September traditionally heralds the opening of a new season of Jazz at Progress. For reasons that will be all too familiar with you, that will not be possible this year. However, we remain as committed as ever to ‘get the show back on the road’ as soon as that becomes possible, starting with three wonderful bands postponed from Lockdown time earlier this year – Andrew McCormack’s Graviton, Vasilis Xenopoulus’ Dexterity Quintet and the Clark Tracey Quintet.

Meanwhile, the irrepressible spirit of jazz is ‘alive and kicking’ across the Thames Valley as you will see from the live gigs listed on our Jazz Gig Calendar. We shall do our best to keep it as up to date as possible, though in these strange times, arrangements may be subject to sudden change.

We are keen to support further endeavours – ‘live’ or ‘streamed’, so please submit information to us via the Submit Your Gig form on the website.

We look forward to seeing you in what we hope will be the not too distant future.

Best regards

The Jazz in Reading Team

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Jazz in Reading

Jazz in Reading is a not-for-profit association of six enthusiasts who share a passion for jazz and seek to promote the best of live jazz across the Thames Valley on this website and to present regular concerts in the convivial surroundings of the Progress Theatre, Reading and beyond. Meet the Team

Jazz at Progress has played host to world class musicians such as Gilad Atzmon, Alan Barnes, Andy Sheppard, Tony Kofi, Clark Tracey, Dave Newton, Gwilym Simcock, Claire Martin,  and Art Themen, local hero Stuart Henderson, American guests Darius Brubeck, Ethan Iverson and Greg Abate, and the emerging talents of a new generation of musicians such as Xhosa Cole, BBC Young Jazz Musician of 2018, Jonny Mansfield, Tom Smith and the Ingham brothers Dom and Rory, not to mention the unique ‘jazz entertainment’ packages of Get the Blessing and the Moscow Drug Club,

We are proud to have presented ‘Finding Home’, an innovative collaboration between Georgia Mancio and Kate Williams embracing words, strings and jazz rhythm and Mark Lockheart’s ambitious orchestral suite ‘Days on Earth’.  Also, we have presented ‘Jazz & Film’ nights dedicated respectively to Tubby Hayes and the 80thAnniversary of Blue Note Records.

We hope that this broad spectrum of styles represents the very best in the contemporary UK scene with an appeal to all lovers of live jazz.  Read reviews of past gigs

Our friends at the Progress Theatre received the  well-deserved Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (the equivalent to an MBE) in 2020. The theatre, tucked away in The Mount off Christchurch Road, Reading has a special atmosphere, beloved of audiences and musicians alike. ‘Audiences listen here,’ commented one musician who regularly plays at London’s top jazz spots, while multi-instrumentalist Ben Holder said, ‘It’s a great venue. We had a blast. Brill audience!’ The Progress also has a well-stocked bar!

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Preferred dining: We have a special arrangement with The Queens Head (a short stroll from the theatre at 54 Christchurch Road), offering an excellent range of food including a full à la carte menu and specials dishes. Just show your Jazz at Progress ticket for 7% discount off food and drink on the day of the show you are attending; tickets to be presented when ordering.

email: info.queensheadreading@gmail.com
tel: 0118 986 3040

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Jazz Gig Calendar

When you’re in the mood to listen to live jazz, check out lots of other gigs in the area in our Jazz Gig Calendar. The calendar listings are compiled and edited by our listings editors, Paul Johnson and Jim Wade. If you’re a musician, promoter or venue owner, you can submit your gig to the calendar here

Promote Your Gig

We can help you promote your jazz gigs, at a realistic and very reasonable cost. We have a growing mailing list of 860+ jazz fans in the Reading and Thames Valley area, and active Facebook and Twitter feeds, taking our reach to well over 1,800 jazz lovers in the region. Musicians, bands, venues and promoters can contact us to find out more here

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