OVER the next week, many jazz joints will be in holiday mode until January (Wakefield Jazz reopens on January 21), but plenty are still open.

The Dean Court Hotel, Duncombe Place, has helped to keep jazz alive in the heart of the city of York with monthly Jazz Suppers hosted by the Andy Hillier Jazz Trio.

Andy is touring with the London Rhythm Boys, so tonight’s Christmas Jazz Supper features Martin Boyd on clarinet and saxophone, with Eddie Jackson (bass) and pianist Zezo Olimpio (01904 625082). The music will be swinging mainstream, with the occasional Latin American scorcher.

On Sunday lunchtime, Zezo will wheel his piano along to Kennedy’s Café Bar, Little Stonegate (01904 620222), a few minutes away from Duncombe Place, for his own hot trio session from 1pm (01904 620222).

Later in the day, rejoice in Sunday night jazz with the virile modern/ mainstream of the Ian Chalk Quartet at the Phoenix Inn, George Street, York (01904 656401).

Chalkie’s quartet will take their spicy York jazz brew to open the new year season at Scarborough Jazz on January 5. The venue is the Cask, Cambridge Terrace (01723 500570). More jazz at the Phoenix is on Wednesday night with the celebrated weekly jam session fronted by James Lancaster (trumpet) and Chris Moore (piano).

Tomorrow night traditional jazz comes from the north west to the long-established Jazz In The Spa with the Harlem Hot Stompers (01937 842544).

The Trustees Hall, High Street, Boston Spa is unlicensed, so take your own tipple.

More traditional jazz and mainstream will be at the Bell Hotel, Driffield, on Tuesday, with the Jazzbos. Vocalist Sarah Jane will join the razzamatazz four-piece of clarinet, trombone, guitar and tuba for festive fun.

The Old White Swan, Goodramgate, York, has been running jazz every Thursday night alongside a popular pub food menu for over 16 years, with Bejazzled alternating with the Mardi Gras Band. Next Thursday will be Mardi Gras Band night (01904 540911).

“There are two kinds of jazz: Traditional, where they all play together and try to outdo each other, and Modern, where each player goes on as if unaware of the existence of the others. You must decide which you support and decry the other on every occasion; or if you can’t make up your mind what you like, say you prefer ‘Mainstream’” (Bluff Your Way In Music, by Peter Gammond).

The jokey definitions above were written in the 1960s, a time when jazz was still at the forefront of popular music and fans felt the need to declare themselves. However, the explosion of Beatlemania swept jazz back on to the up/down escalator of pop music and jazz fans settled to the style of music they preferred, live or recorded, without the spotlight of wide media exposure.

A passing thought: how extraordinary that jazz, which is newly created each time it is played and is never the same twice, should be listened to on record at all, repeated exactly the same ad infinitum. On the other hand, recordings are the only tangible evidence of the music the fans love and the more they know about recordings, the more familiar they become with live music.

The latest release from Edition Records is Catch Me, by a new version of the British band Neon. Expanded from a trio to a quartet with the addition of drummer Tim Giles, pianist Gwilym Simcock is replaced by Kit Downes. Forty years in the business, saxophone stalwart Stan Sulzmann is not dismayed by the contemporary tilt of his young band mates.

The die is cast from the opening track, Catch Me, with fluid improvisation between piano and vibes (Jim Hart) and the soprano saxophone melody.

Kit Downes is a bandleader in his own right, as is Jim Hart, but the egos are subjugated to the group ethic with exciting results, a British jazz landmark album.