25th January

Jazz

2019

Atila vocals, Graham Harvey keyboards, Dario Di Lecce bass and Steve Brown drums

Atila Huseyin is an established UK Jazz singer. Sartorially stylish and musically classy, his interpretations of the American Songbook are internationally renowned, taking influence from early Frank Sinatra.

Atila began music professionally aged 15 with local big band ‘Young Jazz’. First playing saxophone, but then switching to vocals. In 2002 Atila was invited to feature with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra with whom he toured extensively as well as recording.

Further tours followed with various artists most notably with the legendary Buddy Greco highlighting with an appearance with the BBC Big Band at the 30th Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, broadcast on BBC Radio 2 Big Band Special and four nights at Ronnie Scott’s in London in 2008. In 2013 Atila was invited to perform with Buddy Greco for his 70th Anniversary Celebration.

Numerous tours and recording sessions followed in diverse formats and artists including trips to the States. Atila has performed live on the Alan Titchmarsh Television Show on ITV in 2010 and on ITV show Stepping Out, in 2013. He has also recorded advertisements for many international companies including the Emirates 2012 as well as long running residencies at the Park Plaza hotel and the Arts Club Dover Street.

Tickets £10

22^nd February

Art Theman & Henry Lowther Quintet

Art Theman sax, Henry Lowther trumpet, Mike Gorman keyboards, Flo Moore bass and Stu Butterfield drums.

A self-taught musician, Art played tenor sax at Cambridge while studying medicine. Qualifying as a doctor he played in blues and R&B bands in the early 60s as well as backing groups for numerous pop sessions.

Art worked with Alexis Korner, Phil Seamen, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Rod Stewart, Joe Cocker and Long John Baldry. In the late 60s/early 70s Art started to favour jazz. He played with Barbara Thompson, Michael Garrick, Henry Lowther and Graham Collier and began a long and fruitful association with Stan Tracey, which continued into the 90s. Art has accompanied many visiting US jazzmen too many to list here.

Had Art chosen a musical career he would have doubtless been an international artist of some stature. Attaining his high standing while working as a consultant surgeon, is testimony to his remarkable talents.

A wit might say that Henry’s career peaked when he played at Woodstock as part of the Keefe Hartley band way back in the dim and distant. Those more knowledgeable would raise more than an eyebrow at that.

Henry’s father taught him to play cornet when he was about 5. His first cornet is very special, not only because it was originally his father’s, but is a Boosey & Co with ‘British throughout’ stamped on the bell. Henry researched the instrument and found that it came out of the factory on 14 April 1912, the day the Titanic sank”.

Henry’s career has been long and illustrious from his initiative work in the sixties through to the present day, his virtuosity allowing him to tour extensively right around the world. Not only has he played with so many well-respected musicians that there is far too little space here to list them all, he is able to move between musical genres at will and with consummate ease.

Tickets £10

29^th March

Derek Nash Quartet: http://www.dereknash.com

Derek Nash saxophone, Dominic Ashworth guitar, Andy Staples bass and Marc Cecil drums.

Derek is one of the foremost talents on the UK jazz scene. He is the leader of award-winning 'Sax Appeal' and fronts the funk band "Protect the Beat" as well as being a member of the Ronnie Scott's Blues Explosion. As a full-time member of the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra since 2004, he has worked alongside far too many famous talents to list here.

With the Jools Holland Rhythm and Blues Orchestra, Derek performs approaching 100 gigs per year, including for 65,000 people at the Cardiff Millennium Stadium and for over 100,000 at the Glastonbury Festival, where he was a featured soloist.

Lack of space prevents including a comprehensive record of Derek’s career but he has won many awards and still regularly appears in the British Jazz awards nominations in several categories. He has recorded numerous albums in his own right and featured on far more with other artists.

At his Clowns Pocket Recording Studio, Derek is a respected recording engineer and producer and has recorded albums for numerous famous artists. With Trudy Kerr, he is co-director of Jazzizit Records, an UK independent Jazz label.

Derek is also the writer and arranger of many TV and radio themes. Although he will vehemently disagree one of his stand-up achievements was playing "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" for a condom advert! Sorry for raising that Derek.

Tickets £10

26th April

Nigel Price Quartet: https://www.nigelprice.biz/ & http://www.vasilisx.com/

Nigel Price guitar, Vasilis Xenopoulos sax, Arnie Somogi bass and Sebastian de Krom drums.

Over a career spanning more than 25 years, award winning jazz guitarist Nigel Price has become widely acknowledged as one of the hardest working musicians in the business (56 date tour in late 2016) (over 500 appearances at Ronnie Scott’s).

Starting his professional career in his early 20s, Nigel toured Europe with various reggae and funk bands before settling on a solo guitar career and turning his attention to jazz. Citing early influences as Wes Montgomery, Joe Pass, John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Nigel honed his craft by attending gigs and sitting in with the players of the time.

Nigel has played on more than 50 albums including 5 as a leader, spent ten years with acid jazz outfit The Filthy Six, was a member of James Taylor’s band for 3 years (with whom he recorded 5 albums) and performed with the legendary David Axelrod. He has also taught at The International Guitar Foundation at King’s Place, London.

Saxophonist and composer Vasilis Xenopoulos is one of the most accomplished Greek jazz musicians of his generation. London became his permanent home after graduating from the infamous Berklee College of Music, and gradually established himself as one of London’s up and coming jazz saxophonists. He has worked with some of the best musicians in the British jazz scene but far too many to list here,

Vasilis has appeared in many guises, as guest soloist, as band leader or as saxophone section leader in jazz venues and jazz festivals throughout the UK but in 2017 Nigel and Vasilis created the XPQ (Xenopoulos/Price Quartet) and recorded their first album under that brand, “Sidekicks" which celebrates some of the most successful guitar/sax pairings in the history of jazz.

Tickets £10

31^st May

Potrait of Cannonball featuring Tony Kofi & Andy Davies

Tony Kofi sax, Andy Davies trumpet, Alex Webb piano, Andrew Cleyndert bass, Alfonso Vitale drums with special guest vocalist Deelee Dube.

Julian ‘Cannonball’ Adderley was one of the best-loved figures in post-war jazz. Hailed as ‘the new Bird’, he made historic recordings with Miles Davis and John Coltrane as well as having many crossover hits as a pioneer of soul-jazz. Spanning bebop to jazz-funk, he was an unfailingly inventive and communicative virtuoso. He died on August 8, 1975; 2019 would have been his 91st year.

Alto sax master Tony Kofi fronts this loving celebration of the jazz giant Julian ‘Cannnonball’ Adderley. The group traces the explosive music of Cannonball from his first session as leader in 1955 through work with Miles Davis to the soul-jazz of the late 1960s with Deelee Dube recollecting the memorable 1961 collaboration with Nancy Wilson.

In 2016 Deelee Dube was the first non-American winner of the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Award whilst Toni Kofi is a multi-award winner himself. Andy Davies is one of London’s top new jazz stars leading his own band, the Andy Davies Quartet, currently the resident band at the famous Ronnie Scotts’ Wednesday night jam session whilst also being much in demand as a solo player working with many leading jazz vocalists

Alex Webb is a songwriter, arranger and pianist and his songs have been recorded by numerous jazz singers. Together with Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale the three combine to provide a really tight rhythm section.

Tickets £10

28^th June

Anita Wardell Quartet: http://www.anitawardell.com/

Anita Wardell vocals, Robin Aspland keyboards, Jeremy Brown bass and Steve Brown drums.

Anita Wardell's singing is exciting and breathtaking. She is noted for her mesmerizing and captivating vocal improvisations and vocalese lyrics to instrumental solos. Anita is a musician who uses the voice as her instrument, displaying precision and agility, mixed with heartfelt emotion.

Born in Guildford, UK, Anita moved to Australia with her family as a child. Anita's formative years were spent soaking up the Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cole Porter classics. She also explored her father's collection of big band albums by Duke Ellington, Count Basie and many more.

During her teens, she started to get to grips with the complexities of modern Jazz and after completing her degree in Music at the Adelaide University relocated back to the UK in 1990 where she studied at the Guildhall school of music and drama.

Her recording career began in 1995 and her longstanding musical relationship with pianist Robin Aspland started with the release of Until The Stars Fade in 2001. Several other collaborations and prestigious jazz awards later Anita is now travelling extensively, performing and leading jazz vocal masterclasses in USA, Europe and Australia.

Robin Aspland has become very well known in UK jazz circles both as an excellent and inventive soloist and as a gifted sideman and is especially adept as an accompanist to vocalists. Together with Jeremy Brown and Steve Brown the three provide a tight rhythm section supporting Anita’s stunning vocals.

Tickets £10

26^th July

The Greg Abate Quartet: http://www.gregabate.com/

Greg Abate sax, John Pearce keyboards, Simon Thorpe bass and Matt Holmes drums

Greg Abate jazz saxophonist, flutist, composer is an International Jazz/Recording Artist, touring the world 225 days a year. In the mid 70’s after finishing a four-year program at Berklee College Of Music, Greg played lead alto for the Ray Charles Orchestra for 2 years. In 1978 Greg formed his own group Channel One which was a favourite in the New England area but went on to play tenor sax with the revived Artie Shaw Orchestra under leadership of Dick Johnson from 1986 to ’87.

Following this experience Greg ventured out as post hard bop soloist playing Jazz Festivals, Jazz Societies and Jazz Clubs throughout the U.S. Canada and abroad, including most of Europe, UK, and Moscow and Georgia Russia.

Greg recorded his first CD Live at Birdland NYC in 1991 on the Candid Jazz Label with the trio of James Williams, Rufus Reid and Kenny Washington. To date Greg has recorded over 17 other recordings as leader. ‘Recently’, Greg released, ‘Kindred Spirits’, featuring Greg and Phil Woods with The Tim Ray Trio on Whaling City Sound Records.

Greg is also an adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College and is also a very active jazz clinician with co. sponsorship from the Conn -Selmer Instrument Co., conducting workshops and master classes through the U.S and abroad. Greg was inducted into the RI Music Hall of Fame in 2016.

“It has been said that Greg is one of the most appealing saxophonists on the scene today with a mature abundance of gentle self-confidence. The result is that he plays music with sweetness and daring.”

Tickets £10

30^th August

Band to be confirmed

Details to follow

Tickets £10