Free jazz in the Northern Quarter: Mr Wilson’s Second Liners’ funeral-style cortege

Imagine the life-affirming sounds of a New Orleans funeral cortege blasting out the sounds of the 90s club classics in the streets of Manchester – Louis Armstrong taking on the techno of 808 State or King Oliver reinventing Massive Attack. You can? Then you might just be ready for Mr Wilson’s Second Liners. Named in honour of the late Tony Wilson, the band are taking part in Manchester Jazz Festival playing club classics in the style of a New Orleans funeral cortege parading through the streets of Manchester. In New Orleans, funerals are celebrated with noisy brass bands processing through the streets. The main section of the funeral parade is known as the First Line, but the iconic imagery of a New Orleans Funeral March – the charismatic musicians and twirling parasols – lies in the Second Line. Much more than a rabble of tag-along noisemakers, Second Liners celebrate the life that has passed, breathing life into the emotions experienced by their kin.

Sat 26 Jul, Tib Street and Northern Quarter, 9pm, FREE, then Matt & Phred’s, 64 Tib Street, M4 1LG. Tel: 0161 839 7187, 9.30pm, £5 on the door, www.mattandphreds.com