The New Century Ragtime Orchestra has ornamented the Festival with its presence for lo! these many years (eleven, to be precise) and never fails to charm its listeners. Now with instrumentation expanded to eleven musicians, the repertoire has grown to well over one hundred tunes with a strong selection of early jazz and hot dance numbers appearing alongside early ragtime compositions. Moreover, through the medium of their many concert appearances and their Stomp Off CD recordings, the New Century have won acclaim from all over the civilised world (and parts of Hetton-le-Hole). An extra delight is the charming Caroline Irwin, who, as well as playing second cornet, provides wonderfully authentic vocals in the manner of Annette Hanshaw (and even strums the ukulele). In addition, Steven George Andrews Esq will be regaling us with his fine reed work and truly inimitable inter-tune commentaries.

Back in the 1980s, your Festival Director worked in Osaka for four years and was fortunate enough to get to know and play with many Japanese musicians. One of the places he played at was the New Suntory Five Club, where the resident band – since 1970, and they are still there today, 39 years later: the world’s longest residency? – was the New Orleans Rascals. Founded in 1961 and led by clarinettist Ryoichi Kawai, this band plays some of the most authentic New Orleans jazz you will ever hear, absolutely faithful to the George Lewis-Bunk Johnson recordings of the mid-forties: small wonder they have been invited to play the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival no less than five times. The Rascals have toured Europe and Australia as well as making eight trips to the USA, but have never before played in the UK, so let’s all say a warm “Irasshai!” (welcome) to Whitley Bay.

Bent is perhaps best known for his interpretation of the Louis Armstrong oeuvre, but he is also very fond of the work of Henry “Red” Allen, another great trumpet man out of New Orleans, but who lived most of his playing life in Louis’ shadow (even to the extent of sitting in the trumpet section of Louis’ big band in the 1930s). To put this right a bit, Bent will play a programme of tunes recorded under his own name by Red Allen, who was in the studios on a regular basis during the late twenties and thirties. Red’s bands included some of the best Harlem jazzmen, such as trombonists J C Higginbotham and Dicky Wells, saxists Chu Berry, Tab Smith and Charlie Holmes and a variety of all-star rhythm sections. To bring these songs back to life, Bent has assembled Jean-François Bonnel, Rob Fowler and Michael McQuaid, reeds, Paul Munnery, trombone, Jeff Barnhart, piano, Jacob Ullberger, banjo & guitar, Henry Lemaire, bass and Josh Duffee, drums.