Jazz musician Chris Ingham and folk musician Chris Wilbraham cast their expert eyes over the local music scene

JAZZ with Chris Ingham: cjr.ingham@outlook.com/www.chrisingham.co.uk

Until Sunday, November 24

CAMBRIDGE JAZZ FESTIVAL (Various venues in Cambridge, cambridgejazzfestival.info) Concerts, workshops, hangs, jams and more, for over two weeks. Tickets going fast.

Saturday, November 16

ARBENZ X (Hidden Rooms, Cambridge, 2pm, £15 & £20, cambridgejazz.org, 01223 514777) An exhilarating, hand-picked multi-generational combo fronted by drummer Florian Arbenz and featuring Immy Churchill (voice), Nick Smart (trumpet/flugelhorn), Ivo Neame (keyboards), Jim Hart (vibes/perc) and Szymon Mika (guitar).

Sunday, November 17

PAT METHENY (Saffron Hall, Saffron Walden, 7pm, from £39, saffronhall.com) Guitar legend in his first ever solo tour in a 50-year playing career.

Monday, November 18

JAMES PEARSON/TIM BONIFACE QUARTET (Old Hall Girton College, Cambridge, 7.30pm, £12-£15, cambridgejazzfestival.info) A jazz portrait of George Gershwin with James Pearson (piano), Tim Boniface (saxes), Jeremy Brown (bass) and Steve Brown (drums).

Tuesday, November 19

TOM JIGGINS QUINTET (Maddermarket Theatre Bar, Norwich, 8.30pm, maddermarket.co.uk) Norwich Jazz Club’s house drummer leads his own group on tunes by composers Sidney Bechet, Bill Evans, Charles Lloyd and Steve Swallow alongside a number of his own well-crafted compositions to complete a diverse and delightful set. With Martin Hathaway (sax/clarinet), Vij Prakash (trombone), Simon Brown (piano), Simon Wood (bass) and Tom Jiggins (drums).

Friday, November 22

ALAN BARNES (Hunter Club Arts Centre, Bury, 7.30pm, £18, headhunterslive.org, 07799 650009) Multi award-winning multi-reedsman Barnes joins Chris Ingham (piano), Malcolm Creese (bass) and George Double (drums) for high-end modern swing and droll anecdote.

FOR THE DIARY

Sunday, November 24

KLEZMER WITHOUT BORDERS (Yalm Food Court, Norwich, 7.30pm, £15.50, yalm.co.uk) Klezmer fusing with jazz, latin and middle eastern sounds, creating a unique world music ensemble featuring Stewart Curtis (clarinet, saxes and flute), Ant Romero (drums/darbuka), Pete Billington (keyboard) and Alex Keen (bass).

Wednesday, November 27

ART THEMEN ORGAN TRIO (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Part of the Art Themen at 85: Live in Soho tour, the indestructible Themen leads this groovy trio with mischief and aplomb, strikingly supported by Pete Whittaker (organ), George Double (drums).

Sunday, December 1

CLARK TRACEY’S CHAMPION’S OF JAZZ (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15, ipswichjazzandblues.com) An all-star quintet of Art Themen (tenor sax), Simon Allen (alto sax), Bruce Boardman (piano), Andrew Cleyndert (bass) and Clark Tracey (drums) play tunes by Stan Tracey, Thelonious Monk and Clark Tracey.

Friday, December 6

A SWINGING CHRISTMAS (Diss Corn Hall, 7.30pm, £21, thecornhall.co.uk, 01379 652241) Festive fun with the Chris Ingham Quintet, featuring singer Joanna Eden (aka Jazz at the Movies) plus Mark Crooks (clarinet/saxophone), Geoff Gascoyne (bass) and George Double (drums).

Wednesday, December 11

JOHN LAW’S RE-CREATIONS (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £20, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) Jazz classics by Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis and George Gershwin, plus rock-era tunes from Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Stevie Wonder and Radiohead. With John Law (piano), Sam Crockatt (saxophone), Henrik Jensen (bass), Alex Goodyear (drums).

FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@tinyonline.co.uk

When looking for new music, recent episodes of Later with Jools Holland are rich mines. This week’s digging was typically rewarding. Among the edgy guitar laden sound of Melbourne’s Amyl and The Sniffers and Irish band Gurriers, there were some stripped down performances. Laura Marling accompanied herself singing two songs from her latest album Patterns in Repeat, one on guitar and one on piano. Jools interviewed Queen’s drummer Roger Taylor. They discussed how all the band members wrote but that Freddie Mercury was hard to compete with when getting songs onto albums. Roger’s singing voice was mentioned and he performed a beautifully touching version of Jealous Guy, accompanied, of course, by Jools Holland.

The performance that I was most impressed by came from Romany Gilmour, Dave Gilmour’s daughter. He opened the show with Pipers Call. As the chorus began a young lady in a green gown joined him centre stage. They smiled at each other and she contributed beautifully pure, unfussy vocals. After an interview referencing his legendary status with Pink Floyd, he and his band began playing Between Two Points. This time the girl in the green gown, Romany, was playing harp and singing lead vocal. It was a gorgeous, sure-footed performance. I looked her up for more examples of her work but all I could find were open mic performances on YouTube, some of them with her dad.

If Romany lived around here she would probably have played at The Banham Barrel in South Norfolk, at one of the Wednesday night events entitled Later with James Viera. They began in 2020 when The Barrel was one of the first venues to stage live music as lockdown lifted. When restrictions returned, the sessions continued online, with artists streaming onto The Barrel’s Facebook page from their homes. Later, the embrace of technology continued. Host James Veira wanted to learn how to video and stream for his daughter’s wedding. Now multiple cameras are used to film artists and audio is taken directly from the sound desk. These videos are streamed live as artists perform.

When the sessions began, most acts were singer songwriters and folk artists. This has developed more recently to include bands and wider styles, including hip hop and rap. After owner Brian McAllister met Angelle Joseph of BBC Introducing at First Light Festival in Lowestoft, it was arranged that artists who play live on her programme often play a Barrel session shortly afterwards. The sessions are great to watch in person or online and are a joy to perform at, with great on-stage sound, opportunity to hear and meet new musical friends and the chance of having a high quality video to score more gigs with. I can send details to those that would like to play there.

Here are next week’s gigs:

Friday, November 15

Risbygate Sports Club, 8pm, The Milkmaid Folk Club: Rattlebox, support from John O’Kane. £12.
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 7.30pm, Fred’s House+Mulholland Jive. £10.
The Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club: Christine Collister, support from Clark and Johnson. £15.
Wingfield Barn, 7.30pm, Reg Meuross. £14.

Sunday, November 17
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 5-8pm, Folk session.
Cambridge Junction, 8pm, Sam Lewis. £24.50.

Monday, November 18
The Dove, Bury St Edmunds, 7.30pm, Folk session.
Colchester Arts Centre, 8pm, The Rheingans Sisters, support from Elly Tree. £17.50.

Tuesday, November 19
Rose and Crown, Bury St Edmunds, 4-7pm, daytime session.
Storey’s Field Centre, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club presents Kris Drever, support from Heather Cartwright. £18 adv.
Colchester Arts Centre, 8pm, Calan, support from The Marcellas. £23.

Wednesday, November 20
The Boosh, Bury St Edmunds, 8pm, Simon Chrispin, Ed and Jane, Steve Cook.
Banham Barrel, 8pm, Later with James Veira.

Friday, November 22
The Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club: Hunter Muskett, support from Hugh Boyde. £10.