Sheffield Jazz aims to bring the best of national and international jazz to the city, providing opportunities for people from all backgrounds in the Sheffield City Region and throughout Yorkshire, to hear and learn from some of the greatest of current artists. It is a company limited by guarantee and a charity and it is managed by a small committee of Directors/Trustees (all unpaid) supported by a team of volunteers. We have over 45 years’ experience of promoting and staging gigs, very good links and relationships with bands and their agents and other promoters, both regionally and nationally. On average we have brought 17-20 bands each year to the our main venue in Sheffield, which since September 2016 has been Crookes Social Club, which can seat over 200 people and has a good Yamaha SU 131 piano. at the Crucible Studio, a 390 seat theatre-in-the-round (in collaboration with Music in the Round), and occasional gigs elsewhere, including Sheffield University. Bands booked recently range from The Stan Tracey Octet and other larger bands such as Mark Lockheart’s Ellington in Anticipation and Pavillon, to Malija, Andy Sheppard, Yazz Ahmed, Soweto Kinch, and Django Bates’ Beloved (which was broadcast by Radio 3). We typically stage gigs on Friday nights, which is the night our audience seem to prefer. However Sheffield Jazz is closely associated with The Lescar, a smaller venue run by one of our Committee members which operates on Wednesday nights and we try to coordinate our bookings with The Lescar so as to ensure complementarity, with Sheffield Jazz typically booking the more established names. Our plans seek to build on existing partnerships with Music in the Round, University of Sheffield, other jazz promoters in the North and Midlands, and various other Sheffield-based organisations. Our plans complement and support activity delivered by the Northern Jazz Promoters network with which we are actively involved, and we are an active member of the national Jazz Promotion Network. Sheffield Jazz also runs Saturday Morning Workshop sessions for anyone interested in jazz improvisation to play with other musicians in a friendly, relaxed atmosphere.
