ALL THAT JAZZ

Fancy a bit of Duke Ellington with your pint? Or Miles Davis with your G&T? Enter Britain’s jazz emporium. Outside London, Devon boasts the largest number of jazz musicians in the whole of Great Britain, and with a population of just one and a half million out of the total UK population of 59 million, that’s a hellava lot of folk who know their flattened thirds and sharpened fifths. From traditional through to mainstream and modern - you want jazz – you got it babe.

You won’t have to go far to find a pub that hosts one or two jazz nights a week. Throw in the specialist jazz clubs and jazz festivals and you could easily find yourself on a jazz holiday; and if you’re staying in Torquay, you don’t even have to drive to find it. Full trad, mainstream or modern – it’s all here. Why not start with trad and mainstream jazz at the harbour on a Thursday evening at the Devon Arms, 8-10 Park Lane, Harbourside, Torquay (tel: 01803 292360). They specialise in local bands with the odd celeb thrown in.

If you want to go big time, Ronnie Scott’s comes to Devon with John Crittenson and his Ronnie Scott’s quartet at The Speakeasy Jazz Club in Hullabaloos pub (5 Velland Avenue, Babbacombe Downs in Torquay, tel: 01803 324003). Their last gig was in April and their next is on December 3rd . Other national and local bands play mainstream and modern jazz every other Wednesday from 8.30 -11 pm. Hear Tony Harris on the vibraphone with his quintet on October 8th, Renato D’Aiello on October 22nd on the tenor sax; and on November 5th, the Teign Valley Stumpers promise to make it a bonfire night to remember. For all those budding jazz musicians, Speakeasy hold a Free & Easy night every other Thursday, when the guest bands aren’t playing. Just turn up with your own instrument and busk your way to fifteen minutes of fame with the resident rhythm section. For future bookings at Speakeasy, look in the Express & Echo, jazz magazines or tune in to BBC Radio Devon (104.3 FM) and Gemini (96.4 FM).

The Crown & Sceptre in 2 Petitor Road, St Marychurch, Torquay, (tel: 01803 328290) has been hosting trad jazz evenings on Sundays and Tuesdays from 8pm for about ten years, and book different musicians each week. R&B’s pub in the Terrace, Torquay has jazz on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Dixeland comes to town on the Riverboat Shuffle, which hosts jazz evening cruises from June to September, sailing from Dartmouth and Kingswear harbours up the river Dart. When the tide allows, the Shuffle reaches Totnes. The Robin Reece jazz band will entertain you with easy listening swing jazz while you wine and dine in true Mississippi style. Price per person is £16 including buffet, with children under 12 paying £9. Departures from the ferry passenger pontoon in Kingswear at 7pm, or from the pontoon by the Station Restaurant in Dartmouth at 7.30 pm. The catamaran holds 90 people, and is always full, so booking with Dart Pleasure Crafts on 01803 834488 is essential. The cruise runs every Wednesday during August, and on one to two Wednesdays a week during June, July and September. Call Dart Pleasure Crafts for details.

The award for jazz hotspot has to go to Teignmouth, whose annual jazz festival is a must for serious jazzers. This year it runs over the weekend Friday 14th to Sunday 16th November in November, and has attracted an international billing. The virtuoso Japanese pianist Satoko Fujii, described by Stuart Broomer of Coda magazine as "one of the more arresting new voices in jazz”, will be playing instrumental and vocal numbers with her Quartet; the Italian duo Luca Luciano on the clarinet and Franco Piccinno on the piano will play some of their own music plus diversions on works by Vivaldi, Poulenc and Astor Piazzolla; and the American saxophonist Greg Abate will be fronting the Devon Youth Jazz Orchestra. The renowned Finnish jazz pianist and composer Jarmo Savolainen is tinkling the ivories with the Damon Brown International Quintet. Local names such as the Plymouth based Roger Marks’ Armada Jazz Band and the Martin Dale Quartet will be there, together with the more exotically named Chris Watford’s Chicago Feetwarmers, The Beachcombers, Sunset Café Stompers, Devon Yjo, and the Curaçao Trio. The full schedule is available from the Tourist Information Centre, Teignmouth, contact details below.

The Festival is in its seventh year and is organised by the appropriately named Friends of Teignmouth Jazz Festival and is attended by people from all over the country. Tickets are on sale at the Tourist Information Centre, The Den, Teignmouth, Devon TQ14 8BE, tel: 01626 215555 (or 24 hour answerphone 01626 778333). Visitors often combine it with a Christmas shopping trip around Teignmouth’s many art shops.

Other prominent jazz towns in mid and south Devon are Exeter, Exmouth, Totnes, Plymouth. Cullompton and Dartmouth. It seems that the strains of New Orleans are everywhere.