On his first British tour, American jazz pianist Kenny Drew Jr leads off the J Night mini-season of 3 Nights In March in York on Thursday.

J-Night, York's international jazz series, is promoting a trio of intimate concerts: the Kenny Drew Jr Trio at the National Centre for Early Music on March 13 at 8pm; saxophonist Alan Barnes with the Kid Boyd Band, Temple Hall, York St John College, March 20 at 8pm; and Spin Marvel, led by drummer Martin France, as part of the York Late Music Festival at the National Centre, March 30, 7.30pm.

Looking forward to Drew's appearance with drummer Sebastiaan de Krom and bass player Geoff Gascoyne, J Night promoter David Porter says: "This year is the first time that Kenny has toured this country and we're delighted to have secured a date for him in the perfect acoustics of the Early Music centre."

On March 20, Alan Barnes, below, goes through his award-winning repertoire on all manner of saxophones, bass clarinet and flute in a candle-lit concert with a bar for added cabaret atmosphere. Barnes, instrumentalist of the Year in the 2002 BBC Radio Jazz Awards, also has received the album of the year accolade in Jazz Journal for Manhattan, his recent collaboration with Conte Condoli.

For his J Night gig, he will be fronting a York sextet, the Kid Boyd Band, in a night of 1920s classics, Count Basie-type swing arrangements, bebop, Louis Jordan jump'n'jive tunes and Sonny Rollins-influenced numbers with a Caribbean beat.

"We're really pleased to have arranged this concert because it gives our fine local musicians an opportunity to play alongside the best jazz talent in Britain today," says promoter Porter, of Creative Arts promotion.

J-Night is backing the final concert of the York Late Music Festival on March 30, when former members of Loose Tubes take to the stage under the name Spin Marvel. Keyboards hotshot Django Bates is not named in the line-up in the brochure but he will be there, now that Stale Storlokken is not travelling from Sweden. No disrespect to Stale, but the unexpected addition of Django has to be good news.

Spin Marvel are undertaking their first tour under the leadership of drummer and electronics experimenter Martin France, who will be playing alongside Iain Ballamy, saxophones, John Parricelli, guitar, and Tim Harries, bass, as well as Bates.

Spin Marvel bring together percussion, samples, sound loops and sequences with live drums, guitars, keyboards and saxophones. Leader France says: "I'm interested in combining tracks with a sequenced rhythmic feel found in modern recordings and adding live music by integrating pre-written soundscape percussion loops with jazz improvisation."

On the ticket front, only 50 remain available at £15 for the Kenny Drew Jr Trio; the Alan Barnes night is expected to sell out, with prompt booking advised (£8 in advance, £10 door); and there is no urgent rush for Spin Marvel (£12, concessions £10). To book, ring 01904 658338.

Updated: 11:28 Friday, March 07, 2003