Meet The Team
Jazz North operates a virtual office with our team members based across the north of England. To contact us please leave a message through the contact form page.
Chris Bye
CEO Chris Bye comes to Jazz North following a career spanning the commercial and subsidised music industries. This has included managing a diverse portfolio of music organisations at Arts Council England and establishing an international programme of talent development opportunities for Pirate Studios. More recently Chris has supported key music venues and partners to navigate the pandemic, working with clients including Parklife, Ministry of Sound, Music Venues Trust and Greater Manchester Combined Authority. He also sits on the Boards of SeaChange and Africa Oye.
Andrew Procter
Andrew is Jazz North’s Finance & Operations Manager and he has worked in the cultural sector for over 20 years. He was previously at Marsden Jazz Festival and currently also works on a freelance basis with a number of other arts organisations including the Jazz Promotion Network. He has played saxophone in a variety of bands and, away from music, he has had a book published about the history of his beloved Burnley FC. He is also interested in football.
Nigel Slee
Nigel is co-founder and Head of Learning and Participation at Jazz North, where he has helped pioneer artist development schemes and projects that develop opportunities and profile for northern jazz musicians. As a member of Europe Jazz Network, Nigel has followed the Take The Green Train project and in 2019 at the Europe Jazz Conference hosted by Novara Jazz, he had his first slow travel adventure and won a prize for the longest journey by train to the conference - 1925 km catching four trains across four countries and cycling across five European cities in 20 hours. Previously, he was Development Manager at JazzYorkshire from 2005 – 2012, the regional jazz agency that serviced the regional jazz artist and jazz promoter network. He is also an active double bassist and enjoys performing when he finds the time.
Heather Spencer
Heather has worked as Jazz North’s Programme Manager since October 2020, largely managing its live talent development programme, Northern Line. Prior to this, she worked in jazz as a promoter, producer and project manager across the North East, alongside freelance event work at arts festivals including Durham Lumiere. Heather is a trustee of Jazz Promotion Network and a Clore Emerging Leader, her previous work includes co-founder/co-director of DJAZZ: The Durham City Jazz Festival, Jazz Development Coordinator at Sage Gateshead and co-programmer of Middlesbrough Jazz Weekender and Sunday Jazz at Middlesbrough Town Hall.
Steve Mead
Steve is responsible for developing support programmes, resources and funding advice for the northern jazz workforce, including artists and promoters.
He is also Artistic Director/CEO of Manchester Jazz Festival (still the only recipient of the Europe Jazz Network Award for Adventurous Programming) and was a founding member of NWJazzworks (2005) and Jazz Promotion Network (JPN) in 2013 (for which he was chair in 2021). He sits on advisory panels for Serious, PRS Foundation and the Greater Manchester Music Commission Steering Group, and is also a board member of the Europe Jazz Network.
Helena Summerfield
Since graduating from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 1997, saxophonist Helena has worked primarily in music education in a variety of mainstream and inclusive settings. Helena has experience of teaching music across Key Stages 1-4 and was the lead jazz tutor at Trafford Music Service when they received the 2021 ‘Will Michael Jazz Education Award’. Helena has project managed Jazz North’s ‘Jazz Camp for Girls’ since 2018 and was awarded ‘Jazz Educator of the Year’ at the 2022 ‘Parliamentary Jazz Awards’ in recognition of this work. Helena has continued to be an active performer around her teaching commitments and was a Northern Line artist in 2013 as a member of the saxophone quartet HSQ+. More recently Helena can be found playing saxophone, flute and clarinet in the Manchester based bands ‘NGUVU’, ‘Ain’t Misbehavin’ and Mike Hall’s ‘Boplicity’.