It may only be the start of the week but looking ahead to Friday and Saturday night, Sarah’s Jazz Club in the capital has two exciting programmes planned.

On Friday, Berklee College of Music classmates and long-time friends, Jiannis Pavlidis and Marios Toumbas will reunite after many years for a concert. Guitarist, composer and Leeds University principal lecturer Pavlidis will join jazz pianist Toumbas alongside double bassist Irenaeos Koulouras (also a Berklee graduate) and drummer Stelios Xydias. Together they will present an exciting evening of jazz. The programme, which will begin at 9.30pm, will include compositions by Wayne Shorter, McCoy Tyner, John Coltrane and Duke Ellington, as well as some original compositions by Pavlidis.

Saturday night will be dedicated to the rhythms of swing jazz from the 30s. Four local musicians will take the stage to pay tribute to some of the standard swing jazz musicians and remember the legendary songs from that era.

“During the 1930s,” they say, “jazz continued to mature as a musical form. Big bands began transforming it into danceable swing music. Several famous female vocalists got their start as jazz singers in the 1930s, including Ella Fitzgerald and Billie Holiday. Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller and Judy Garland were all at the top of their game and the charts. Fred Astaire had a nice run in the 1930s and Count Basie established his dominance. The global popularity of jazz reflected and helped propel three of the biggest innovations in popular culture between the world wars: radio, gramophone records and commercial venues for social dancing. African American jazz and swing was part of a larger explosion of modern popular music which was products of the movement of people and cultures intertwining together.” All of that will be mixed with the skills of Alice Ayvazian, Dimitris Miaris, Costas Challoumas and Marios Spyrou who will bring 30s jazz to the Nicosia bar.

The Boston Reunion

Jiannis Pavlidis-Marios Toumbas Quartet live. June 2. Sarah’s Jazz Club, Nicosia. Doors open 8.30pm. live music at 9.30pm. €12. Tel: 95-147711

The Thrilling 30s!

With The Steppin’ Out Jazz Quartet. June 3. Sarah’s Jazz Club, Nicosia. Doors open 8.30pm. live music at 9.30pm. €12. Tel: 95-147711