Photohraph of Laurie Lowe performing for Music Spoken Here at The Marr’s Bar by Carl Freeman

Dave Fuller writes;

Worcester Jazz Club Celebrates 3 Years and 50 Shows

On Thursday 22nd May, Evesham-based promoter Music Spoken Here will be celebrating a three-year residency at The Marr’s Bar, Worcester with their 50th show, bringing the best in UK jazz, funk and fusion to the city since their first show on 26th May 2022.

In that time, over 200 musicians have appeared, many for the first time in Worcester, from ‘big names’ including Iain Ballamy and Jason Rebello, strong regulars on the
UK scene including Paul Booth, Rob Luft and Brandon Allen, to promising young artists such as Rosie Frater-Taylor, Jas Kayser and Miranda Radford and exciting
bands including Zeñel, Impossible Conversations and Chube.

Audiences have enjoyed straight-ahead jazz from Eddie Gripper, Nye Banfield and Empirical, some fine jazz-rock from FNUK, Law of Three and Looking Glass, soul- jazz from Laimu and Secret Night Gang, funk-fusion from Resolution 88, Jingu Bang and Steve Taylor’s Fusion Phew, Brazilian and Latin vibes from Tristan Banks Quartet and Trypl, good old jazz-funk from HOOP and The Boom Yeh, ‘prog-jazz’ from the Emily Francis Trio and a good dose of free improvisation from The Plague Doctors Cure All.

While the Marr’s Bar might not be as packed on a Thursday jazz night compared to a weekend tribute band night, the club has seen a steady increase in their modest audience with an average of more than 50 people for the 9 shows since January 2025.

Music Spoken Here instigator Dave Fuller noted “If our events were ticketed, we could claim more than 1,700 tickets sold. Instead, our ‘;pay-what-you-can’ admission model, alongside our Club Membership option keeps these exceptional live music experiences economically accessible, while allowing people to express the personal value they associate with the availability and continuation of quality, live music today. Live music venues everywhere are closing down at an alarming rate, decimating the opportunities for these incredible musicians to play their original music to new audiences. What we have been able to achieve in Worcester is incredibly important.
My intention is to present the broad spectrum of jazz and everything it touches and to dispel unhelpful preconceptions that many have when they hear the word ‘jazz’.
Our growing audience and Club Membership are solid indicators that it’s working!”

The project has generated income of more than £40,000 for the musicians that have performed for the club, but also generated income in excess of £18,000 for local businesses, including local printing firms ZimPrint, Signs R Us and Peach Branding in Evesham, Chester’s Restaurant in Worcester who cook up meals for the visiting artists, and Tom’s Drum Shop in Pershore, who sorted out the club’s house drum kit.

The special anniversary show takes place at The Marr’s Bar on Thursday 22nd May and features British/Iranian guitarist Karim Saber with his quintet. Doors open at 8pm
and the band starts around 8:30. For more information visit the Music Spoken Here website https://musicspokenhere.club or email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

DAVE FULLER

Ian Mann adds;

I’ve been covering the MSH events at The Marr’s Bar on a regular basis since attending my first show featuring a band led by the American drummer Robert Castelli in March 2023. I’d like to thank Dave Fuller for allowing me to do this and for bringing 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. This third birthday and fiftieth show really is a cause for celebration and I will be there on 22nd May to cover this momentous occasion. Thanks Dave for all you have done for the live music scene in Worcester and the wider West Midlands. Music Spoken Here is something that you can justly be very proud of.

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