Jazz of Birmingham

[4] Jazz has been popular in Birmingham since the 1920s,[1] an era when interest in the music within England was otherwise largely confined to London.

[7] The Palais also maintained its own resident bands that combined notable visiting American musicians such as Sidney Bechet[2] and Emile Christian[2] with emerging local musicians who would go on to establish the native British jazz tradition, such as Bill Harty,[8] Billy Jones,[9] Jack Raine,[10] and Jack Payne.

The musician-led Cobweb Collective also present regular jazz sessions in several venues around the city.

Jazz musicians associated with the city include Andy Hamilton, Soweto Kinch, Ronnie Ball, Tony Kinsey, Douglas "Dougle" Robinson[4] and King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys,[13] a group formed in 1986 around saxophonist-singer Mark Skirving (born 13 March 1966, pseudonym "King Pleasure")[Note 1] originally called Some Like it Hot (later The Satellites) before assuming the current (as of 2015) name.

[14] The busiest promoter of contemporary jazz in the city is the voluntary organisation Birmingham Jazz, which mounts dozens of concerts every year featuring local, national and international artists in venues such as the CBSO Centre, the mac arts centre, the Glee Club and Symphony Hall.