Sahra Gure - Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer

Sahra Gure

28/02/2020

Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, London, UK

Sahra Gure is a Berlin born, London based vocalist who works across a range of genres. Born to a Somali father and German mother, Sahra grew up surrounded by different cultures and sounds that shaped her character and musical personality. Sahra began her musical life as a classical violinist. It wasn’t till she was 14, when she joined the Aldeburgh Young Musician program, that she discovered her love and passion for singing. Sahra was able to study with Brigitte Beraha, Cleveland Watkiss, Pete Churchill, Norma Winstone and many more before accepting a scholarship to study Jazz Performance at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance where she became the 2019 Jazz representative for the gold medal award held at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Despite her tender age of 22, her mature and versatile approach to singing has seen Sahra work with the likes of Orphy Robinson, Dele Sosimi, Cleveland Watkiss, Ashley Henry, Tori Handsley, Mark Mondesir and Kishon Kahn to name a few. Performing at London Jazz Festival, Havana Jazz Festival, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Dimensions Festival, WOMAD and many more.

Native Sun - A Friday Tonic

Mohammed Yahya

Native Sun

Mohammed Yahya

Sarina Leah

11th January 2019
The Friday Tonic, Southbank, London, UK

Native Sun are a London based duo consisting of bilingual rapper Mohammed Yahya, born in Mozambique , South East Africa and singer-song writer Sarina Leah born in London with Caribbean roots. Joining forces in 2010 Native Sun was born fusing Hip Hop and African rhythms with the aim of promoting a positive message of Universal Peace, Equality, Social Justice and Environmental Change.

Both artists over the years have received a great deal of publicity through collaborations on a variety of compilation CDs, Albums, International Tours across Europe, Africa and U.S, features of on a wide range of publications as well as TV appearances from UK based TV Channels such as BBC and ITV to Channels across Europe. Now together, Native Sun's sweet melodies fuse addictive head bouncing Hip Hop undertones, conscious bilingual lyrics and catchy hooks perfect for a climate in need of an uplifting message.

Sarina Leah

The Friday Tonic series showcases performances from emerging artists in London and around the world. Presenting an eclectic mix of jazz, world, folk and classical music (and with a bit of spoken word thrown in for good measure), these early evening shows are designed to introduce you to sounds you might not have heard before, all for free.

Steve Williamson Trio & StringTing

Steve Williamson Trio

Steve Williamson Trio
String Ting

Date: 11th May 2018
Venue: Queen Elizabeth Hall Foyer, Southbank, London, UK

The enigmatic and magnetic saxophonist/composer, Steve Williamson explores the sonic elements that link contemporary classical and progressive jazz composition with his trio and members of Tomorrow’s Warriors StringTing. (Part of Ligeti In Wonderland.)

Steve Williamson (born 28 June 1964) is an English saxophonist and composer.(tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, keyboard and composition). He has been called "one of the most distinctive saxophone voices in contemporary British jazz". Born in west London to Jamaican parents, Steve Williamson began playing saxophone at the age of 16 and started his career playing in reggae bands, including Misty in Roots. In 1984 and 1985 he studied at London's Guildhall School of Music, where he was tutored by Lionel Grigson. Williamson was a member of the noted collective of British-born black jazz musicians who came together as the Jazz Warriors in the mid-1980s. At the Nelson Mandela 70th birthday open-air festival in 1988 Williamson played alongside Courtney Pine in Wembley Stadium and afterwards was a constant presence at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club. He was member of Louis Moholo's Viva La Black (1988) and of Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (1990). During the 1990s he led his own band and appeared in projects of Iain Ballamy, Maceo Parker, Bheki Mseleku, US3, and Graham Haynes. In 1990 Williamson released his first album A Waltz for Grace with Verve, featuring vocalist Abbey Lincoln. In 1992 he released his second album, Rhyme Time, followed by Journey to Truth in 1994, featuring Cassandra Wilson.

StringTing

Tomorrow’s Warriors StringTing is the latest addition to the Tomorrow’s Warriors family of flagship ensembles and is focused around some of our best young string players drawn from our JazzStrings development programme. Members of Tomorrow’s Warriors StringTing meet on a regular basis with their mentor – jazz double bassist and Tomorrow’s Warriors artistic director, Gary Crosby OBE – to work on a wide range of jazz repertoire for performance in a variety of settings, from public concerts and showcases to private functions.  In addition to performances as a distinct ensemble, members also have opportunities to work with our associated professional ensembles, such as Nu Civilisation Orchestra and Jazz Jamaica All Stars.

Will Gibson Septet - Southbank Ziggurat

Paul Jordanous

Will Gibson Septet
Will Gibson - saxophone

Sam Leak - piano

Kevin Glasgow - bass

Sophie Alloway - drums

Paul Jordanous - trumpet

Trevor Mires - trombone

Leo Appleyard - guitar

Sam Leak

Date - 25th November 2016
Venue - BAM Festival, Southbank Centre, London

Current Album - Facets (Pathway Records 2016)

Will Gibson

Future performance

15/01/2017 -  Will Gibson Septet - Omnibus, London
22/02/2017 -  Will Gibson Septet - Swing Unlimited, Bournemouth

Trevor Miles

Ziggurat
Angled dunce hats rise before us in corrugated rooftops.
Worlds within worlds, cup cake frills and spiked edges,
A spiral staircase is chopped into black and white confetti.
Escher stairs fold themselves in an impossible origami.
Shadows cut over bannisters and raining down in shards of black.
Free running world of concrete shadows.
Back and forward, build and conquer.

Will Gibson (b.1986) is a London-based saxophonist, clarinettist & composer. He began clarinet, piano & writing music at an early age. From 1996-2005 he attended Junior Trinity College of Music in London on Saturdays, where he continued his instrumental lessons & studied composition with Cecilia McDowall. He took up saxophone around the age of 14 after becoming more influenced by jazz & in particular John Coltrane. He also joined the Pendulum Youth Jazz Orchestra, where a large part of the repertoire was by Kenny Wheeler. During this time he was awarded the Chappell Prize for Composition, the Hambourg Prize for Improvisation & won the European Piano Teachers Association Composition Competition.

Sophie Alloway

From 2005-2009 he went to Trinity College of Music where he obtained a BMus (Hons) in performance. Here he studied with Mark Lockheart, Julian Siegel, Michael Whight, Fiona Cross & Andrew Poppy. He became involved in ensembles from both jazz & classical sides, & was awarded the Ronnie Verrell Award for Big Band & the Wilfred Hambleton Clarinet Prize.

Leo Appleyard

Since graduating Will has performed extensively throughout the U.K. & Europe in various bands & projects. In 2012 he was awarded second place in the Worshipful Company of Musicians Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition for his big band piece Solicitudes, which was performed by the Trinity College of Music Big Band in Ronnie Scott's.

The artwork from Will Gibson's new album Facets will be part of an exhibition of album art at the Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton-on-Thames from 13th-22nd January 2017. Free entry.

Exhibition details click here

Mads Matthias - Downy cheek

Mads Mathias - saxophone

Peter Rosendal - piano

Mads Mathias - Vocal and saxophone
Peter Rosendal - piano (& flugelbone)
Ferg Ireland - bass
Chris Higginbottom - drums

Venue - Royal Festival Hall Foyer, South Bank Centre, London
Date - 16th October 2015
Current Album - Free Falling (Calibrated)

Mads Mathias next UK dates - February 2016

Friday 5th - The Cinnamon Club, Manchester
Saturday 6th - Southport Melodic Jazz Club at The Royal Clifton Hotel 11am
Sunday 7th - Seven Jazz in Chapel Allerton, Leeds LS7 1.30 - 4pm...
Friday 12th - Lighthouse Poole
Saturday 13th - Pizza Express Jazz Club - 7pm
Saturday 13th - Pizza Express Jazz Club - 10pm
Sunday 14th - Pizza Express Music Lounge Maidstone

Chris Higginbottom
- drums

Gilt edge jazz from blonde tousled Mads Mathias, half rough cheek, half downy. Ferg Ireland the best nose in jazz bass, a symmetry with his instrument. Elegant and beautiful. Tea For Two, slack jaw Peter Rosendal mouthing the dexterity beside Higginbottom.

The South Bank doing what it does best, mixing respectables and those walking in from Thames side concrete. Hundreds of faces, happy free people.

Up and down What Is Time, the gentleness of toes on their tips leaving room for Rosendal's piano. He treads softly, more spring carpet like than the crackling leaves that currently surround. Glide, arch, swirl and turn.

Ferg Ireland - Bass

Conversational swing, Free Falling. Playful run up, run the tapper. Mathias is a wagtail, flirting, buoyant. Drums cut against the pillow filling, the eider cushion.

Full mouthed, plummy, juicy Labour of Love. Slide of oiled wood on Nordic grain, transatlantic adrift.

Round ball, contented roller, Fool for Love. Delicious piano snatch, a slice, a trick and waft. Knees high in a crisp step.

Sophisticated in and out clubs, The Henpecked Man, made of droplets, small colourful splashes. No killings, no artic belt deaths. Fresh spruce and always tasteful.

AL.

Raga Garage - Carnatic strings

Jyotsna Srikanth

The Carnatic Strings are the sinuous threads that tug the heart like miniature campanological hands lurking in the rib cage. Untrue of course, Carnatic is the adjective denoting the main style of classical music in southern India, as distinct from the Hindustani music of the north. These internet pages have never strictly adhered to what is reality and fiction, but lets start with some facts.



Robert Atchison

Four piece Raga Garage performed to a crowd of Carnatic lovers at the Purcell Room on London's Southbank (21/07/2015) in a smear of colour and cascade like an autumnal Hyde Park on a windswept day. Orange, browns and reds aplenty but also that puce that lingers on chapped cheeks were the sentiments and the vision. There was a glistening varnish to the perspiring brows of Jyotsna Srikanth (Carnatic classical violin), Robert Atchison (western classical violin), Shadrach Solomon (piano) and NS Manjunath (percussion).

Robert Atchison is a familiar entry in the sketchbook of this blog, more often than not seated amongst the London Piano Trio, under the high ceiling of St John's Smith Square. Tonight he was the beauty and the glide, the swell, the fall, the wind and more often than not the pace of this quartet. His violin created the broad threads that Jyotsna Srikanth cut through, she pierced him, re-stitched in a complexity that was part mathematics and part patchwork.

NS Manjunath

The violins trod different paths, as you would expect from animals born in separate cultures but they ran together too. Atchison had a squirrelling verve while Srikanth's poetic themes uplifted the spirit and made you want to dash your new found zeal against her rocks.

Away from centre stage and the obvious spotlights was where the percussion of NS Manjunath awaited if you so dared to enter his layer. He laid the road for all three of his fellow musicians, although excitingly it was not all a pathway of granite slabs but tilted and bucked as though situated on the San Andreas fault. More than once he broke it apart and brought it back together again like a cultured navvy who is daydreaming of jigsaw pieces.

Shadrach Solomon

In the obsidian night lurked Shadrach Solomon who was barely visible, he laid his notes of discord, and they were snares for the heart. Once caught, my mouth filled thick with the violin of Jyotsna Srikanth, she was tempting me to choke my doubts away and drink in big cinematic gulps of sweeten air.

AL.

See Robert Atchison perform the Beethoven Cycle with the London Piano Trio during October, November (2015) and January (2016). Details below.

Nomad Soul Collective - Anthemic glows

Henry Spencer - Trumpet



Although moved from the Southbank's Front Room into their into their not unsubstantial back parlour, the Nomad Soul Collective made the most of their wandering credentials to take up residence in the Clore Ballroom last week (23/01/2015).

Henry Lawry - Piano/Vocals

 It is one of London's great public spaces, filled with a mixture of music lovers, end-of-week johnnies, captivated toddlers and an ever rotating carousel of bodies escaping either the inclement weather or meeting new friends. The swell and heave of the crowd  reminded us of Nomad Soul Collective's Murmuration, the tune which propelled them to viral success. Tonight it was but one composition amongst eleven original tunes.



Jamie Beaumont - Bass

Alongside the regular NSC cast list of Emmett Glynn (guitar/vocals), Henry Lawry (piano/vocals), Jamie Beaumont (bass), Kiran Bhatt (drums) and Samuel Eagles (saxophone) was a bolstered brass section that included both Henry Spencer (trumpet) and Tom White (trombone).


Emmett Glynn -
guitar/vocals

One of the constant themes in the Nomad Soul Collective's portfolio is the balance between a Human's influence and Nature. Their pace has an organic ebb which unfurls like a awakening fern, leaving the mind to wander at its leisure, yet the instrumentation possesses a modernity that anchors you in the Now.




Samuel Eagles -
Saxophone

Origins is one of many tunes starting with the air of a lazy day, perhaps in a city park. A stretch of grass that catches you in its green while all about you is hot yellows and angry blues. Samuel Eagles' saxophone turns up the thermostat while bodies bubble and buzz. This is a people tune, a pulse, a force, it is for people who attract people. This magnetism was obviously working in the Clore Ballroom as the audience swelled.

Lucinda John-Duarte

Forever brought Lucinda John-Duarte to the stage for this evolving tune, its petals and leaves continually opening in invitation. An understated honesty pervaded the majority of NSC's performance and this was no exception. Excuse my sparse realisation of the Holy Milk's singer but she lasted for but this one moment, and not for longer as the song suggested.

Kiran Bhatt - drums

Into the Ocean was not the kind of tune you dive into, if anything, it helps you glide above the inviting water. This is music for the third eye in all of us, the third person perhaps, the aid that helps us to look at ourselves from a higher vantage point. It was emphasised frequently but particularly on this tune by Henry Lawry's scudding piano.

Tom White - Trombone

On the whole the Nomad Soul Collective puffed us up with optimism, especially the aforementioned Murmuration, with guitar and bass which ruled like gods whilst the brass literally and metaphorically added the gilt, the anthemic glow that bathed us in gold. In contrast Solstice let a discordant wind cut through the Ballroom's doors. It spoke of uninviting paths, undecided days and a half-finished, half-eaten malaise. As the trumpet of Henry Spencer looked into the stage lights, the weak shadow from his fingers played across his own face. You couldn't help but think of the shapes made by naked branches as they dance in the low horizon sun.

AL.

Face in the crowd -
Steve Marchant

Fergus Ireland - Southbank leftfield

Fergus Ireland - Bass

The Samuel Eagles Quartet took their debut CD for its first spin in public on the 14th March 2014 at the Queen Elizabeth Hall's Front Room. Despite the CD remaining unreleased at the present time, Eagles had received his personal copies just hours before this showcase gig. The album will break onto the scene via F-IRE's ever growing stable of talent during 2014, when, it still remains a mystery.


Samuel Eagles -
Alto and Soprano Saxophone

Samuel Eagles encourages mysterious musings through his music and demeanour. Never have I seen a front man take such a back seat on the jazz circuit. It is unnerving but also charming in this day and age of big mouthed performers. Despite Eagles reputation as an introvert the compositions on his debut album 'Next Beginning' are light and expansive, with more than a hint of a Mediterranean breeze. He leaves so much space for both the audience and his quartet to breath.

Ralph Wyld - Vibes

Much of the Samuel Eagles Quartet's levity is courtesy of vibesman Ralph Wyld. Tonight in the Frontroom he took the eye with a smock of gold and blue. His purple sticks taking control of a lush solo during second tune 'My Instigation', it was like shattering a slab of dark chocolate, the sweet jagged shards greedily consumed by a packed out Southbank audience. In fact I once again crossed paths with the busiest man on the London circuit, Steve Marchant.

Eric Ford - drums

The brushes of Eric Ford reflected beautifully the descent of the night's haze, as the colours began to bleach from beside the Thames. Despite the first warm drafts suggesting an end to the long winter I can't say in all honesty that 'Smells Like Summer' was the metrological cusp of better things but Eagles soprano reminded us of the dancing shadows that will warm our cockles in the months to come.

Throughout tonight's performance Samuel Eagles was true to form, stepping back again and again. Although he played his part too. Eagles tumbled straight into 'The Outsider' while Fergus Ireland's rich and thick musical presence made sure he wasn't alone. The lament of Eagles was a call, a sweet cry that pined for a response. It was answered once again by the ever impressive Ireland, whose playful solo never quite lost its grip despite Eagles vertiginous slide down a scree slope of melodies. Ireland continues to impress on the circuit and his growing reputation gains momentum, I am due another visit to SE Collective's den of iniquity at the Amersham Arms where he regularly plies his trade.

AL.

Peter Lee / Narcissus - The Bold, Beautiful, Young and Serious

Peter Lee - Piano

The bristling jazz organisers, Young & Serious, hosted a suitably edgy concert at the EFG London Jazz festival this year (19/11/2013). Providing a platform for the exciting 5 piece Narcissus, under the leadership of Peter Lee.  Pitt the Younger would have been proud of Lee's assured performance in the Front Room of Queens Elizabeth Hall before an overflowing audience and a selection of older jazz glitterati. As I stood there sketching I noticed amongst others Gareth Lockrane, Eric Ford and Geoff Gascoyne come in to check-out jazz's new breed.

Huw Foster - Bass

With a nod between Peter Lee and Ali Thynne on drums we ran into the opening tunes' flip flopping tempos. Huw Foster's bass drove his deep tyre tracks all over it and again on second composition 'Mirror Stage' he was the pathfinder, navigating with a slow power. His deep grooves kicked sand in our faces, creating a thirst that needed to be sated by Josh Arcoleo. Even though we gorged on his saxophone we wanted more and splutteringly we gulped it in.

Josh Arcoleo - Saxophone

Arcoleo rode the waves while Tom Varrall skimmed his short hard slingshots across the third tune 'Dependency'. The next, 'Criss Cross' brought Peter Lee to the fore and it was a standout in this succinct 6 tune set. Lee cuts a frail and languid figure, dark and attractive like Lucky Luke in appearance. His rising stance announced the composition's 'prog jazz' spring and Lee enticed us with a light and fumbling happiness. The tune darted into the audience like a rolling coin, balancing on its edge, people rose in their seats to see where the nugget's journey would end.

Tom Varrall - Guitar

The Christian Hymn 'How Great Thou Art' combined Synth and Bass in a pulsating performance that sucked our meandering feet into its sludge yet we stood looking up into the light.

Ali Thynne - Drums

Finally as the QEH filled to bursting, Narcissus signed off with 'Writer's Block' and its upbeat punch, like walking down a NYC sidewalk. The crowd swelled with coffee swiggers and baguette wolfers who crammed every available floor space as though we had in reality found ourselves in the city's rush-hour traffic. We fell back into the shards of the metropolis and the saxophone's sirens hit hard.

AL.

Chew on Benet Mclean

Benet Mclean - Piano

It was bigger and better, with more venues, more musicians and a packed house at every gig I attended this year at the EFG London Jazz Festival. Over the next week or so I'll be writing and exhibiting my work from the 8 gigs I found myself involved in, starting with Benet McLean's Quartet at the Clore Ballroom, Southbank on the 16th November 2013.

I don't often get the opportunity to bring the family along with me on these field trips, this being a blessing and a regret depending on my state of mind. The Festival had taken over the Southbank with a series of free concerts and a thousand people with the same idea as I were crammed onto every available space at the heart of London. Although there was an impressive spread of talent on display throughout the 4 hours session I was only here to see one man.

Duncan Eagles - Saxophone

I first drew Benet Mclean when I was artist-in-residence at The Bull's Head, Barnes in 2011/2012. His performance that night was exhilarating edge-of-your-seat stuff. He had forgotten his charts and there was a air of unpredictability and precipitous energy. Here and now though we had a calmer Mclean, confident and assured but still with that edge of burning charisma, the kind that metamorphoses me into the moth who cannot resist the flame.

Max Luther - Bass

This whole afternoon session was being recorded live for Kevin LeGendre's Jazz on 3 radio programme and Mclean's Quartet showed no signs of nerves even on their opening tune "Giant Steps" from his 2010 album "In the Land of Oo-bla-dee". Duncan Eagles was the star of the early exchanges, his initial slow burn on the opener just grew and grew which he carried forward to the set's second tune. With Mclean's beating piano and Mark Mondesir's heavy drums it was left to Eagles to add the subtlety, and he again proved more than capable with a light tip-toed spring with his soprano saxophone.

Mark Mondesir - Drums

Despite being hidden by the piano, Max Luthert was still integral to proceeding and I was able to get a quick sketch from the wings before being moved-on by security. It was understandably Benet Mclean who took the eye and the ear on this day. The third tune, Dizzy Gillespie's "I waited for you" was the perfect example of Mclean's sense of performance. With his expansive open-mouthed delivery he sucked you closer and like a circus lion we dared to place our heads within his mouth before the inevitable SNAP! We were saved. A sharp shot from drummer Mark Mondesir felled the roaming animal. Mclean's head drooped and his arm swayed gently in breeze from the Southbank's espresso machines.

In both voice and 10 fingered dexterity Benet Mclean was captivating. I turned to another scribbler to my left as our smooth headed pianist reached his finale with a solo piano homage to Art Tatum, the reviewer looked at me and mouthed "Range and Variety".

It was Mclean's voice which particularly resonated with me. It was meaty like a Sunday roast, each mouthful took me a minute to digest its timbre, leaving me to pile layer upon layer of its gravy tones into my greedy gullet.

I'm still chewing on it now.

AL.

Partikel - Max Luthert's new hues

Max Luthert - Bass

The ever emerging pimped-up Robin Reliant of Jazz, Partikel, are adding a touch of class to their repertoire this year. The previous six years have seen this trio tighten the nuts on their lean machine, taking no prisoners in what continues to be a vibrant London Jazz scene. At its centre, on the banks of the River Thames last Friday (7/6/2013), we saw Partikel take to the Southbank's Foyer stage with new material and a special guest to boot.

Duncan Eagles -
Saxophone

With a second album 'Cohesion' well under their belts and with a new recording on the horizon, the trio are starting to play around with more ideas, sounds and evocative imagery. Led as always by their charismatic front man Duncan Eagles, this group have always been comfortable with and within each others company. Now it seems they are breaking through this comfort zone and treading on each other's musical toes. Eagles continues to be the driving force though, he is a man that exhibits a steely ambition and bravery in composition and performance.

Eric Ford - Drums

Max Luthert on Bass has arrived at the metaphoric party at last. Although his playing has never hidden in the shadows, you now begin to feel his influence more and more, through his writing (Assam) and his superb playing on tunes like 'Market Place'. It is no surprise that he is back on form since the cast on his left wrist (that plagued him for the past year) has now been jettisoned. The afore mentioned 'Market Place' gives Luthert the space to express himself and he has never sounded better, his satisfying bass lines were deeply rich and true. The last tune of the evening, 'The Optimist' allowed Luthert to take control and the discerning audience were swept up in the summer breeze of this floating composition.

We felt breathless.

New compositions rang true too. 'Midnight Mass' created a hollow yet strangely tangible sense of space. Eagles cast out his melodies against distant shores and they rebounded with eerie sentiment. Here was a dark beauty that was totally at odds with this lazy summer evening.

Shirley Smart - Cello

Eric Ford was unleashed on 'Clash of the Clans', a tune that accelerated, then slammed its foot on the break in quick succession. You felt as though your safety was being challenged by Ford, like you were only a wheel's width from dropping into the precipice on a winding cliff top drive.

The addition of Shirley Smart on cello created a stir amongst Partikel devotees as she took to the stage at the start of the second set. With Smart they performed with a new voice on 'Shimmer', with a lightness, a playfulness that Eagles, Luthert and Ford have never had when playing alone. The cello gives the melodies of Eagles saxophone an ally and together they swell to greater heights. The quartet followed up with a version of 'Body and Soul' that had an almost Parisienne flavour.

Max Luthert by
Peter S Smith

The collaboration with Shirley Smart has made me look at Partikel in a new light and it was only fitting that I was joined by artist Peter S Smith this evening. He had invited me to the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition where he has had two prints accepted (and a healthy number of red dots on his work). It is always fascinating to have another artist draw alongside you, as they see the same scene differently (He has kindly let me reproduce his sketch here).

Where my drawings explore line and movement, Peter's create depth and emotion and we have learnt from one another over years just like the musicians we saw before us, though unlike them we shall never paint on the same canvas. I can foresee that Partikel and Smart have a bright future ahead of them with new hues and broad brushstrokes to add to their already impressive triptych.

AL.

See them next at the TW12 Jazz Festival in Hampton Hill on July 21st.
Link here.