We’ve had Jazz Clash Friday and Gig Jam Tuesday. Now welcome to Tough Choice Thursday, with four gigs going on tonight.
* Courtney Pine is the special guest player at a Prostrate Cancer Awareness Jazz Evening at the Bramall Hall, University of Birmingham campus.
It will feature a performance by The Notebenders, as well as a talk by Nick James, Professor of Clinical Oncology at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
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Other players will include Johnny Hoo, Tim Amann, Andy Peate, Ralf De Cambre, Wayne Scott and Dutch Lewis.
The event starts at 7pm, and £20 tickets are available from the Queen Elizabeth Online Shop or by calling 0121 371 7852.
* The Toby Boalch Sextet is playing the regular monthly Jazzlines slot in the Bramall Hall foyer. With pianist/composer Toby are Chris Maddock and John Fleming on saxophones, Richard Foote on trombone, Nick Jurd on bass and Jonathan Silk on drums. Toby has a new album out. The band plays from 5pm to 6pm, and it’s free. More at
* Meanwhile, Thursday is also the regular Silvershine Jazz Club evening, and the Andy Gayle Quintet is on the bill. The music starts at 9pm, tickets are £5 (£4 concessions). There is more at
* Over at Symphony Hall at 7pm, The Hour, another monthly Jazzlines series, features the Walsall Jazz Orchestra under the leadership of John Hughes.
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The band will be playing in the main hall and entry is £5. A great chance to hear this fine orchestra stirring it up on the same stage that usually accommodates the CBSO. More at
* Friday is a little easier. Start off at the Symphony Hall Cafe Bar at 5pm for trumpeter Nick Smart and his Afro-Cuban jazz group Trogon. Nick conducts big bands Troyk-estra and Stan Sulzmann’s Neon Orchestra, when he isn’t running the jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
This is a free gig - more at
From there head up to the Jewellery Quarter for Streetworks, Karen Street’s band which features an original line-up of her own accordion, Mike Outram on guitar, Andy Tweed on saxophones and Will Harris on bass. It’s happening upstairs at the Red Lion in Warstone Lane. This is a Birmingham Jazz gig, tickets are £10 and it starts at 7.45pm.
* Saturday is Mingus Discovery Day, with the late, great bass player remembered courtesy of the day’s curator, Alyn Shipton, assisted by Arnie Somogyi’s Scenes In The City band and producer Chris Read, with a full gig by the Somogyi band in the evening.
Arnie Somogyi, a bass player himself, formed the Scenes In The City band to pay tribute to his hero, and with him will be Tony Kofi and Karen Sharp on saxophones, Jeremy Price on trombone, Mark Edwards on piano and Clark Tracey on drums.
The Discovery Day starts at 11am, the evening gig is at 8pm. Tickets are £15 for the day, £14 for the evening, or £25 for both. More information at