The view from the stage at Maltings Arts Theatre Photo from theatre website

NEWS: Herts Jazz Club, under the Artistic Directorship of Clark Tracey, is on the move.

The club started as Jazz at the Bell in Codicote in 1969. Subsequent venues have included The Fountain and Panshanger Golf Complex, both in Welwyn Garden City. Clark Tracey has been in charge since 2009, and Campus West in Welwyn has been the club’s base for the past seven years.

It has just been announced that Herts Jazz will be moving roughly 10 miles to the
South-West to the 140-seater Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans at the beginning of April. Gigs will start at 7.30pm and finish at 10pm. Maltings Arts Theatre has been run by the company OVO since 2011.

The very last artists to perform at the old venue in Welwyn will be Allison Neale and Chris Biscoe with the well-matched sounds from their vintage Conn saxophones from the 1930s, in their alto/baritone “Two of a Mind” project (described here) on Sunday 25 March.

American saxophonist Scott Hamilton will be the first to perform in the new venue on Tuesday 3 April.

“Artists already booked for this season,” says the press release, “include Claire Martin & Liane Carroll, The Stan Tracey Legacy Octet, Alan Barnes’ Sextet, Zoe Rahman, Dave O’Higgins, Freddie Gavita, Rosario di Rosa and Simon Spillett.”

Clark Tracey says, “We are so pleased to be able to bring the best of British jazz to St Albans. The Maltings Arts Theatre is a brilliant space for jazz with a grand piano, capacity for 140 and a great ambience. We know that the city has been crying out for regular jazz and we hope to see many newcomers join our regulars for some great music.”

For the avoidance of confusion, this is the Maltings Arts Theatre in St Albans AL1 3HL. –  so if your Satnav or Google Maps has taken you to either THIS ARTS CENTRE CALLED MALTINGS or THIS ONE …..you have gone either 100 or 320 miles in completely the wrong direction.

LINKS: Maltings Arts Theatre St Albans website 
Herts Jazz website