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FESTIVAL OF WESSEX 2026 • 43 KIM CYPHER Swanage Jazz Festival The 35th Swanage Jazz Festival features a wide-ranging programme of over thirty well known and much-loved British artists including The Nigel Price Trio, The Alan Barnes Quartet, Steely Jazz, John Etheridge and Christian Garrick, Alex Clarke, The Kim Cypher Band, Jo Harrop and trio, and the Tim Whitehead Quartet. The programme reflects three significant jazz anniversaries. Miles Davis’s 100th birthday is celebrated with performances by The Steve Waterman Octet and Dorset trumpeter Andy Urqhart. John Coltrane’s 100th birthday is marked by a recreation of Coltrane and Hartman on Impulse! featuring Mark Lockheart and singer Marvin Muoneke. And British Jazz piano legend Stan Tracey is remembered with a performance of his timeless Under Milk Wood suite by his son Clark Tracey’s Sextet - including two narrators. The contemporary programme features The Pete Roth Trio with noted drummer Bill Bruford, Yetii, Joe Webb and his trio, Laura Jurd and Rob Luft, Ivo Neame and his trio. And the customary New Orleans programme includes performances by The Pete Allen Big Jazz Band, Roger Marks’ Fiesta Five, The New Orleans Jazz Bandits, The Hot House Combo and The Riviera Ramblers. 10 - 12 July: Mowlem Theatre and Sandpit Field, Shore Road, SWANAGE, BH19 1DD. 01929 290095 / swanagejazzfestival.co.uk LONDON TANGO TRIO Burton Bradstock Festival of Music and Art The 44th Burton Bradstock Festival of Music and Art gets underway on 15th August with the Art Exhibition in the village hall, showcasing an impressively high standard of works for sale by Wessex artists. The range includes framed art work, greetings cards, ceramics, glassware, and jewellery. From a feature landscape in oil, to a piece of jewellery, or cards as a souvenir of a delightful Dorset staycation, there is always plenty to select from. The Music Festival opens on Sunday 16th August with a tea party and live music in the Rectory Gardens at 3pm, followed by a four- day programme that includes Castaway, Amelia Coburn, Chris Garrick, Lucie Dixon, the Atea Wind Quartet, and Aileen Sweeney. 15 - 23 August: Various locations in BURTON BRADSTOCK, Dorset. 07710 466876 / burtonbradstockfestival.com . The Spooky Men’s Chorale The Spooky Men’s Chorale is a vast, rumbling, steam powered and black clad behemoth, seemingly accidentally capable of rendering audiences moist eyed with mute appreciation or haplessly gurgling with merriment. Based on the twin pillars of grand foolishness and the quest for the perfect subwoofer-rattling boofchord, the Spooky Men seek to commentate on the absurdity and grandeur of the modern male armed only with their voices, a sly collection of hats and facial hair, and a twinkle in the eye. 27 June: Salisbury Playhouse, Malthouse Lane, SALISBURY, SP2 7RA. 7.30pm. £34 / £19. 01722 320333 / wiltshirecreative.co.uk. 30 July: Westlands Entertainment Venue, Westbourne Close, YEOVIL, BA20 2DD. 7.30pm. £30.50 / £2901935 422884 / westlandsyeovil.co.uk . Warren James James Kirk and Warren McIntyre are ‘Warren James’. James Kirk is a founding member of Glaswegian indie legends Orange Juice and his jangly, melodic guitar riffs were integral to the ‘Sound Of Young Scotland’, which in turn gave birth to indie music as we know it and inspired countless guitar players. He also wrote their jangletastic song Felicity . James has now joined forces with Warren McIntyre of melodic pop folk-rockers Starry Skies for this fresh new combo. WARREN JAMES + THE LOVELY BASEMENT + THE CHARLIE TIPPER REBELLION 22 August : The Louisiana, Wapping Road, BRISTOL, BS1 6UA. 7.30pm. £16.50. 0117 926 5978 / thelouisiana.net .