The Thumping Tommys return for their annual Christmas romp at The Bear. This London-based folk / bluegrass / Americana band has toured extensively throughout the UK and Europe, captivating audiences with a heady brew of barn-storming, blues-infused Irish, American, and English folk music.

There'll be mulled wine, mince pies, and much to drink… expect to feel festive. It’ll get messy!

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We begin the year at The Bear with some good rockin’ as Cody Lee returns with his Boogie Boys. Cody is a versatile piano player and vocalist, wise beyond his years of playing, drawing inspiration from the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Professor Longhair, and Albert Ammons.

Whether it's jazz, foot stomping boogie-woogie, down and dirty blues, piano pumping rock 'n' roll, or swing, you can expect a riveting show.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Pianist/singer Jonathan Gee (Pharoah Sanders/ Tony Kofi etc ) brings his all star band to The Bear Club combining three of his recent shows in one. He is featuring Denys Baptiste (McCoy Tyner/ Incognito/ Courtney Pine etc ) on saxophone, with Mikele Montolli on bass and Tristan Maillot on drums.

The first slice is from the “Beatles Reimagined” album of Lennon/McCartney songs transformed in a contemporary jazz manner. The second is from an 80’s project of rearranged Spandau Ballet, Kate Bush plus Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker from that era.

The third is original compositions which have featured on recent albums including his latest vocal album The Lions Revisited.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

A “bard of Essex” for a new generation, Scott Lavene is a born entertainer telling touching often bizarrely surreal stories about everyday life. Lavene has long populated a hallucinogenic world of his own creation with ne’er do wells, ragamuffins and eccentrics with songs about fading love, talking horses, the attraction or otherwise of superstardom and the soothing effect of drinking custard straight from the carton.

One not to miss.

Doors: 7pm ; Music 8pm

We welcome back Hollie and her band almost a year to the day after her last, sold out gig at The Bear.

Hollie is a singer, songwriter, and guitarist with an incredibly powerful voice, and her live shows consistently receive outstanding reviews. Backed by BBC Introducing, Hollie has opened for artists such as Suzanne Vega, KT Tunstall, Midge Ure, and Ralph McTell, and she is a regular performer at major festivals like Glastonbury and Black Deer.

Playing with a full backing band and performing with notable humour and candour, Hollie's audiences often find themselves tapping their feet and shedding a tear in the space of the same set.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Tomorrow's New Quartet is quickly gaining a reputation as one of the most exciting jazz bands emerging from the British scene.

Taking inspiration from Chick Corea's 'Return To Forever' and Keith Jarrett's 'European Quartet', Tomorrow's New Quartet has been thrilling audiences all over the country with its engaging brand of modern jazz.

Led by drummer/composer Rod Oughton, the band features several young heavyweights from the next generation of British jazz, namely Deschanel Gordon on piano, Flo Moore on bass with special guest from The Netherlands, Ben van Gelder, one of the world’s finest saxophone players.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Happy Shark are back for another great night of comedy with an incredible line up!

With Ivo Graham, Helen Bauer, Rich Wilson (MC) + more TBA

Doors 7pm / Start time 8pm

BBC Introducing artist & backing singer to the stars, Tremaine Dawkins is performing with her band, appropriately-enough on Valentine’s Night, as part of her 'Something About Love' album release tour. 

This, her second release, is a beautifully, eclectic blend of jazz, soul & gospel music, centred around the theme of love. Her influences range from Stevie Wonder to Kate Bush & Sade but she has a sound all of her own . Join us for what should be an exhilarating yet intimate evening. 

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

His sold-out show at The Bear Club in May was legendary and goes down as one of the gigs of the year so we just had to get him back for more…

Greg Coulson is a British multi-talented musician and entertaining singer-songwriter whose work covers classic rock, quality pop, blues, funk and jazz.

A noted talent on both keyboards and guitar, Greg’s heart lies firmly within songwriting and draws inspiration from his heroes, Steely Dan, Randy Newman, Little Feat, Ray Charles, Booker T and Dr John. Greg's charismatic showmanship and engaging musical artistry will make for an evening to remember.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Clark Tracey returns to The Bear having sold out the place on his last visit. He has been at the forefront of British jazz for over 40 years since joining his distinguished father Stan Tracey's bands in 1978.

A five-time recipient of the 'Best Drummer' award at the British Jazz Awards, Clark has led his own groups since the early 1980s.

Clark will be joined on saxophone by not one but two renowned players - Art Themen and Simon Allen - and the quintet is completed by award-winning pianist Dave Newton and superb bass-player Andrew Cleyndert.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Combining Country & Western music with a fierce DIY attitude, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs have been pioneering their own path in the music world for over a dozen years. Known for their high-energy style and captivating stage presence, they've garnered a global following with their infectious enthusiasm and extensive discography.

With their exciting new album, Broken Hearted Blue, Jenny Don’t and the Spurs channel the essence of the American Northwest’s sounds while evoking the nostalgia of the Western frontier. From the outset, this album asserts itself as a standout in the country music scene, with its high-octane rockin' western delivery approach setting it apart from the herd.

Not one to be missed !

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We’re really pleased to welcome this genre-blending indie folk band to The Bear Club for what promises to be an evening of beautiful, hypnotic music.

The Rabbitts’ unique and colourful sound is characterised by delicate harmonies and an intricately interwoven tapestry of mandolin, guitar, bass, and drums. It’s a pretty, delicate, warm sound (which has been described as “like a long hug on a summer’s day”!).

They are an ever evolving group who are constantly creating and rarely staying still.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.00pm

We’re thrilled to welcome Henry Spencer and his quartet to The Bear. Born and raised in Wiltshire, Spencer graduated from The Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He has since established himself as one of the leading up-and-coming trumpet players, composers and bandleaders on the London jazz scene today.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Welcome back to Ma Polaine’s Great Decline, an award-winning band whose performance in May was one of the gigs of the year. The three-piece band were praised by Mojo Magazine for their unique blend of pop, folk, blues, and Americana. Ma Polaine’s music resonates as both comfortably familiar and refreshingly innovative, creating a truly engaging experience.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

James "Jay" Lewis is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has graced some of the largest stages across the world as part of three of the biggest bands to come out of Liverpool (well apart from you know who…)! Performing with cult indie band The La’s, playing bass for the band Cast and he’s currently the lead guitarist with The Zutons.

He plays solo on six and twelve-string guitar, harmonica and drums and his live shows are building him a growing reputation as a class performer in his own right.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.00pm

Polly Paulusma is an English singer-songwriter, touring recording artist, record producer, label founder and author. Straddling the acoustic, singer-songwriter, jazz-inflected indie-folk and trad folk genres, she has supported Bob Dylan, Jamie Cullum, Coldplay, Marianne Faithfull, The Divine Comedy and a host of other notable artists in her 21-year career.

Paulusma plays songs accompanied by Jon Thorne (Lamb, Yorkston Thorne Khan) on upright bass. The musical connection between Paulusma and Thorne is something to behold; combining bawdy humour and anecdotes with extraordinary songs that touch on love, loss, grief and philsophical enquiry. Paulusma and Thorne lead their audiences on a journey of laughter and tears.

Doors: 7pm. Music: 8.30 pm

This is a classic piano trio led by London-based Hungarian jazz pianist Mátyás Gayer who is emerging as one of the leaders of his generation. The award winning young musician is successfully forging his own distinctive style and musical voice out of the greatness of the jazz piano tradition.

Tonight Mátyás is joined by legends of the UK jazz scene and possibly the country’s finest rhythm section, bassist Dave Green and drummer Steve Brown.

Doors: 7pm. Music: 8.30 pm

We welcome award winning blues scene stalwart and guitar maestro Robin Bibi and his band to The Bear Club for the first time in their own right.

Over the last 25 years The Robin Bibi Band have earned their reputation as one of the tightest and most exiting, original and entertaining blues/rock bands in the UK playing all the major UK blues festivals and releasing a dozen albums.

Doors: 7pm. Music: 8.30 pm

Andy Davies is an award-winning Welsh trumpeter, (who also happens to be a comedian, script writer, voice over artist, actor and educator !).  He has hosted the famous Wednesday night Ronnie Scott's Upstairs Jam Session for 15 years and is one of the most accomplished and exciting jazz musicians in the UK.

Expect a wild night of top quality jazz featuring selected musicians from the regular Ronnie Scott’s house band.

Doors: 7pm. Music: 8.30 pm

Almost a year to the day since they last played for us, and what a show that was. With a string bass, a cranked guitar played through a hot valve amp, and a wailing harp, The Untouchables turned The Bear Club into a rockin' juke joint.

The band are champions of raw blues and swinging soul, with a sound based on the great artists who recorded for Chess Records in the 1950s.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We welcome rising star jazz vocalist Emily Masser to The Bear Club for the first time with her own band. Emily is a young jazz singer and saxophonist from Wigan currently studying at London’s Guildhall School of Music, having attended Manchester’s famous Chetham’s School of Music. Emily was also given invaluable guidance in jazz by her father, the highly respected saxophonist Dean Masser who also joins tonight on sax.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We’re proud to welcome the Pete Roth Trio to The Bear for what should be a very special evening.

The word ‘jazz’ implies musicians who listen and interact; people who never play it the same way twice. This trio has those qualities in abundance, but the group’s music is also something over, around, above and below jazz. What they play isn’t always going to “fit”, or be “nice” but it will be “great”.

Featuring tonight on drums is very special guest Bill Bruford. Internationally known as a rock musician with prog supergroups Yes and King Crimson, Bruford also has impeccable jazz credentials.

Doors: 7pm. Music: 8.30 pm

This one’s for fans of high energy rock & roll, blues rock and artists like Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Soundgarden, Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes/Black Country Communion, Slash and Myles Kennedy ! Ross Harding is an acclaimed blues rock musician from Johannesburg, currently based in the UK.

He is a songwriter and performer combining a rich, powerful voice with awesome guitar skills. An unapologetic rock & roll experience for audiences who love high energy music.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

As a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2020, winner of the Rising Star category in the 2019 British Jazz Awards and nominee in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2021 & 2022 and 2024, Alex is one of the most in-demand and versatile saxophonists on the British jazz scene. 

Praised for her intelligent ear for harmony and a deep knowledge of repertoire across a broad spectrum of styles, Alex's sound is steeped in the tradition of bebop.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

A welcome return for Big Wolf Band who are an explosive, dynamic, raw, emotional, and hardworking blues outfit.

Formed in Birmingham in 2014 by guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter Jonathan Earp and bass player Mick Jeynes, since the release of their debut album A Rebel’s Story in 2017, the band has been on an upward trajectory. With Tim Jones on drums, Justin Johnson on guitar, and Robin Fox on keys, they form a formidable blues rock powerhouse.

Wolf meets Bear. Are you ready to join the pack ?

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Returning to The Bear, piano-player and entertainer TJ Johnson transcends the genres of jazz, blues, and country.

TJ is widely considered one of the UK’s most charismatic and highly revered jazz and blues singers. He is also a talented pianist and respected bandleader.

He sings songs of the night, songs of hope and despair, taking you on a musical journey from the jazz dives of New Orleans, to the foot-tapping honky-tonks of Texas, and the hip speakeasies of New York.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

This will be special. American singer-songwriter Sarabeth Tucek returned in 2023 after a decade-long intermission with a new name, SBT, and her long-awaited third album, Joan Of All, released worldwide on her own label, Ocean Omen.

If you’re not familiar with her work, she has performed with Bill Callahan and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, supported Bob Dylan and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and (although comparisons can be Bear traps) to us she sounds a little bit like Aldous Harding or Phoebe Bridgers. There's also a fair bit of Cat Power or even Lou Reed in her attitude and delivery.

Doors 7pm / Music 8pm

Jerry Leger is one of the great Canadian songwriters and also one of the most productive. With 16 finely-crafted studio albums in 19 years to his credit, he sings (and writes) songs of vivid, beautifully-observed emotion across a wide span of human experience. Songs that are hard to categorise but which (if pushed) fall broadly into the category of Americana (Canadiana ?) owing a debt to Dylan, Hank, Townes Van Zandt and Lucinda Williams but also to Cowboy Junkies, Ron Sexsmith and maybe even Elvis Costello whilst in reality being true only to himself.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We are honoured to welcome London-born Ralph Moore to The Bear Club.

Over his long and illustrious career, tenor saxophonist Moore has recorded and performed with an array of jazz stars including Dizzy Gillespie, Horace Silver, Freddie Hubbard, Ray Brown, Roy Haynes, J.J. Johnson, Cedar Walton, Bobby Hutcherson, McCoy Tyner, Roy Hargrove, Oscar Peterson and Kenny Barron among others.

After spending 15 years in Los Angeles playing in the band on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Moore is back and poised to return to what he does best - and innately who he is - a jazz musician playing and creating the music he loves.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Firm favourites at The Bear, Ubunye are a vibrant seven-piece Afro-jazz band, featuring three powerful vocalists from South Africa’s Kwa Zulu Natal region, combined with a dynamic rhythm section from Leeds. Together, they create a unique blend of contemporary jazz, Afro-pop and traditional ‘Isigqui’ Zulu music.

Winners of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards for Best Ensemble 2023, they are a band not to be missed.

Doors 7pm / Music 8pm

A very welcome return to The Bear for rising star blues guitarist Thomas Heppell and his band.

Known for their energetic live performances, the band is making a name on the blues circuit as one to watch. They were recently nominated as the 'Emerging Act of the Year' in the Blues UK Awards 2024 (after receiving three nominations in 2023). Dedicated not just to keeping the blues alive, but also to bringing the music right up to date and leading it into the future, the band is composed of super-talented musicians with a passion for creating a unique and unforgettable sound.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Mario Bakuna and Roberto Manzin celebrate two of the most important artists of all time: the American saxophonist Stan Getz and Brazilian guitarist João Gilberto in a tribute to the iconic album “Getz/Gilberto”. 

“Getz/Gilberto” was recorded in 1963 and is considered the album that popularised bossa nova worldwide. It is one of the best-selling jazz records of all time, selling over one million copies, was widely acclaimed by music critics, received the Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album, and also became the first non-American album to win Album of the Year, in 1965.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

We have a treat in store for you tonight from acclaimed folk duo Hannah James and Toby Kuhn. In a journey through sound, texture, emotion and rhythm, Hannah and Toby navigate the paths of growth, discovery, darkness and light, exploring the dialog of cello, voice, accordion and, indeed, foot percussion in new and unexpected ways.

Effortlessly blending, the pair play and dance through a series of thoughtful tunes, soulful songs and joyful set-pieces in which Hannah’s vocal mastery is underpinned by Toby’s unorthodox delivery, weaving intricate layers of harmony and melody together to the beat and swish of percussive dance.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.00pm

Will Wilde is a force to be reckoned with - a phenomenal harmonica player with a voice to match.

 Will's intense harmonica style steals the spotlight from the traditional blues rock guitar, with a sound that owes as much to Gary Moore as it does to Sonny Boy Williamson.  "I’m always looking to make new sounds with the harmonica, pushing its boundaries, trying to change people’s perception of it.” 

In fact Will has gone one step further and created his own signature "Wilde Tuned" harmonicas so he can play licks that weren’t possible before.  “They enable me to hold my own with any blues rock guitarist”.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

John Bramwell, lead singer and songwriter of the seminal, Mercury Prize-nominated band I Am Kloot, is enjoying his grandest year to date, with an outpouring of acclaim following the release of his second solo album, The Light Fantastic.

The new record was cited by UNCUT magazine as "a splendid solo set with sumptuous vocal harmonies" and listed as one of The Times’ unmissable albums of 2024.

An intimate evening in the company of one of the country’s finest songwriters. Not to be missed.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm

Kent born singer-songwriter Sorrel Nation brings a soulful mix of folk rock and Americana with powerful vocals and haunting melodies. She engages audiences with emotive lyrics, 70’s inspired style and is known for impressive covers of Gillian Welch, Fleetwood Mac & Portishead.

We think she has a really beautiful voice and yes… Sorrel Nation is her real name.

Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm