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Bath Jazz Weekend 2025
3 January @ 5:00 pm – 5 January @ 6:00 pm
Fill those dull days after Xmas and New Year before going back to school and work with music of the highest international quality at the 5th annual Bath Jazz Weekend.
Tickets are available for the whole weekend, individual days or specific sessions – plus discounts for Under 25s and paid-up WSC Members – and Under 11s go free!
Friday 03.01.2025
Evening: Doors 5.00pm – programme begins 6.15pm
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW
Soundtrack by The Modern Jazz Quartet with Jim Hall & Bill Evans
With its dark jazz score and brooding atmosphere Odds Against Tomorrow was directed in 1959 by four time Oscar winner Robert Wise (The Sound of Music, West Side Story) . A classic of film noir, this tale of crime, corruption and the tension of racism stars Harry Belafonte. Shelley Winters and Robert Ryan.
KY OSBORNE’S KO QUARTET
Ky Osborne/Joe Steyn/Freddie Canton/Ollie Young
Pianist Osbone (scheduled to appear last year with Mail Sheard) and his new band are from the ever-active, far-sighted, inspirational Tomorrow’s Warriors – London’s seedbed for talented young musicians and original compositions and home of the already thriving next generation.
THE LAURA JURD QUARTET
Laura Jurd/Cori Smith/Tara Cunningham/Corrie Dick
Composer-performer Laura Jurd’s unique voice as an improvising trumpet player is at the heart of everything she creates, celebrating and innovating within the rich traditions of jazz and folk music whilst taking twists and turns that prove her to be one of the UKs most important new generation jazz artists.
Saturday 04.01.2025
Afternoon
Doors 12 midday – programme begins 1.30pm
DEE BYRNE’S OUTLINES
Dee Byrne/Tom Ward/Nick Malcom/Olie Brice/Rebecca Nash/Andrew Lisle
Outlines is saxophonist Dee Byrne’s new avant jazz project, playing original compositions and taking short musical sketches as springboards for this dynamic ensemble to improvise in ever fresh directions.
KEVIN FIGES’ YOU ARE HERE SEXTET
Kevin Figes/Jim Blomfield/Raph Clarkson/Tony Orrell/Riaan Vosloo/Pete Judge
You Are Here is a loving tribute to much admired but now sadly departed friends, mentors and collaborators featuring new arrangements of compositions by Keith Tippett, Elton Dean, Harry Miller, Dudu Pukwana and others by a sextet representing the strength and breadth of the vibrant Bristol scene.
Evening
Programme begins 6.30pm
SECRET PATH TRIO
Fraser Fifield/Tom Bancroft/Paul Harrison
In the hands of Fraser Fifield the low whistle and the Highland pipes deliver a unique and melodic repertoire that infuses jazz with Scottish traditions alongside the inspiration of leading Scots artists Paul Harrison on keyboard and drummer Tom Bancroft.
NANI VAZANA Solo piano & vocals
A unique instrumentalist and composer, Nani Vazana – visiting the Jazz Weekend from her home in Amsterdam – is one of the only artists in the world that play and compose songs in the ancient, matriarchal Ladino language, propelling it into the 21st century with socially pertinent lyrics, celebrating migration, gender and female empowerment.
MOLECATCHER: BALLAMY/LUFT/CHAPLIN
Iain Ballamy/Rob Luft/Conor Chaplin
The Jazz Weekend premieres this new trio, built around the ever-inventive, fulsome creativity of saxophonist Iain Ballamy and the award-winning virtuosity of guitariust Rob Luft – jazz musicians from two generation who have both achieved the rare distinction of of creating their own inimitable, unmistakable and uniquely individual styles.
Sunday 05.01.2025
Doors 12 midday – programme begins 1.00pm
RIBBONS
Rebecca Nash/Sara Colman/Henrik Jensen/Jonathan Silk
Centred around their eponymous original composition, Ribbons is the joyous musical partnership of Sarah Colman’s voice and Rebecca Nash’s piano, celebrating the intimacy and delicacy of songs from jazz and the realm of their favourite singer-songwriters.
SAROST: STABBINS/ROGERS/SANDERS
Larry Stabbins/Paul Rogers/Mark Sanders
Three magisterial improvisers: saxophonist Larry Stabbins, now well into his thrilling new chapter of musical exploration; Paul Rogers, back from France courtesy of the Jazz Weekend, with his fierce , unstoppable, insatiable comittment to testing the limits of the double bass; and drummer Mark Sanders, champion mainstay of the best in free improvisation.
CALENNIG New Year’s Gift
Huw Warren & Angharad Jenkins
As a perfect finale for the 2025 Bath Jazz Weekend, pianist Huw Warren and vocalist and violinist Angharad Jenkins present their new interpretation of Calennig, the Welsh traditional music that celebrates and welcomes the New Year. Based on the beautiful, ancient Plygain carols symbolising hope and new beginnings, the duo’s collaboration draws inspiration from the traditions of their native Wales and steps gently and melodically between the worlds of jazz and folk.
