Jazz notes

Alongside trumpeters James Lancaster and Richard Hardy appeared a Ripon Grammar School sixth former. Completely un-phased by the expertise all around her, the plucky young woman tore through a few hot choruses to the delight of an audience overflowing on to the stairs outside the jazz loft. On Sunday (29th) night, the sessions continue with James Lancaster, Trevor King and friends and on Wednesday night with Karl Mullen and company as the Jam Tarts.

Also enjoyable was the slightly more mature, but still twinkly attractive, Annie Whitehead and her band, who rocked Hovingham Village Hall last Saturday night, courtesy of Simon Thackray and The Shed. With his usual exciting booking policy, Simon will present the Mondriaan Quartet on Wednesday. The string group will feature an extraordinary new instrument, the Octachord, which has eight electrically vibrated springs and the jazz element will be compositions by pioneering musician/composer, John Zorn. Phone The Shed on 01653 668494.

On Tuesday, Scarborough Jazz welcomes guest Joel Purnell, a saxophonist practising the hard-driving Johnny Griffin style. Phone 01723 379818 for details.

On Wednesday (3rd), Hulljazz at the Goodfellowship Inn presents the big band sound of Jazz Vehicle. This long-established 18-piece rejoices in the music of Basie, Kenton, Woody Herman and you will find more details from Ken Ford 01482 492868.

For five days from Wednesday, FuseLeeds will be a major international music festival, with an exciting jazz element steered by the iconoclastic Django Bates.

On Wednesday, Gary Husband's Force Majeure will play Leeds Wardrobe. The seven-piece band features the staggering Randy Brecker, Jerry Gooman and Jim Beard; details from 0113 383 8800.

American guitar superstar Bill Frisell brings his group to the West Yorkshire Playhouse on Thursday, with guest Djelimady Tounkara from Mali. Details from 0113 213 7700. Django Bates and his Human Chain band play the Playhouse on March 5. For more information on FuseLeeds call 0113 222 3434, or go to www.fuseleeds.org.uk

In the dear, dead days of vinyl I often had trouble coping with the amount of music on a double album, so imagine my alarm when faced with a four-CD issue. However, I am happy to report that listening to Count Basie and his Orchestra-America's Number One Band (Columbia/Legacy) was a total joy when accompanied by a nice cup of tea and a biscuit.

Disc one opens with Basie's first recording session in 1936, four tracks attributed to Jones-Smith, Inc (trumpeter Carl Smith, drummer Jo Jones), on which Lester Young re-invents the sound of the tenor sax. By tracks two and three, vocalist Jimmy Rushing has established himself as the voice of the Basie band, with Evenin' and Boogie Woogie. Goin' To Chicago on track six was destined to become his theme song, but the lyrics on It's The Same Old South on disc three are a revelation.

Given the clich that Americans "don't do irony", listen to this 1940 recording. Buck Clayton's hot, Armstrong-style melody leads us to expect a cosy tribute to the Southern States, until the very first verse, when Rushing tells us that the Same Old South is "a children's Heaven, they don't start to work till they're seven". Verse two goes on to tell us that "the old fashioned get-together, just pass me the tar and the feather".

The first ten tracks of disc four are from a BBC radio broadcast from New York's Famous Door and although characterised by a period ambience, there are few audio flaws, a tribute to recording engineers of 1939.

News just in of a rare appearance from probably the only York band to play without the use of performance-enhancing drugs - sorry, drums. The Modest Jazz Quartet will be at the Three Legged Mare on Sunday night. The band has big plans for 2004, including a CD and a possible live recording for an XXX film. "Travel in hope, I say," opined keyboard player Paul Kind.

Updated: 15:15 Thursday, February 26, 2004