DROPPED into The Phoenix, George Street, last Thursday to catch Jules and The Gang, to be met by disgruntled jazz fans in hasty exit mode. It appeared that Jules had replaced the usual gang with a pop/soul band. This was a one-off and Jules will be back on Thursday with Frank Brooker, Bob Smeaton and Greg Wadman. Meanwhile, the Ian Chalk Quartet, a top York jazz attraction, will be at their usual spot at The Phoenix on Sunday at 8.30pm (01904 656401).

We are spoilt for choice this weekend, with two jazz concerts as part of the 2010 York Late Music Series. Although promoted by the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM), the concerts will be held in the Unitarian Chapel, St Saviourgate.

Tonight’s concert will feature the quintet World Service Project at 7.30pm, which includes University of York music graduates Tim Ower (saxophones), Raphael Clarkson (trombone) and outstanding pianist/composer Dave Morcroft.

Tomorrow’s concert will be by If Destroyed Still True (IDST), graduates of the Leeds College of Music and a big hit at the Black Swan, Peasholme Green, in February this year. IDST are one of the most exciting and innovative groups to have emerged in the UK in recent years. Tickets from 01904 658338.

Your alternative choice tomorrow night will be Richard Leach’s Seven Stars of Jazz, one of the UK’s foremost exponents of the Chicago/Dixieland style, disciples of the late Alex Welsh Band, at Jazz In The Spa, High Street, Boston Spa (01937 842544).

There is yet another option tomorrow, when Martin Speake (saxophone) and Colin Oxley (guitar) play a one-off programme of Ellington, Armstrong and Fats Waller at the Galtres Centre, Easingwold, at 7.30pm.

The Andy Hillier Jazz Trio has broken new ground in York with the sell-out series of First Tuesday Jazz Suppers at the up-market Dean Court Hotel (01904 625082), and the next falls on Tuesday.

As a result, there is a whole new culture of jazz with food in the city. Each week there is a Sunday afternoon Jazz Carvery at the Coach House Hotel, Marygate (01904 652780), and Thursday jazz with food at Churchill’s Hotel, Bootham (01904 644456) and at the Old White Swan, Goodramgate (01904 540911). Karl Mullen’s Band entertains at Churchill’s, while the Mardi Gras Band and Bejazzled with Mike Riley alternate at the Old White Swan. Next Thursday will be Bejazzled night.

Scarborough Jazz at the Cask operates on Wednesdays and next week’s guest will be everyone’s favourite saxophonist/clarinettist, Frank Brooker (01723 500570).

Young York drummer Eddie Hick is making waves on the London jazz scene, mainly with saxophonist Gilad Atzmon’s band, and Atzmon shares centre stage with Nicolas Meier on a new CD by the Meier Group.

Swiss guitarist Meier is a relatively new name in the UK, but his group is well-known in Europe, having shared the bill with such names as Brad Mehldau and Elvin Jones.

Drawing on a love for Turkish and Eastern music as well as Pat Metheny, Meier has developed his own distinctive sound. Mainly playing nylon string guitar, he also employs the lute-like glissanter and the Turkish saz. Atzmon and Turkish drummer Asaf Sirkis are ideal partners, sharing the affinity with Eastern music in these descriptive, and occasionally epic, melodies.

The album, entitled Journey, is just that, the music a continuous suite from the opening Sunrise, to final track, Sunset. The mixture of instrumental voices is intriguing – harmonica and saxophone in unison and harmony, piano and guitar taking up the story.

Journey is a fruitful meeting point between western jazz and Oriental folk traditions, driven by the invention of the five musicians.

• DIARY DATE: Possibly the best of the current crop of young women singers, Jacqui Dankworth’s Quartet will be at the National Centre for Early Music on Saturday April 17, at 7.30pm (01904 658338).