I’m getting a bit worried about calendars and diaries and clashes. The jazz scene in Birmingham is a healthy one but it’s not particularly big, and so it seems unfortunate that, for example, Friday and Tuesday evenings seem to have become popular.

Last Friday the choice had to be made between the new trio of illustrious saxophonist Andy Sheppard at the CBSO Centre, or the very excellent White Star Line Band of student bassist Hamish Livingstone at the Ort Cafe.

On Tuesday you could go and see the John Fleming/Matt Gough Quintet at the Jam House, but then you would be missing (Bink!)// - yep, I think that’s the right punctuation - at the Spotted Dog. Or vice versa.

The five-piece is a new one led by two Birmingham Conservatoire grads, John Fleming on tenor saxophone and Matt Gough on trumpet. Completing the line-up are Andy Bunting on keyboards, Nick Jurd on bass and Jonathan Silk on drums.

Entry to the Jam House is free, the music starts at 8.30pm and this is a Jazzlines gig. More info at www.jazzlines.co.uk

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Meanwhile, (Blink!)// has Adam Jackson on alto saxophone, Richard Foote on trombone, John Lowrie on drums and Rob Anstey on bass. Entry is free at The Spotted Dog, but you are heartily recommended to add some money when the hat goes round. The music starts at 8.30pm, and there is more at www.cobwebcollective.com

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Luckily no clashes tomorrow evening when the exceedingly generous Cabal launches its new album, or on Sunday evening when the exceptionally gifted tenor saxophonist Josh Arcoleo is at Stratford with his all-star quartet and an album to promote.

Cabal is a trio of trumpeter Sam Wooster, double bassist Nick Jurd and drummer Euan Palmer. The band’s mantra, if the neat cover on its CD is an indication, is “we need humanity more than cleverness” and while it might seem clever to sell your CDs, that’s not Cabal’s way.

As they put it:

“The band request that in the interest of sharing, anyone who has a copy of the album please replicates it as many times as desired and sends it via post or the internet to anyone that would like a copy themselves.”

The album launch is at the Ort Cafe tomorrow evening, starting at 8.30pm. Entry is free, the music is free and there is a free copy of the album for everyone.

I could get to like these guys!

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Josh Arcoleo is a Royal Academy jazz course graduate, and won the 2011 Yamaha Parliamentary Jazz Scholarship as well as the Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize, which gave him a recording contract with Edition Records.

His debut album for the label, aptly titled Beginnings, finds him with Ivo Neame on piano and the rhythm team from the Kit Downes band, Calum Gourlay on double bass and James Maddren on drums.

It’s a strong album, with Arcoleo showing he has most of the modern tenor bases covered, able to illicit that sweet English tone from the instrument, but also to add some big and brassy overtones to it while negotiating some tricky scales and time signatures.

The Josh Arcoleo Quartet is at No 1 Shakespeare Street on Sunday evening from 8pm.

Entry is £8 on the door. More at www.stratfordjazz.org.uk

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Finally, the new Birmingham Jazz has a couple of gigs coming up: Sarah Gillespie and Gilad Atzmon at the Barton Arms on Friday, 1 June, and Chris Biscoe and Tony Kofi in the Profiles Quartet at the Red Lion in the Jewellery Quarter on Friday, 29 June. Hm, there’s that Friday thing again. Oh well. More at www.birminghamjazz.co.uk