We promote the best in live modern jazz in the Reading and Thames Valley area. We’re passionate about jazz and want to share our enjoyment.

In 2019 alone, the following guests appeared on the stage of the Progress Theatre:  Gilad Atzmon’s Spirit of Trane, A Portrait of Cannonball featuring Tony Kofi, Henry Lowther’s Still Waters, Orphy Robinson‘s Bobby Hutcherson Project, Paz, the  Greg Abate Quartet with Craig Milverton, the Scott Willcox Ten-Piece Big Band, Quentin Collins’ ‘Road Warrior’ Sextet, the Stuart Henderson Quartet in a ‘Jazz & Film’ Night dedicated to Blue Note records and Alan Barnes’ ‘Jazz Christmas Carol’. Jazz in Reading also joined forces with Bracknell Jazz to present Mark Lockheart‘s ‘Days on Earth’ with a magnificent 16-piece ensemble at Bracknell’s Wilde Theatre.

The audience and visiting musicians enjoy the intimate atmosphere of the  Progress Theatre (once the stamping ground of a youthful Sir Kenneth Branagh) with its, warm hospitality, excellent sound and lighting and well-stocked bar. Guitarist John Etheridge aptly described 96-seat Progress as a ‘bijou theatrette.’

‘It’s been a great pleasure to see Jazz in Reading growing steadily over the past ten years,’ remarked Marc Edwards, a regular supporter of Jazz in Reading and Curator of the Brecon Young Futures Jazz Project. ‘Nowadays it seems like a we have a glorious jazz festival, the schedules spread generously over the year, with top-quality artists performing in close-up at the Progress Theatre, and numerous other venues in the area offering jam sessions and performances by local bands. We owe a debt of gratitude to Jazz in Reading’s dedicated team who bring us the music we so dearly love.’

(Live photos Copyright Zoe White Photography)