JAZZ is on the cusp of its centenary, so how does it grab the attention of a fickle public – and why are attendances falling?

Although the music came to Blighty early, with the Original Dixieland Jazz Band (1919), it was not until the 1950s Trad Mad years that the music became a pop teenage phenomenon.

Trad jazz was everywhere, on TV and radio, in films and in concert at every town hall in the country. Soon, the modern jazz of Dave Brubeck elbowed its way into the equation.

Check the dates – the 1950s. The original trad/mod jazz followers are now in their late 60s and early 70s, and increasingly loosening their nerveless grip on transient mortality. Hence the fading of their ageing, wrinkly presence as a jazz audience.

This may be the main factor behind the reduced attendance at some of the long-established Yorkshire jazz venues, such as the Scarborough and Wakefield jazz clubs. Have too many dropped off the perch?

Wakefield Jazz seeks opinions on how to tackle the problem. Send your views to wakefieldjazz.org or email Eric Parkin at jazzieric@blueyonder.co.uk

You could respond in person at tonight’s Wakefield Jazz presentation of the Stephen Keogh Quartet (01977 680542). Drummer Stephen is visiting professor at Birmingham Conservatoire and long-standing member of Peter King’s Quartet.

Fortunately, the youthfulness of jazz musicians continues to amaze, as last Tuesday’s trio of young jazz groups at Kennedys Café Bar bore witness.

However, the living antiques are still with us from the 1960s Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, as Three Bonzos And A Piano at Howden Live tomorrow night (01405 767282). Three original Bonzos have teamed up with pianist Dave Glasson to recreate a pungent whiff of those dear, long-gone days. How can you resist?

The rival attraction at Jazz In The Spa seeks your nostalgic attention with the traditional sounds of Terry Brunt’s Dead Good Boys, a six-piece line-up of Cheshire and Lancashire’s finest (01937 842544).

The new, hip venue for Sunday night jazz in York is the Phoenix, George Street. The resident quartet, playing jazz and bebop standards, is led by trumpeter Ian Chalk. The next fortnightly Thursday session at the Phoenix, with Frank Brooker and Greg Wadman fronting, will fall on December 17, with Bejazzled at the Old White Swan, Goodramgate (01904 540911), falling on the same night.

On Wednesday, Scarborough Jazz at the Cask features the Jamil Sheriff Quartet (01723 500570).

Thursday, the Mardi Gras Band will be away from the Old White Swan on a previous engagement, but Martin Kid Boyd has put together a one-off killer band to fill the bill. Boogie on down.

The Dean Court Hotel has advertised a programme of jazz dinners and suppers for December. The original dates with the charismatic Andy Hillier Jazz Trio were December 11, 12, 18 and 19, but phone 01904 625082 for an update, since there are rumours of possible cancellations.

The National Centre for Early Music always features jazz as part of its programme. The impetus of November’s jazz weekend continues next Friday with the Geoff Gascoyne Quartet. After years of touring with Jamie Cullum, bass player/composer/ arranger Geoff returns to York with his new group.

The quartet includes Scottish jazz legend Jim Mullen (guitar), young Australian Graeme Blevins (alto saxophone) and Sebastiaan de Krom (drums). The bonus addition will be Trudy Kerr (vocals) in a programme of music from their new CD, Pop-Bop (jazzizit records), new jazz arrangements of some favourite pop music from the past 30 years.