good cause and look forward to a great evening celebrating our working and living history. Please come along and support St Nic’s - as well as vocal folk.”
The event is listed here with next weeks gigs:
Friday , October 10
Woolpit Institute, 7pm, Woolpit Festival: Kelly and Woolley, Robin Torbitt, Cambridge and Walker, The Larks. £12.
Saturday, October 11
Lawshall Church, 7pm, The Emergers. £10.
Canopy Theatre, Beccles, 7.30pm, The Bookshop Band. £16.13.
Sunday, October 12
Woolpit Institute, 7pm, Woolpit Festival: Terence Blacker, ‘Old Enough to Know Better’. £12.
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 7.30pm, Jerry Josephine, support from Ella Spencer. £15.
Monday, October 13
Colchester Arts Centre, 8pm, Chris While & Julie Matthews, support from Silbury Hill. £18.
Friday, October 17
Hunter Club, Bury St Edmunds, 7.30pm, ‘Songs for St Nic’s’, charity event - Sound Tradition, support from ShantyFolk. £16.
Whitings Bar, Bury St Edmunds. 7.30pm. Ryan Harvey.