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/chrisingham.co.uk
Friday, June 21
CROOKS/FOWLER QUINTET: AL & ZOOT - A SALUTE (Hunter Club, Bury, 7.30pm, £19, headhunterslive. org, 07799 650009) The legendary 28-year Al Cohn/Zoot Sims tenor sax partnership specialised in good-natured, cultured, straight-ahead jazz. Mark Crooks and Robert Fowler revisit Al and Zoot’s uniquely appealing music with consummate artistry.
JOANNA EDEN/ENRICO TOMASSO QUINTET (Sheringham Little Theatre, 7.30pm, £15, sheringhamlittle theatre.com, 01263 822347) A salute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong with singer Joanna Eden, trumpeter Enrico Tomasso and Simon Brown (piano), José Canha (bass) and Paul Smith (drums).
Sunday, June 23
SI CRANSTOUN (Apex, 7.30pm, £28, theapex.co.uk, 01284 758000) Popular singer and entertainer Cranstoun is a fabulous throwback to the old swing blues shouters of the 1940s & 1950s.
FLETCH’S BREW (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £18, 01787 211865, fleecejazz.org.uk) Virtuoso-heavy quintet blending the idioms of fusion, funk, bebop, reggae and rock. Led from the drums by Mark Fletcher and featuring Freddie Gavita (trumpet), Paul Stacey (guitar), Jim Watson (piano) and Steve Pearce (bass).
Thursday, June 27
MARK LOCKHEART’S DREAMERS (Hidden Rooms, Cambridge, 7.30pm, £20, cambridgejazz.org) Stylistically free and slightly psychedelic new project from saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart featuring keyboardist Elliot Galvin, bassist Tom Herbert and drummer Dave Smith.
Friday, June 28
JAZZ AT THE GUILDHALL (Guildhall, Bury, 7pm, £55 incl canapés and two-course supper, email: fundraising@swcab.org.uk) Regular fundraising event for the Citizens Advice Bureau featuring singer Joanna Eden and Chris Ingham (piano), Owen Morgan (bass) and George Double (drums).
FOR THE DIARY
Sunday, June 30
RESOLUTION 88 (Yalm Food Court, Norwich, 7.30pm, £16.50, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Leading exponents of authentic, 1970s-style jazz funk with keyboardist Tom O'Grady leading from the Fender Rhodes, plus Tom Smith (sax), Tiago Coimbra (elec bass), Oli Blake (percussion), Ric Elsworth (drums).
Tuesday, July 9
RENATO D’AIELLO (Maddermarket Theatre Bar, Norwich, 8pm, £16/£8 u25, norwichjazzclub.co.uk) Fiery Italian saxophonist plays his favourite standards with Simon Brown (piano), Simon Wood (bass), Tom Jiggins (drums).
Wednesday, July 10
CHRIS INGHAM TRIO (Orwell Hotel, Felixstowe, 12pm, £12, felixstowemusic.com) A lunchtime concert featuring the 1960s jazz and soundtrack music of beloved comic actor Dudley Moore, with Chris Ingham (piano), Malcolm Creese (bass) and George Double (drums).
STAN GETZ/CAL TJADER TRIBUTE (Stoke By Nayland Golf Club, 8pm, £22, fleecejazz.org.uk, 01787 211865) A celebration of the warm and luxurious 1950s tenor saxophone/vibraphone collaboration of Stan Getz and Cal Tjader with Nat Steele (vibes), Mark Crooks (tenor sax), Colin Oxley (guitar), Mátyás Gayer (piano), Jeremy Brown (bass) and Mark Taylor (drums).
Sunday, July 14
BARB JUNGR (Venue 16, Ipswich, 2.30pm, £15, ipswichjazzandblues.com) Vivid song interpretations from the singer’s new album My Marquee, re-imagining songs by many of the acts who appeared at legendary London venue. With Jenny Carr (piano), Richard Sadler (bass) and Jonathan Lee (drums).
Thursday, July 18
CHRIS ALLARD’S MELODIC COLLECTIVE (Colchester Arts Centre, 7.30pm, £16.50, colchesterartscentre.com) Searching and atmospheric music played by a quintet led by guitarist/composer Allard plus Robbie Robson (trumpet), John Turville (piano), Olí Hayhurst (bass), Will Glaser (drums).
FOLK with Chris Wilbraham: chris.wilbraham@tinyonline.co.uk
I noticed messages on social media concerning folk music gigs in Pakenham. The guy that is organising them is Dave Reece, so I asked him about them:
“I moved to the pretty village of Pakenham from Hertfordshire four years ago and love almost everything about it. After visiting St Mary’s Church in the village I had a feeling this would be a great venue to stage music. The church was in dire need of funds and so with the church’s support I started investigating what was possible. In October 2023, I staged a trial concert featuring the St Edmundsbury Male Voice Choir (70 of them!) to see if it would work. The church was full to bursting and the evening a great success, raising much-needed funds. It should be noted that all proceeds go to the church and/or good causes, no profit is made by anyone other than the artists.
My vision is to make this a regular venue for music, mostly folk music but with other genres considered. I am also encouraging female bands and artists to come where possible. To date, I have booked three bands to play here over the next few months.
Our opening concert on Friday, September 27 will feature a very talented young lady whom I have admired for over 15 years. She was one of the original All Angels, whose first three albums sold over a million copies. Her name is Daisy Chute and she comes from London and today sings with a beautiful voice, plays her guitar and banjo and sings thoughtful songs in a folky/contemporary way. She is also the most delightful person to deal with and she puts on an outstanding live concert.
Secondly, I have pulled off a real coup by booking folk legends Lady Maisery, who many of you will know as folk festival headliners from Yorkshire. They will be appearing at our church on Friday, October 18.
Finally, my biggest capture to date is Harriet who appears on our church stage on March 15, 2025. Harriet is the voice of Karen Carpenter and sings mainly covers of 70s songs, including The Carpenters and Barry Manilow, in that honeyed voice.
Tickets for each of these events can be purchased at www.ticketsource.co.uk/pakenham-church.”
Not much content from me this week. I write this in Worcester having cycled here from Land’s End on our way to John O’Groats in aid of Myeloma UK. I did sing Show of Hand’s Cousin Jack as we passed St Michael’s Mount and read Jim Radford’s The Shores of Normandy to my cycling partner Alistair in a pub on Dartmoor. We saw a stork and a hen harrier as we cycled along narrow lanes edged with hedgerows thick with foxgloves on our way to Land’s End and watched a buzzard take off from the Somerset Levels with an eel wriggling in its talons. We have traversed the rivers Fal and Fowey on ferries and ridden around broken glass on cycle paths in Avonmouth. We have ridden over the Rivers Tamar and Avon and alongside The Bridgewater and Taunton Canal, The Gloucester and Sharpness Ship Canal and the mighty River Severn.
Here are next week’s gigs:
Friday, June 21
Milkmaid Folk Club, Risbygate Sports Club, Bury St Edmunds, 8pm, Rich Grainger and Chris Parkinson.
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club: Showcase with After the Flood, Chris Free & TSOPA, 2Steps4Words. £10.
Saturday, June 22
Conopy Theatre, Bungay, 8pm, Georgia Shackleton. £12.90.
Monday, June 24
Colchester Folk Club, 8pm, Matthew Atlas, support from Foreign Fields. £17.80.
Thursday, June 27
John Peel Centre, Stowmarket, 7.30pm, Rainbow Girls. £18.
Sudbury Arts Centre, 7.30pm, Rory McCleod.
Friday, June 28
Golden Hind, Cambridge, 8pm, Cambridge Folk Club Double header with Songs of the Folk+Kevin Hunt Trio. £11.
Saturday, June 29
Bury Folk Festival, Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds, 11am til 9.30pm, Reg Meuross, John and Lynn Ward and many more.
