In a changing world, and in a genre where change is everything, it’s still comforting to find that some things don’t change: one is that the Bryan Corbett Quartet will always lift the spirits, and the other is that while everyone else might have gone on holiday in August, Stratford Jazz just keeps on keeping on.
Friday's Rush Hour Blues gig is at the Mint Hotel in Brindleyplace (the usually Symphony Hall foyer bar series traditionally goes walkabout in August) and trumpeter Bryan Corbett, pianist Levi French, bassist Ben Markland and drummer Neil Bullock will be on hand to cool that fevered brow and slow the melting of the ice in your cocktail.
The music starts at 5.30pm and runs till 7pm with a short break in the middle.
On Sunday, Stratford Jazz has something special: the extraordinary saxophone playing of Simon Spillett.
Despite working his way up the long and hard way, with loads of practice and endless gigging, Spillett really came into the limelight with his 2007 album Sienna Red, which focused on the work of the late British tenor giant of the 1960s, Tubby Hayes.
As a result he developed a reputation in the media as somehow channelling the spirit of Tubby, but although he does have that big sound combined with a speedy way around the instrument, he is by no way a one-trick pony. He cites John Coltrane as just as strong an influence on his playing, and he really does feed all the greats into his fluid style.
He will be playing in a quartet on Sunday with John Patrick on piano, Zoltan Dekany on bass and Miles Levin on drums. Entry is £10 and the gig starts at 8pm in The Chapel, in Shakespeare Street, Stratford-upon-Avon. You can find out more at www.stratfordjazz.org.uk
There is also time to plan ahead, and I would urge you to free yourselves of all commitments for the evening of September 6, so you can go to a new venue in Coventry and hear one of the most amazing players to emerge from the European jazz scene in years.
Saxophonist Marius Neset is 25 and from Norway, and his debut album Golden Explosion has received rave reviews. He will be leading a quartet of Nick Ramm (in for Django Bates, who appears on the album) on keyboards, Jasper Hoiby on bass and Anton Eger on drums.
The venue is Earlsdon Cottage, a pub in Warwick Road, Earlsdon,with a long history of presenting jazz, but this is a new venture by Jazz Coventry. Entry is £10 (£7 for students). It will start at 8.30pm. For more information, go to www.jazzcov.co.uk
