Jazz at Progress | Derek Nash with the PJC Quartet | Tickets on sale soon
Friday 5 June 2026 | Progress Theatre, Reading | 7: 30pm | £20.00 (£18.00 concessions, £10 under 16) plus maximum 5% booking fee.
Photo by Tatianta_Gorilovsky
Derek Nash saxophones
Terry Hutchins guitar
Jim Pollard piano
Stuart Barker bass
Brian Greene drums
British Jazz Award-winning Derek Nash – bandleader, composer, arranger, record producer and engineer – is one of the UK’s busiest jazz musicians. He is leader of six bands, each with its own unique sound and featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the UK today.
Since 2004 Derek has been a full-time member of the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra of which he is Musical Director and Principal Saxophonist and he is also a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion. With these bands, he has enjoyed sharing the stage with many great UK and international artists. He is one of the most in-demand and respected guest instrumentalists for jazz clubs across the UK and has received numerous nominations in the British Jazz Awards.
Derek is a prolific composer, regularly penning compositions for his various bands and undertaking commissions. He has also composed for television and radio. As an arranger, and following in the footsteps of his father, Pat Nash (who was an arranger for the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra) Derek has worked for many major artists including Jools Holland, Annie Lennox, David Sanborn, Nile Rogers, Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan and many more.
In addition to his own recordings, Derek has also guested with other major artists including Don Grusin, Jack Bruce, Bob Dorough, Rumer and Shakatak.
As a record producer and engineer, Derek received a gold disc for his work with Jamie Cullum for his ‘Pointless Nostalgic’ album and has recorded some of the leading UK jazz artists including Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, Georgie Fame, George Melly, Alan Barnes, Geoff Gascoyne and Digby Fairweather.
Derek is supported at this gig by the PJC Quartet. This is the terrific house band of Pangbourne Jazz Club which was co-founded in 2016 by the present guitarist Terry Hutchins and the original bassist: the late Keith Howard. Apart from Terry the rest of the quartet is Jim Pollard on piano, Stuart Barker on bass and drummer Brian Greene who co-hosts the club with Terry Hutchins.
Whenever Derek visits Pangbourne to play with these guys the atmosphere is electric. Derek is the ultimate showman and entertainer quite apart from being an incredibly talented musician who regularly brings along and plays between five and seven saxophones of various types and we are truly delighted to be bringing Derek and this great supporting quartet to Progress Theatre in Reading.
Here is a six-minute video of Derek talking about and demonstrating the different sounds of some of the saxophones that he regularly plays. The last minute or so of the video he talks about the makes and specifications of the reeds and mouth pieces he uses in the different instruments:
