Bristol’s month in jazz – May 2026

Mayday, mayday! Help! It’s another month with four (count em’) festivals to think about … But first: this month the Trinity Centre celebrates 50 years as one of Bristol’s most cherished venues. That’s a half century of artistic quality and diversity they have brought to the city, including many great jazz nights. If you’d like to thank them in person there’s a special free all-dayer (Sun 10) headlined by the legendary Smith & Mighty. Festival-wise the month kicks off with Cheltenham Jazz Festival (Fri 1-Mon 4) with top names including Joshua Redman and Bill Frisell. The packed programme of Bristol Diaspora Festival (Fri 1-Sun 10) is a multi-media celebration of the region’s cultural diversity involving various venues, while Jam on The Horizon (Sat 2) rocks venues across St Judes in a day and night programme including Joe Armon Jones, Kanda Bongo Man and Quantic. The annual Bath Fringe Festival (Fri 22 – Sun 7) boasts a dependably eclectic smörgåsbord including the Fairfield Ethio-Jazz Project with Laura Jurd and Will Gregory and a collaboration between Adrian Utley and Evan Parker. Check out the various websites for full details. And check out how many times you can find sax player Dan Newberry in the following text – he’s a busy boy!

Piano players feature in some eye-catching dates this month, starting with Robert Mitchell’s high energy Little Black Book (Lantern Sun 17). With Zayn Mohammed on guitar and Laurie Lowe drumming the trio reignites the fusion fuse with explosive results. The Beacon also hosts Go Go Penguin (Fri 22) with Chris Illingworth’s piano augmented by electronic keyboards for their latest Necessary Fiction project, a further exploration of their distinctive post-minimalist sound. There’s less of a groove-emphasis in Invisible Apples (Spirited Bristol, Sun 24), pianist John Baggott’s duo with trumpeter Pete Judge exploring John’s often reflective compositions, and famed keyboard virtuoso Fergus McCreadie comes to the Jam Jar (Wed 27) accompanying avant-folk violinist Laura Wilkie in her explorations of the Hebridean Waulking song culture.

Young pianist Emile Hinton was impressive playing alongside Allexa Nava’s tenor sax at Jazz Stroud last month, so his trio gig at the Bebop Club (Thur 21) should be well worth catching. The Club also has the return of regular favourite pianist Ray D’Inverno’s Quintessential Groove (Thur 14) and the annual visit of Ireland-resident John Donegan (Thur 28). Formerly of this parish, John’s always superb piano playing will be enhanced in a quartet including Dan Newberry’s tenor. Tom Berge leads his TB3 piano trio at Tobacco Factory (Sun 3), there’s the monthly opportunity to visit piano trio Yetii’s contemplative post-scandic jazz world (Greenbank, Thur 7) and Hammond virtuoso John Paul Gard is at Old Fish Market (Sun 24).

Back in December ’25 Tony Orrell’s Big Top were booked to play the last ever Wednesday jazz night at Bristol Music Club. Happily promoter Ollie Alden stepped in to rescue the weekly session and now Tony’s twin-drummer improv feast returns (Jazz at Bristol Music Club, Wed 13). The club will also feature tenor sax dynamo Dan Newberry’s Quartet (Wed 20) and saxophonist Kevin Figes all-star You Are Here sextet (Wed 27). The project celebrates the work of the late and much-missed pianist Keith Tippett and associated acts from the early 70s and their debut album releases this month on Jazz Now. May also sees the publication of Martin Phillips’ Keith Tippett –  Mujician, an authorised biography of Keith telling his remarkable life story through a feast of anecdotes from friends and colleagues complemented by two CDs of unreleased recordings. Kevin Figes also has a gig at Old Fish Market (Sun 10) and a duo set with guitarist Matt Hopkins at El Rincon (Thur 21) while Dan Newberry has a trio set at Sugar Loaf (Sat 2).

There’s a diversity of female vocal talent on offer, starting with the latest Jazz In The Loft night featuring highly entertaining singer/poet/composer Gwyneth Herbert (Tobacco Factory, Sun 2) and likely to be a sell-out. The Jam Jar has rising soul-jazz star Ego Ella May (Thur 7), this tour hotly tipped by The Guardian as one to watch. Moscow Drug Club frontwoman (and Jazz In The Loft curator)  Katya Gorrie brings her cabaret-swing style to Spirited (Sun 10) and it’s good to see singer/percussionist Cathy Jones Balanca Trio (El Rincon, Thur 14) bringing her trademark Latin Jazz repertoire – and if Latin’s your thing don’t forget the excellent Canteen Latin Descarga jam night (Tue 19). The effortlessly cool vocals of Ruby Wood front the electro-ambient grooves of Leeds collective Submotion Orchestra (Beacon, Thur 14). Trombonist Raph Clarkson’s Equal Spirits project saw him diving deep into South African music and jazz so his coming together with the marvellous vocals of Sisanda Myataza and guitarist Adam Stokes’ trio at St Georges (Wed 20) promises to be a celebration of that rich culture.

Adam’s trio is the house band for the Stag & Hounds Sunday sessions – guest names for May still TBA – but the threesome will need to get their skates on on Sunday 31 after playing the Sunday lunchtime set at Spirited, Bristol. It’s a bit of a guitar-themed month at Spirited, starting with firebrand Neil Smith joining Dan Moore’s Hammond and Matt Jones drumming (Sun 3), then Snazzback‘s versatile fret-hacker Eli Jitsuto fronts a quartet of Dan Newberry, Dan Moore with Matt Stockham Brown drumming (Sun 17). Guitarist James Chadwick’s fondness for jazz arrangements of familiar 60s pop numbers is at the heart of his Walrws quartet’s run through of reimagined classics (Bebop Club, Thur 7). Harder edged post-bop guitarist Dan Waldman is at Old Fish Market (Sun 3), with saxophonist Martin Kern also playing there (Sun 17), and rising star guitarist Joe Herbert brings his trio to Fringe (Tue 5).

In another of those cases of nominative determinism – think Hammond player Ruth Hammond or saxophonist Ben Waghorn – it’s not hard to guess Maria-Christina Harper’s chosen instrument. The Harper Trio (St George’s, Fri 29 lunchtime) is a fiery combination of her assertive harp with Josephine Davies’ scorching sax and Neil Cowley drummer Evan Jenkins with predictably gripping results. St George’s also has the empathetic duo of saxophone star Emma Rawicz and big name pianist Gwilym Simcock (Thur 14) taking the Great American Songbook as the starting point for inspired improvisations. The Pointless Beauty Quartet make the most of bass player Al Swainger’s ambient groove compositions (Cotham Parish Church, Fri 29) with Gary Alesbrook’s trumpet/flugelhorn a cool and funky embellishment to the sound.

World-flavoured grooves kick off the month with Brian D’Souza’s electro-acoustic Auntie Flo (Strange Brew), much favoured by Gilles Peterson, swiftly followed at the Bell (Thur 7) by the George Mabuza Group’s celebration of the late great George. A much-loved and missed player and composer, his music is rich in Afro-Caribbean heritage. Megastars Nubiyan Twist are at Electric Bristol (Thur 8). There’s unexpectedly laid-back ambience to the JFS session (Mr Wolf’s, Tue 26) with guests ‘nature-inspired’ London 6-piece Happy Garden, and a similarly smooth groove to Glasgow’s Ari Tsugi (The Bell, Sat 30).

Nothing laid back about the usual slew of brass behemoths: Horning Glory (Mr Wolf’s, Sun 3), Bristol Hornstars (Canteen, Thur 14) and Brass Junkies (Canteen Fri 22), each offering their take on that New Orleans funk’n’swing sound. More contemporary ‘disco funk’ comes from 7-piece Parisian outfit Cotonete (Jam Jar, Sun 24), another highpoint in a funk-filled month that offers Jack Mac’s Funk Pack (Croft, Sun 3), Felonious Funk & Flo Breeze (Mr Wolf’s, Sat 9), Wally Badarou headlining Strange Brew (Fri 15), Freshly Squeezed (Mr Wolf’s, Fri 15), jazz-rappers Kosher (Croft, Sun 17) and newbie trio Howell, Giudici & Milnes (Gallimaufry, Tue 19).

The Hen & Chicken’s regular Sunday Social afternoon swing dance has great vocalist Lucy Moon joining the JNP Trio (Sun 3), and Fringe favourite Marvin Muoneke picks up that Great American Songbook (Thur 7) once again. Jump jivers Eliza and The Pinstripes are at Tobacco Factory (Sun 10) and 20s speakeasy jazz band Shanghai Shuffle are at The Greyhound, Fishponds (Sat 23).  There’ll be more old-school jazz sounds from Ruby Jazz at Canteen (Wed 27).

That same night – Wed 27 – No 1 Harbourside launch a monthly dinner night with live music from Djammy Dodgers bringing their unusual flute-led take on manouche swing. More straightforward Django-style outfit Sephora Swing are at The Oxford (Sat 16) and hot new jazz-folk collective The Peccadilloes do their gypsy jazz thing at Tobacco Factory (Sun 24).

There’s a clutch of contemporary classical events, starting at St Stephens with Pulsion (Thur 7) performing a new clarinet quartet composition from Liam O’Connell and a solo piano performance by DEEMS. The Cube then has Xiu Xiu improvising pianist Hyunhye Seo (Sat 9) with support from the pairing of guitarist Matthew Grigg & SALTINGS’ electronics as well as Prior. Nick Mulvey offers more conventional neo-classicism at Electric Bristol (Wed 13) and the sumptuous audio-visual world of electronic minimalist Max Cooper (Sat 16) will make full use of the Beacon Hall’s spacious ambience

The improv month kicks off with SWIG at Star & Dove (Mon 4) hosting veteran free guitarist and film maker John Bissett, a pioneering name since the 70s. IGH claim to have ‘some of Earth’s noisiest experimentalists’ at The Old England (Fri 8) including Leeds-based trumpet/bass duo Iris Casling & Sam Spencer and drone-scape bowed guitarist Raiments. That same night at Kino four ‘obscure sonic alchemists’  frame a deep listening session, with Seth Cooke and Tina Hitchens improvised electronica a highlight. Finally, Swiss improvising saxophonist Tapiwa Svosve joins Richard Scott’s experimental viola and Luigi Marino’s percussion to headline a night of experimental musics at The Cube (Tue 26).

And if conceptual electro-pop experimentation is your thing singer Lucrecia Dalt’s decidedly individual performance at the Lantern (Mon 4) or the Tears of Acquaintance tour of Shanghai-based singer/producer Shii (Exchange, Wed 13) might fit the bill. Or there’s the jaunty ambient poptronics of Assorted Potions, also at Exchange (Thur 14).

Jams

Mr Wolf’s has weekly Donut Filler (Weds), Stag & Hounds have their guest-led Sunday Sessions and the Old England have Wednesday Community Open Jam sessions.

Mr Wolf’s also has JFS jams (Tue 5, Tue 19).

The Fringe has: Hot Club Jam (Mon 4), Jazz Rapport Jam (Sun 10), Peanut Butter Jam (Mon 11), Jazz Rendezvous Jam (Mon 18) and Let’s Talk Jam (Mon 25)

Canteen has Canteen Jazz Session (Tue 12) and Canteen Latin Descarga (Tue 19)

Dark Horse has Free Jazz Gachapon (Thur 7), Jam Jar has Door is Ajar (Sat 30), Cafe Grounded Fishponds has Hot Jazz Jam (Thur 28).