Manchester concluded its 9th Jazz festival to the explosive sounds of Hans Koller Big Band. An all guns blazing eleven piece brass section supported by bass, drums and the guiding hand of Hans Koller on Fender Rhodes. Only his second visit to Manchester he brought the festival to an exciting close with an expansive, impressive sometimes explosive set. A piece jointly written with the late Stan Lacy was the highlight of the evening for me. A moving piece that echoed the great Stan Lacy with Chris

The Royal Bank Glasgow Jazz Festival closed on Sunday 4th July with a fine performance by the Avishai Cohen Quartet. The brilliant double bassist playing with Yosvany Terry on saxophone and chekere, Mark Giuliana on drums and Sam Bar-Sheshet on piano entertained a mainly local audience to the background sound of celebrating Greek supporters in the background of the square during the closing number and a well received encore. The band played a couple of numbers from the new CD, Ascension and