ABERDEEN promoters Jazz at the Blue Lamp have announced the first set of concerts in their autumn programme. Glasgow jazz-funk troupe Federation of the Disco Pimp opens the programme in a co-promotion at the Lemon Tree on Thursday [August 31]. London-based Australian singer Anita Wardell teams up with trumpeter Colin Steele, bassist Mario Caribe and pianist Euan Stevenson on September 7. Yorkshire sextet Perpetual Motion Machine follows on September 14 and pianist Paul Harrison presents Trio Magico in celebration of Brazilian composer Egberto Gismonti on September 21. All the September concerts take place at the Blue Lamp in Gallowgate and begin at 8:00pm. jazzatthebluelamp.com

A POLAR explorer who followed in the footsteps of Captain Scott will join the first leg of the Scottish Design Relay in Dundee.

Craig Mathieson, the first Explorer in Residence with the Royal Scottish Geographical Society, will help a team of young people in Dundee come up with a new design related to travel and exploration for the V&A Dundee.

Beginning in Dundee on August 30, around 100 young adults from six areas across Scotland will take part over the coming months.

The design prototypes created by each team will be displayed in V&A Dundee when the museum opens next year.

Mathieson was 12 years old when he decided he was going to reach the South Pole after reading The Worst Journey in the World, a memoir of the 1910–1913 British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Scott.

He achieved his goal at the age of 35 and now runs The Polar Academy, a charity giving secondary school pupils the chance to go on an expedition across Greenland.

vandadundee.org

SPHERERSS begins a new series of lunchtime concerts at Renfield St Stephen’s Church in Bath Street, Glasgow this weekend with saxophone and harp duo Karen Dufour and Gwen Yorke performing under the name Baba Yaba on Saturday. Turquoise Duo (Clara Lafuente Garcia and Daniel Hart) present oboe and piano music on September 23, with the Robzen Duo’s programme of violin and piano pieces following on October 7 and guitarist Ian Watt appearing on October 21. All concerts begin at 1:00pm. facebook.com/sphererss

JAZZ Nairn has announced its programme of concerts for the autumn, beginning with a quintet of musicians representing the north of Scotland, Jazz Collusion on Saturday, September 9. Led by local pianist Andy Hodge, the group features Cromarty-born singer-songwriter Tamzene Allison-Power, Gordonstoun-based violinist Adam Csenki and the experienced Aberdeen bass and drums team Peter Lowit and Bill Kemp. The London-based Ollie Howell Quintet, the band chosen by music business legend Quincy Jones to open his new jazz club in Dubai, appears on October 14 and Parisian swing-styled quartet Rose Room appears on November 4. All concerts take place in Nairn Community & Arts Centre and begin at 8:00pm.

jazznairn.org