Guardian Music — Beak>, On tourIt takes Portishead 10 long and fairly painful years to make an album. Strangely, though, for Beak>, the project of Geoff Barrow, Portishead's disarmingly un-starry producer, the whole process seems a good deal less fraught. In fact, fo... more info

Guardian Music — The self-deprecating one-liners about the size of the audience or the quality of the food have gone (its eponymous co-founder once said that 3,000 flies can't be wrong); it is also more commercially managed these days, but Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club at... more info

Guardian Music — Virtuoso double bass player, he was at the cutting edge of British jazz for 50 yearsThe role of luck recedes and that of special talent takes over if a musician has been in the right place, at the right time, with the right people, as often as the ba... more info

Guardian Music — Various venuesSonny Rollins won a standing ovation for the storm of sound he unleashed on the London Jazz festival a week ago. In the event's last days, Sir John Dankworth played just one tender tune on the alto saxophone, and the Royal Festival Hall... more info

Guardian Music — Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonTomasz Stanko is the quintessential European jazz star in his pork-pie hat, snazzy suit and elevated shoes. With a radio mic on the bell of his trumpet, he's free to stalk the stage of a captivated, sold-out QEH.He has a s... more info

Guardian Music — Various venues, LondonWith a symphony-sized orchestra and a raft of singers, the Jazz Voice concert was numerically the heavyweight contender of the 2009 London Jazz festival's opening weekend. But the biggest show of the weekend featured just one ma... more info

Guardian Music — Royal Festival Hall, LondonMusic and comedy can make a fine combination, as Ronnie Scott would have agreed, but when the musician in question is Steve Martin – far better known as an actor and comedian – matters get more complex. Martin... more info

Guardian Music — Who better to offer a guide to the best of this year's London jazz festival than the stars themselvesCleo Laine, singerChick Corea's gig with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (15 Nov) also on the bill would be a big one for me. We heard Bela by accident... more info

The Daily Mail — There's nothing like a visit to a jazz club to get you revved up, as the X Factor contestants proved as they swung out of Ronnie Scott's today with a renewed spring in their step. more info

Guardian Music — Dave Gelly has had some entertaining nights at Ronnie Scott's, but here he recalls two of the worst… and the most memorableI have known Ronnie Scott's club for most of my adult life. Some of my most enjoyable musical moments have happened there... more info