About

Tenement Jazz band are a traditional jazz band formed in early 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland. Brought together by their shared love of early jazz, ragtime and blues, they are on a journey of exploration back to the roots of the music that they play. A five piece band, they consist of Chuck Dearness, Paddy Darley, Steve Feast, Rory Clark and John Youngs. 
Their aims are to capture the raw energy and excitement of the earliest jazz recordings, with most of their repertoire composed before 1930. They aim to revive lesser-heard songs and cultivate their own interpretations of these, all in order to captivate experienced jazzers, dancing persons, and uninitiated ears alike.
In their existence so far they have performed at Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Dundee, Islay, and Glasgow Jazz Festivals, as well as at Belladrum, Eden and Kelburn festivals in Scotland, Birmingham Jazz Festival and FestJazz in France and Fjellrocken Festival in Norway. The band has appeared backing New Orleans’ singer Meschiya Lake and alongside international stride piano stars Stephanie Trick and Morten Gunnar-Larson. They were voted 'Best Band' at the Scottish Awards 2022.
They recorded and released their debut CD, New Orleans Wiggle in June 2018, gaining positive reviews plus airplay on BBC Radio Scotland and Radio 3. A live album ‘Tenement Jazz Band Goes South’ was released in summer 2020.
“…brings a freshness and energy of youth to New Orleans style traditional jazz whilst also staying true to the original style” - Ron Simpson, The Jazz Rag, May 2019