A rainy night in Soho maybe (hey whaddya expect, it’s Glastonbury Festival’s opening day) but there’s no damp squibs at Pizza Express Jazz Club as Boogie Wonderland hits town courtesy of piano giants Axel Zwingenberger and Ben Waters, drummer Charlie Watts and his former next door neighbour, bassist Dave Green: collectively the ABC and D of Boogie Woogie.
Home to some of the most radical and forward looking jazz ever played in the UK for the last 20 years east London jazz venue The Vortex is staying true its radical roots and offering specially priced tickets at just £4 each five nights a week between July and September this summer for NUS and TUC trade union members.
London’s Docklands may not be the first district in London to spring to mind when it comes to putting on jazz.
The Herts Jazz Festival next month, running over three days from 19-21 August, marks the first outing for a festival that has long been a dream for local fans and musicians, and has been born out of the recently revived Herts Jazz Club.
Guitarist John Etheridge next month celebrates 40 years as a professional musician with a week of gigs at Pizza Express Jazz Club in London.
September’s Scarborough Jazz Festival proudly celebrates a link-up with the lively French jazz scene this year.
The Barbican in London plays host to three of the most talked about jazz-influenced singers on the current scene on 5 July in Sing the Truth featuring Angelique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves and Lizz Wright.
The Spitalfields Summer Festival next week on 21 June features a fascinating double bill with two of the most talked about jazz groups of recent years appearing at Shoreditch venue Village Underground.
Having just turned 70 earlier this month Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts nonetheless shows no signs of hanging up his sticks just yet as he prepares to play two special nights at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London on 24 and 25 June.
When Tony Levin, the internationally respected free jazz drummer, died aged 71 back in February, his passing was met with much grief and sadness around the jazz community.