Jazz at Progress - Progress Theatre, Reading, Berkshire - Programme for Autumn 2025.

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

Jazz at Progress has announced its programme for October to December 2025. Events take place at the Progress Theatre, Reading. Fully detailed schedule attached.

From;
https://www.jazzinreading.com/jazz/jazz-at-progress/?future=true

Jazz at Progress

Since 2012, Jazz in Reading has been programming fantastic monthly jazz gigs - featuring leading British and international jazz stars - at Progress Theatre here in Reading under the Jazz at Progress brand.

We feature some of the finest soloists, singers and band leaders in the UK and beyond who are supported by a bevy of talented musicians. Expect some great evenings of live modern jazz, right here on your doorstep.

Jazz at Progress | Chris Biscoe’s Profiles Quartet
Friday 10 October 2025 | Progress Theatre, Reading | 7: 30pm | £20.00 (£18.00 concessions, £10 under 16) plus maximum 5% booking fee.
Tickets; https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/progresstheatre/t-ojgoroj
Chris Biscoe saxes and alto clarinet
Alcyona Mick piano
Larry Bartley bass
Winston Clifford drums
Chris Biscoe’s Profiles Quartet
Chris Biscoe writes:
“Jazz has always been a music about people and places, the connections, the routes (and roots) between, the meetings and the getting away.
When I recorded some of the repertoire from my band Mingus Moves I realised how many of Charles Mingus’ compositions are dedications to musicians, friends and family, lovers and political enemies, not forgetting one toilet-trained cat. The CD was Profiles of Mingus, and this became the working name for the band.
The Profiles Quartet draws on this tradition, expanding it to include compositions by other jazz greats, and something of the travel which is so significant a part of the life of working musicians.Tunes for the quartet include Thelonious Monk’s Jackie-ing (written for his niece Jackie Smith) and Monk’s Dream, Eric Dolphy’s Miss Ann and his portrait of Monk, Hat and Beard. Teenies’ Blues, another family dedication, was written by Oliver Nelson for his little sister. It’s impossible to leave out Charles Mingus, who is represented by Goodbye Pork Pie Hat (for Lester Young), Pussy Cat Dues (that bemused looking cat perched on a Manhattan apartment toilet seat), and Fables of Faubus, the great satirical composition ‘dedicated’ to Orval Faubus, Governor of Arkansas.
Migration and travel appear too, with Billy Strayhorn’s Take The A Train, and Goin’ to Chicago, not the familiar blues but Mike Westbrook’s multi-faceted composition.”
Chris Biscoe came to prominence in the late 1970’s, with Mike Westbrook’s Brass Band. He has toured and recorded extensively in the USA and France, and in the UK. Chris is a founder member of Way Out West, the west London jazz collective which has presented over 800 concerts since 2004. Chris Biscoe crosses musical boundaries in his playing, from ‘cool’ on baritone sax with Allison Neale, post bop with Tony Kofi, contemporary jazz with Liam Noble, through to free and improv jazz with various bands.
Alcyona Mick is a pianist working at the forefront of the London Jazz scene… Recently nominated for a Parliamentary Jazz Instrumentalist Award, she is a member of the London Jazz Orchestra and many other UK bands. She has toured and performed worldwide. As a composer she has a Master’s in Composing music for film from the National Film and Television school. She has written and produced music for many independent short films, documentaries, animation and silent cinema. She won an award for Best Soundtrack at the Anima Mundi International Festival, Brazil.
‘World class ingenuity’  the Guardian
‘Alcyona Mick is an unusual powerhouse of a talent’ – MOJO
Larry Bartley is a bassist and composer who has been a staple of the London and international jazz scene as a side man and as a leader.
“Excellent bassist – with a distinctive Mingus-like drive to his propulsive bass lines.” Time Out
“Larry taps into a vast pool of different types of music to create a unique project that deserves to be applauded.” Jean Toussaint – Drummer
“You can understand why Bartley is so much in demand on the London jazz scene.” BBC
Drummer Winston Clifford is a powerhouse behind the kit for a wide variety of great bands, led by the likes of Gwilym Simcock, Monty Alexander, Stanley Turrentine, Benny Golson and Courtney Pine.
A master of a huge array of drum techniques, Clifford is constantly inventive, immersed in a stream of consciousness yet with ears wide open to hints, suggestions and prompts from his playing partners. He regularly plays around the kit with his bare hands for softer timbres, another card to play in the constant search for dynamic expression and imaginative phrasing.

Jazz at Progress | The Freddie Gavita Quartet in Homage to Freddie Hubbard | Tickets on sale soon
Friday 7 November 2025 | Progress Theatre, Reading | 7: 30pm | £20.00 (£18.00 concessions, £10 under 16) plus maximum 5% booking fee.
Freddie Gavita trumpet
Tom Cawley keys
Daniel Casimir bass
Mez Clough drums
The Freddie Gavita Quartet in Homage to Freddie Hubbard
Quite a line up to perform music of one of the finest trumpeters in jazz, Freddie Hubbard. He came of age as a soloist in Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers from 1961 to 1965. Ten albums for Blue Note and featured on several classic recorded albums with Oliver Nelson, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, to name but a few! Hubbard died in 2008 and deserves to be remembered as being among the jazz greats.
We are therefore delighted to host this gig with wonderful musicians led by 2017 British Jazz Award “Best Trumpeter” Freddie Gavita, who has long been an admirer of Hubbard and will add to our knowledge of his legacy.
Apart from Daniel Casimir, the three other members of the quartet are new to Jazz In Reading. However, there was a livestream quartet performance by Guildford Jazz in Covid afflicted February 2021, a review of which by Trevor Bannister is on our website.
Here is a quote from the review “The spellbinding quality of Freddie’s individual voice was immediately obvious in the opening bars of his own composition ‘Yearning’; understated, flawlessly executed, beautifully articulated and warm in tone. He allows the music space to breathe and to grow in its own way”.  Freddie is a regular member of the house band at Ronnie Scott’s, apart from performing nationwide in various formats.
Tom Cawley (1998 Young Musician of the Year) is a regular in the quartet and a senior member of the UK’s jazz establishment being a composer, arranger, band leader and professor of Jazz piano at the Royal Academy of Music. He has released several acclaimed albums with his “Tom Cawley’s Curios” band.
Daniel Casimir (2021 Instrumentalist Of The Year in the Jazz FM Award) was bassist with Jean Toussaint for a memorable gig at Progress December 2018 – the “Brother Raymond Tour.” Since then, Dan has hit the heights and won awards for his music and playing. Formed his own big band and continues to creatively push the boundaries in jazz.
Finally, drummer and multi-instrumentalist, Mez Clough, has toured and performed with numerous hugely well-known artists from various genres in the music industry. He is also the regular percussionist for Madness.
We believe that an exciting evening of jazz awaits. Please come and enjoy it with us.

Jazz at Progress | Janette Mason – ReWired | Tickets on sale soon
Friday 5 December 2025 | Progress Theatre, Reading | 7: 30pm | £20.00 (£18.00 concessions, £10 under 16) plus maximum 5% booking fee.
Janette Mason keyboard
Tom Mason bass
Eric Ford drums
Janette Mason – ReWired
‘A substantial triumph for Janette Mason as she breathes new jazz life into this well chosen selection of tunes. Her arrangements are intelligent, imaginative and sophisticated.’ Ian Mann (The Jazzmann) ****
Janette Mason is a jazz pianist, a composer for film and TV, an arranger and producer of all genres from jazz to soul to pop, and a dedicated and heartfelt musical communicator.
Over the course of a thirty-year career she has quietly but emphatically made her presence felt, delighting audiences with her skills in all kinds of settings, from tiny jazz clubs to international film and TV projects.
Whether leading her own trio, playing sessions with Oasis, Pulp, or Seal, working with legendary producer Tony Visconti, launching her latest project AYRA in collaboration with vocal legend Juliet Roberts, teaching jazz at Bradfield College or fulfilling her role as Artist in Residence at Twickenham Theatre, Janette always stays true to her core values – a commitment to musical excellence, combined with a generous, giving sensibility that reaches out to audiences and ensures that the message in the music is always there to be heard.
Janette says that her direct influences as a keyboard player were Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. Her own playing on her latest album, ‘ReWired’ has been described as ‘a triumph of elegant tones and passionate swing’. It took her six months to tie down the rights to the eight songs she reinterprets: ‘Cars’ (Gary Numan), ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ (David Bowie), ‘Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered’ (Rodgers and Hart), ‘Good 4 U’ (Olivia Rodrigo), ‘The Man with the Child in His Eyes’ (Kate Bush), ‘Eleanor Rigby’ (Beatles), ‘Lullaby of Birdland’ (George Shearing) and ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ (Noel Gallagher).
Janette will be joined by:
Tom Mason, one of the most versatile double bassists and bass guitarists on the UK music scene.  His résumé of recordings, performances and tours boasts artists such as Lizz Wright, Mark Ronson and Jamie Cullum. Tom has also been long-term member of award-winning pianist Robert Mitchell’s Panacea.
Eric Ford on drums, has performed across the globe and played on around sixty albums. He has worked with musicians as diverse as Ronnie Laws, Marc Almond, Clare Teal, The London Jazz Orchestra and Jason Rebello. He will be familiar to Progress audiences for his performances with the acclaimed contemporary jazz trio Partikel, the Scott Willcox Big Band and Chris Biscoe’s celebration of Mike Westbrook
‘My career has come full circle,’ Janette explained in a recent interview. ‘I am now working on and playing music I listened to and was influenced by as a teenager. Sometimes I can’t believe that has happened. I have reached a point in life where I just feel happy. That’s where I am at and If audiences enjoy even a small percentage of it, and it takes them somewhere else, that will be wonderful.’
Full details of the album ‘Rewired ‘are available here.
https://propermusic.com/products/janettemason-rewired

Progress Theatre
progress theatre - jazz in reading
http://www.progresstheatre.co.uk | The Mount, Off Christchurch Road, Reading RG1 5HL
Bar at all gigs from 7:00pm. Drinks may be taken into the auditorium during performances.
Progress Theatre is a self-governing, self-funding theatre group founded in 1947, maintained by volunteers. The Theatre itself is an intimate 95-seat venue. It is the oldest operating theatre in Reading and has a fully licensed bar. There is wheelchair access to the Theatre with a space for disabled patrons. In 2011 Sir Kenneth Branagh became the Patron to Progress Theatre.