Jazz Preview: Continental drift for festival by the sea

A meeting of French and UK jazz promoters in Paris last year prompted festival director Mike Gordon to make some Gallic bookings for his annual jamboree by the sea. The state-backed Orchestre National de Jazz tops the bill on the opening night, preceded by the multi-instrumental Hadouk Trio.

On the following evening the Afro-French singer Mina Agossi will be followed by the indestructible Jacques Loussier Trio, whose variations on themes by Bach and Vivaldi need no introduction. All this plus a roll call of top British talent in the refurbished Spa Grand Hall from September 23 to 25. “I think hearing what people are doing elsewhere will add an extra dimension to the weekend,” says Mike.

Meanwhile, if the autumn seems a distant prospect, Scarborough’s Coastival multi-arts festival includes a jazz day on February 19 in the Spa Ocean Room. Dennis Rollins’ Badbone and Co and the Sarah Ellen Hughes quartet play in the afternoon; the evening will be shared by the splendid Claire Martin and Jim Corry and James Russell’s Tribute to Atlantic Jazz.

Not forgetting the weekly meetings of Scarborough Jazz at The Cask where next Wednesday’s guest is multi-instrumentalist Tina Featherstone.