With Love Supreme turning six next year and the Brighton scene in its rudest health for some time, jazz fans have plenty of opportunity to enjoy live improvised music.

Newish kid on the block South Coast Jazz Festival celebrates its 4th anniversary in January with another strong line-up of established home-grown and international artists.

The 2018 programme begins on Saturday 20th with a light-hearted history lesson, as festival favourite Pete Long and The Jazz Repertory Company present ‘100 Years Of Jazz In 99 Minutes’ featuring vocalist Georgina Jackson.

Funk sax legend Pee Wee Ellis brings his all-star band to Shoreham, while award-winning vocalists Liane Carroll & Ian Shaw team up for a specially created Latin-American flavoured show. Virtuoso pianist Gwilym Simcock appears with Russian bassist Yuri Goloubev, while Clark Tracey (who has just published a biography of his late father Stan) brings his new Quintet featuring BBC Young Musician Jazz Award winning trumpeter Alexandra Ridout.

The ‘Brotherhood of Breath’ ensemble celebrates the South African sound of the late, great Chris McGregor and closing the festival on Saturday 27th January is Kansas Smitty’s Big Four (with special guest vocalist Joe Stilgoe), a high-energy band that creates a melting pot of classic jazz genres.

Many events will include ‘meet the artist’ Q&A sessions before the show plus, alongside a Jazz 4 Juniors workshop, there will be a specially commissioned series of toddler events with new songs written and presented by Brighton based singer/songwriter Joe Stilgoe and actress/director Katie Beard.

Free events include Terry Pack’s Trees, a massive, Coltrane-influenced big band who must be seen to be believed, BIMM student showcases in the foyer and a rare screening of Bertrand Tavernier’s ‘Round Midnight’.

Ropetackle Arts Centre, Shoreham-by-Sea, 20th – 27th January 2018
For further information and tickets click here