Richard Exall/Ben Cummings Smalls, Brighton Thursday 15th October 2015 If you like small band mainstream melodic jazz, then Small’s is definitely the place for you. Dennis Simpson books the finest British, European and visiting American musicians fortnightly from October to May each year. Check out the web site to view the outstanding programme. www.smallsjazzbrighton.com […]
Geoff Simkins/Sheryl Bailey Quartet The Verdict, Brighton Saturday 24th October 2015 Both guitarist Sheryl Bailey and saxophonist Geoff Simkins are experienced jazz educators, Geoff teaching locally, whilst Sheryl Bailey teaches at Berklee and the Stanford Jazz Workshops. Fittingly then, this evening was a masterclass in musicianship with both musicians soloing fluidly over some […]
Robert Fowler Quartet Under Ground Theatre, Eastbourne Friday 9th October 2015 Playing melodic standards from the Great American Songbook, plus jazz standards such as Bernie’s Tune, the Robert Fowler Quartet provided an evening of swinging music and beautiful ballads. Very satisfactory. Robert Fowler, sax; Robin Aspland, piano; Jeremy Brown, bass; Matt Home, drums. […]
Gary Crosby’s Groundation The Verdict, Brighton Friday 30th October 2015 Beginning with a Shirley Tetteh original dedicated to mandolin player Joshua Pinkham and guitarist Frank Vignola, straight away the music was full of energetic, powerful drumming from young Moses Boyd, together with rhythmic interplay with Shirley Tetteh, accompanied by the strong, full sound […]
Allison Neale & Rob Barron All Saints Church, Hove Wednesday 9th September 2015 Continuing the excellent series of lunchtime concerts at All Saints church, saxophonist Allison Neale was joined by pianist Rob Barron. The medium swing standard Taking a Chance on Love was the perfect choice as it combined Neale’s flowing melodic […]
Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival The Old Market, Hove Friday 11th – Saturday 12th September, 2015 The first Brighton Alternative Jazz Festival began with a performance by Woven Entity, percussionists Lascelle Gordon, Patrick Dawes and Paul May with bassist Peter Marsh and saxophonist Julia Kjaer. The ensemble immediately established hypnotic grooves accompanied by recorded […]
Sam Eagles Quartet Friday 28th August The Verdict, Brighton With a selection of beautiful original compositions taken from Sam’s album Next Beginning (on the Fire label) the interval left the audience wanting more. The second half was the highlight of the evening as the band began to take off. Beginning with the […]
Terry Pack’s Trees Brighton Open Air Theatre (BOAT) on Sunday 9th August & The Brunswick, Hove on Sunday 23rd August Terry Pack’s ambitious big band project, Trees, has grown from a tiny acorn to fully-fledged forest drawn from a pool of 40+ musicians from the Sussex area. Trusting the sound in his […]
Love Supreme Jazz Festival Glynde Place, Sussex Friday 3rd -Sunday 5th July, 2015 A treasure trove of jazz, funk and blues, with a glowing heart of soul, sprinkled with a dash of the avant-garde, sounds unlikely in the middle of the Sussex countryside. But it’s true: overnight, a magic city of yellow […]
Ronnie Scott’s All Stars Quintet Connaught Theatre, Worthing Thursday 18th June, 2015 “Music is the real way of speaking: all the rest is filling in time between gigs”. Against a constant visual backdrop of old Soho, this band carry with them an almost mythical quality, but in introducing classic tunes and images made […]