As the Autumn approaches, Worcestershire promoter Music Spoken Here are ready to launch their new season of exceptional live jazz, funk & soul gigs with two programs at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester.
Now in its fourth year, Music Spoken Here has brought over 200 exceptional musicians to the Worcester venue, many appearing in the city for the first time. Their “Kind of Jazz” program features contemporary jazz, funk and fusion on the second and fourth Thursday every month from September to June. In May this year, their new “Sunday Service” program was launched, featuring soul, gospel, RnB and reggae on the last Sunday of the month.
The project was instigated by Evesham-based Dave Fuller in 2022 to connect people in the West Midlands with music that is currently underrepresented in the area. Fuller personally curates and funds the program, travelling around the country to find outstanding artists that are doing something new with the music.
Many artists appearing on the program have previously worked extensively with major artists (Sting, Jeff Beck, Oasis, Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, Steve Winwood, Lenny Kravitz). A number of emerging artists have also appeared, including the 2024 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year Ursula Harrison (and fellow finalist Klara Devlin), two former Young Drummer of the Year winners (Nathan Shingler and Tom Potter) and alumni of the London-based artist development organisation Tomorrow’s Warriors, through which Mercury Prize winning Ezra Collective met.
Announcing the last song of an incredible set in December last year, Brimingham-based trumpeter Bryan Corbett, who performed with his Instrumental Groove Unit noted
“I’ve watched what’s been going on here over the last 40 gigs and it’s a wonderful thing they do and we as musicians need places like this to come and express ourselves. This place could turn into something really quite special for this kind of music. There’s not too many venues that give bands that come here the chance to do what they do, so keep supporting it!”
In his comments ahead of the third anniversary gig in May 2025, award-winning Herefordshire journalist Ian Mann, who runs thejazzmann.com and has attended and reviewed most of the Music Spoken Here events, noted that Music Spoken Here brings “a strand of jazz to Worcester that is not represented at any of our other local jazz clubs, which are far more straight ahead. MSH really does offer something unique for the area and as can be seen from the names listed above we have had the pleasure of seeing some absolutely brilliant musicians in Worcester over the course of the last three years, musicians who in many cases are rarely seen and heard outside London.”
The new “Kind of Jazz” program kicks off in September with “Re:Play” – a series of five select bands and artists that appeared when the project was just getting up and running. Fuller explains
“I don’t usually rebook bands – even if they pack the place out. The idea of this project is to connect people to new artists and music, so they can follow the ones they enjoy elsewhere. There are plenty of artists waiting to get onto our program so there’s no need to do repeats. However, when we were getting started, audiences were very small – a couple of gigs got around 30 but often there were just a dozen or so. It takes time to build trust with a new audience, but the start of this year saw a marked increase in attendance. I thought it would be good to bring back some of those early artists that took a punt on a new venture and show them that Worcester does get behind great music. I’m sure this time round they’ll be playing to more faces than furniture!”
The series starts on Thursday 11th September with young London-based band Zeñel, who combine modern electronic dance music with jazz improvisation. The lineup features Laurence Wilkins on trumpet, guitar and electronics, with Jay Verma and Alex Wilson both on keys and three-time Young Drummer of the Year finalist Zoe Pascal on drums. Re:Play continues with Tom Ford (25 Sep), Robert Castelli (9 Ot), Resolution 88 (23 Oct) and Rosie Frater-Taylor (13 Nov).
The “Sunday Service” program also resumes on Sunday 28th September, featuring soul classics from the Elle-J Walters Band. For more information visit the Music Spoken Here website.