Julian Joseph And Mica Paris Open Band on the Wall On Friday

Jazz pianist Julian Joseph and soul singer Mica Paris feature on an already sold-out double bill at the club on Swan Street in the Northern Quarter to celebrate the return of a venue which in the 1970s saw it established as a jazz club by local jazzer Steve Morris and his business partner Frank Cusick who bought what was the George and Dragon pub.

As well as jazz the club became a beacon for the burgeoning punk and post-punk scene in Manchester and bands such as the Buzzcocks and The Fall played early gigs there. To mark this other important aspect of the club’s post-punk heritage A Certain Ratio return to the club for a gig on Saturday night. The club’s distinctive “Dizzy Gillespie” logo has been retained following the refurb and the programme manager is now Mike Chadwick who brings his experience as a jazz DJ and programmer at the Brewery Arts Centre in Cumbria to Manchester.

Band on the Wall to some on the local scene was a barometer of the health of jazz in Manchester and when it closed its impact was keenly felt although local clubs such as Matt and Phred’s have prospered in the meantime and the summertime Manchester Jazz Festival has built up a reputation for individual programming and an emphasis on encouraging the local scene with commissions. The club’s return may stimulate the local scene to new heights. Band on the Wall aims to pick up where it left off with a programme that can stand shoulders tall with the best eclectic-based jazz rooted clubs in the UK, mature enough to feature a range of genres while mounting credible jazz gigs at the same time.

The “Rebirth” programme from 25 September-31 October features acts from across the musical spectrum including international jazz and world artists with enhanced facilities at BOTW now including an education suite plus audio-visual and sound studios at new multi-use social space, the Picturehouse. Following the opening gigs on Friday and Saturday further opening month gigs include: The Bays (Sunday 27 September); Bugge Wesseltoft plus Stuart McCallum (Thursday 1 October); Jazzanova (Monday 5 October); Mike Walker Sextet (Thursday 8 October); Five Corners Quintet (Wednesday 14 October); African Jazz All Stars (Thursday 15 October); Gwyneth Herbert (Saturday 17 October); Kirsty Almeida (Sunday 18 October); Bassekou Kouyate (Thursday 22 October), and Eivind Aarset (Saturday 24 October).

– Stephen Graham

For more go to bandonthewall.org

Julian Joseph who opens Band on the Wall on Friday is shown here in solo action recently. His new album, Dance of the Three Legged Elephant, with classical cellist Matthew Barley, is reviewed in the October print edition of Jazzwise out now.