We hold monthly gigs in the spacious Willow suite at Venue 16, Tuddenham Road, Ipswich. The IJBC is a not-for-profit organisation run by jazz and blues enthusiasts whose sole aim is to bring the very best acts to Suffolk’s county town.
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Drumming great Clark Tracey brings his all-star quintet to the Willow suite for our final gig of the year.
His stellar line-up features Art Themen on tenor sax, Simon Allen on alto
sax, Bruce Boardman on piano and Andrew Cleyndert on bass.
Clark will be featuring a selection of his late
father Stan Tracey’s finest compositions along with classic
Thelonius Monk tunes.
There’ll also be a sprinkling of
Clark’s original material too, so this will be an early
Christmas present for Ipswich’s jazz-loving concert-goers.
Talking of the festive season, the ticket price includes a
complimentary mince pie and there’ll be a chance to win
a Christmas food hamper in the raffle.
The Wonder of Stevie celebrates the genius of Stevie Wonder, with soulful vocalist, Noel McCalla, award-winning saxophonist, Derek Nash and a band of world-class musicians.
For more than 19 years, Noel McCalla’s vocals were featured with the iconic Manfred Mann's Earth Band, and his long association with the Morrissey Mullen Band earned him wide acclaim.
Derek Nash has played in Jools Holland’s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra since 2004 and is also a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion. He has won several British Jazz Awards throughout his career and has performed with Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Amy Winehouse and many more.
Their band features musicians who shared stages and recording studios with a wide variety of music legends including Rod Stewart, The Bee Gees, Paul McCartney, David Gilmour, Nile Rodgers, Martha Reeves, Chaka Khan and Alfie Boe.
This show will be in two halves and is not to be missed.
The welcome return of one of this country’s very best blues-rock acts. On their previous visit to Venue 16 the trio came close to taking the roof off the place with their impressive array of original songs and cover versions.
Handling guitar duties and lead vocals is former Dr Feelgood star Steve Walwyn. Alongside him are the legendary Specials bassist Horace Panter and ex-Badfinger drummer Ted Duggan.
In the summer of 2024 the three piece released their debut album, Righteous, which did not disappoint. Full of their impressive material, the CD captures these seasoned musicians at their very best.
Multi-award-winning jazz vocalist, lyricist and producer, Georgia Mancio, celebrates her 25th anniversary in music.
A supreme storyteller and formidable force, Georgia’s authentic performances have won her two Parliamentary Jazz Awards (Best Vocalist 2021, Best Album 2020), and nominations at the Jazz FM,
British Jazz and Urban Music Awards.
Her revered partnership with Grammy-winning pianist / composer, Alan Broadbent, has yielded three albums, performances across Europe and the US, including Ronnie Scott’s and Jazz at Lincoln Center, and over 40 co-written songs.
For her eagerly awaited return to Ipswich, Georgia will be accompanied by Gareth Lockrane (flutes and keys), Andrew Cleyndert (bass) and
Dave Ohm (drums)
An afternoon of jump blues, jazz and swing from one of this region’s most popular retro acts - The 251s. Hailing from that hot bed of rocking rhythm and blues - Southend-on-Sea - this is a band guaranteed to get any joint jumping.
They are in much demand in their native Essex and the Ipswich Jazz And Blues Club is delighted to give them the opportunity to entertain the good people of Suffolk.
Nominated for five UK Blues Awards and British Blues Challenge finalists, and with a chart topping blues album and single to their name, The Milk Men have earned a reputation as the one of the most dynamic and enjoyable live bands on the circuit.
The group feature talent from the cream of the British R’n’B scene and have serious pedigree with former Pirate Mike Roberts on drums, Lloyd Green (son of guitar legend Mick Green) on bass guitar, husky blues singer Jamie Smy on vocals and Adam Norsworthy on incendiary guitar.
Opening the show will be the always popular Essex country-blues star Martin McNeill. Renowned for his trademark bottleneck blues playing, Martin is no stranger to Ipswich having performed at various places in town including the New Wolsey Theatre.
IJBC is proud to present Suffolk’s premier jazz big band.
Since 1998 Horn Factory have been bringing together 18 of the top musicians in the area to create their own brand of fast moving, hard hitting, toe tapping contemporary jazz.
They specialise in performing material by some of the lesser known modern jazz composers and do so with aplomb.
Horn Factory are no ordinary jazz ensemble. They leave no stone unturned in bringing something new to the genre and never fail to deliver an entertaining show.
This is a rare chance to see singer and boogie woogie pianist extraordinaire Mike Sanchez. One of the most flamboyant performers on the jump blues and rock’n’roll scene brings his group to Ipswich for the first time in ages.
Mike made his name with The Big Town Playboys, recording a string of albums with them including a Gene Vincent tribute CD starring Jeff Beck. After that came many years working with Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings which he combined with his own career as a solo artist and bandleader.
If you’re still in any doubt about how good this man is, then we’ll leave the last words with Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant : ‘He grabbed the genre by the throat and shook new life into it, preaching sweat & grind from his church of the 88 keys. He is admired and respected by all who come before him.’
