Cleveland Watkiss - A Ripple in Time with artist Gary Stewart

 

Cleveland Watkiss

Closing Celebration for A Ripple in Time with artist Gary Stewart
Orleans House Gallery
Twickenham
19 February 2025

A Ripple in Time invites us to reflect on our shared past and contemplate the threads that connect us through the philosophy of Dub. Artist Gary Stewart spent four months researching in the Richmond Borough Art Collection. He describes his archival exploration as an ‘excavation’ intertwining history and modernity.  

His research came together at the Orleans House Gallery with remixed sonic elements, original narration, multi-channel video work, vintage objects and artworks from the collection. Like a Dub musician who mixes multiple tracks on a turntable, there are multiple timelines layered together in the space – the history of the British Empire, the history of Western music and the history of sound playback technology. The artist’s practice engages with Dub as a mode of creating, and this layering is Dub in action. 

According to Stewart, ‘A lot of my practice is based on establishing the framework of a linear timeline and then mixing it up so that you can create dialogues between different time periods. What would happen if you had someone listening to a cello in the 18th century in the gallery’s Octagon Room having a conversation with somebody today who’s interested in contemporary folk music?’ 

Suntrap - Twickfolk

Sara Byers

Suntrap
Sara Byers - Vocals, Guitar, Accordion, Banjo, Whistle
Mary Wilson - Vocals, Violin, Mandolin,
Sue Graves - Vocals, Guitar, Ukulele
John Sandall - Violin, Viola, Cello, Vocals
Tom Evans - Double bass, Accordion, Guitar, etc

Tom Evans 

Twickfolk
The Cabbage Patch Pub, 67 London Road, Twickenham, Middx. TW1 3SZ
https://www.twickfolk.co.uk/
13th March 2022

Suntrap are an English five-piece folk band specialising in a unique musical experience of folk-inspired traditional, original and contemporary songs featuring entrancing harmonies. 

Sue Graves 

Their fifth CD, Northern Lights, was released at TwickFolk on 22nd September 2019. The album captures as live a sound as possible and is be the first recording featuring Sue Graves, John Sandall and Tom Evans. We have recreated the band’s live sound by recording in the round, using a forest of microphones rather than layering up the songs in a studio.

Mary Wilson

Sara and Mary began singing together after meeting at Cecil Sharp House in 1996. The following year they made their first demo at Dave Pegg's Woodwork Studios and Suntrap have gone on to make four highly regarded CDs, the most recent of these released on Fellside Recordings. Sue, known as the ‘Surrey Nightingale’ is a stunning addition to Suntrap’s powerful vocal harmony sound. John, a virtuosic, irrepressible fiddler and Tom Evans, musical meister of everything complete the Suntrap sound.

Suntrap have played all over the UK and Europe at major folk festivals, folk clubs and art centres. The band have been privileged to open Cambridge and Warwick Folk Festivals.
http://www.suntrap.org/

John Sandall 

David Gunawardana, Doves Vagaries and Whiteland & Gilchrist - Twickfolk

David Gunawardana

13th March 2022. Supporting Suntrap.

Twickfolk
The Cabbage Patch Pub, 67 London Road, Twickenham, Middx. TW1 3SZ
https://www.twickfolk.co.uk/

David Gunawardana
There is a magical gentleness about David Gunawardana's music. Capturing spirits from his Sri Lankan roots, he sparks them into meandering dancing lights, and tales that glow in the imagination. 
https://www.davidgunawardana.com/

Doves Vagaries

Doves Vagaries
Duo Sarah Pavey and Chris Evans with songs and music spanning 12th to 19th centuries. 
https://www.dovesvag.co.uk/

Lynne Whiteland 

Lynne Whiteland & Hector Gilchrist
Lynne Whiteland has been singing all of her life. She got my first guitar at the age of 11, and has spent the last 40 years making music with the English folk music ensemble Tudor Lodge.
Website

Ayrshire-born, Surrey based, Scottish folk singer, Hector Gilchrist has been a popular performer on the Folk scene since the 1960s. A favourite at Twickfolk. www.hectorgilchrist.co.uk

Julian Costello - Twickenham Jazz Club

Julian Costello

Julian Costello - saxophone
Maciek Pysz - guitar
Dave Jones - drums
Eric Ford  - drums

Twickenham Jazz Club - 6th October 2021

In recent weeks we have welcomed the return of Twickenham Jazz Club. Familiar faces once again grace the audience at The Cabbage Patch, and Lesley Christiane is our hostess of Jazz. The music has now moved to Wednesday nights, 7.30pm to 10.30pm (two sets 8-9pm & 9.30-10.30pm).

Julian Costello

Local favourite Julian Costello packed out the club on 6th October 2021 to play tunes (mostly) from his latest album Connections. Compositions that utilised the talents of Maciek Pysz on guitar were particularly well received by the audience. 

Dave Jones

Julian Costello Saxophonist / Composer / Educator lives in London with his crazy but lovely family of teenagers and he tries to approach life with humour. 
https://www.juliancostello.co.uk/

Eric Ford

“Julian Costello is a sax lyricist, telling his stories of life’s ups and downs ... to impart strength, humour and even frailty” "There's a sense of graceful lyricism, combined with an inner strength, in the playing of tenor and soprano saxophonist Julian Costello........Costello's improvising is carefully crafted, beauifully structured, and mellow”, John Watson.

Maciek Pysz

Joe the Hat presents Jo Harrop - The Exchange, Twickenham

Dave Green - bass

Jo Harrop - voice
Dave Green - bass
John Pearce - piano
Alan Barnes - saxophone and clarinet
Matt Home - drums

Joe the Hat

After a hiatus of 18 months due to the Covid pandemic I like many others at The Exchange in Twickenham (09/09/2021) were back listening to live Jazz again. We the hope the resumption will be a long term affair and the Jazz clubs of London will be alive once again. This night was organised by dapper jazz lover and local personality Joe the Hat. 

Jo Harrop

Jo Harrop - Born in Durham and raised on a heady musical diet of Nina Simone, Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, Jo Harrop cut her teeth as a session singer, working with a host of iconic artists including Neil Diamond, Rod Stewart, Gloria Gaynor and Enrique Iglesias. After moving to London, she quickly established herself as one of the most unmistakable voices in British jazz, performing everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall to the Sunset Sunside Jazz Club in Paris.
 https://www.joharrop.com/

Matt Home - drums

Matt Home - Born in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 1973, Matt Home started with the trumpet and switched to drums at the age of 8. After taking private lessons  in 1991 he enrolled on the three year course in Jazz and popular music at CLCM graduating in 1994 and soon began playing professionally, based in Leeds. In 1999, Matt moved to London and soon began playing with many of  the leading musicians in London, the UK and Europe including  Alan Barnes, Claire Martin, Stacey Kent, Atila, Brandon Allen, Allison Neale, Jim Mullen, Dave Cliff, Steve Fishwick, Matt Wates and Nat Steele among others. Current projects include ‘ Five- Way Split’ a UK quintet comprising 5 of the leading straight ahead jazz musicians on the London scene: The Nate Najar U.S Trio and more recently The Raible/Gradischnig Quintet “ Elmo Hope Project “ with UK trumpeter Steve Fishwick.
 https://www.matthomedrums.com/

Alan Barnes

Alan Barnes is a prolific international performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and touring soloist.  He is best known for his work on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, where he combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit that have few peers.
 https://www.alanbarnesjazz.com/

Jon Pearce

Gentle, lyrical and thoughtful, John Pearce is one of Britain’s most respected and versatile musicians and one of our best kept secrets.  John became interested in jazz as a twelve-year old.  He played his first gigs locally in Essex, before turning professional in 1968, working in Geraldo’s Navy, and then joined the QE2 for her maiden voyage to New York in 1969.   From 1975 to 1985 he was in Ray Ellington’s Quartet and did two world cruises and radio and TV work; and became a regular session player, with the BBC Radio Orchestra, Jack Parnell’s Orchestra, Robert Farnon, Billy May, and with the James Last Orchestra.  
https://fleetjazz.wordpress.com/john-pearce-2/

Dave Green

Dave Green (born 5 March 1942) is an English jazz bassist. His first public performances were with his childhood friend Charlie Watts in the late 1950s. While performing with Humphrey Lyttelton from 1963 to 1983, he also played with the Don Rendell–Ian Carr band in the early 1960s, and went on to play with Stan Tracey. In the early 1980s, he led his own group, Fingers, featuring Lol Coxhill, Bruce Turner and Michael Garrick. In 1991, he was a founding member of Charlie Watts's quintet, together with Gerard Presencer, Peter King and Brian Lemon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Green_(musician)

Partikel - The Fox

Duncan Eagles

Partikel
Duncan Eagles - saxophone
Max Luthert - bass
Eric Ford - drums

The Fox, Twickenham, UK
05/03/2020

2020 marks ten years since Partikel launched their debut CD. The band are celebrating this milestone with a new album with progressive German based label Berthold Records and lots of touring throughout the year.

Eric Ford

After four albums and a decade of working together Partikel still retain their youthful exuberance and a prickly wonder for the new challenges ahead. At The Fox in Twickenham they returned to their South West London stomping ground to share a handful of new compositions. Duncan Eagles has shed some of the lyricism of the early years, the meandering melodies have gone in favour of a more robust style, harder, more forthright. The same could be said for the drumming of Eric Ford, but he has always had a powerful cantankerous edge to his playing. Max Luthert will be forever the pacifier in this trio, playing the father figure to two boisterous teenage sons.

Max Luthert

Chiarello, Preston and Mudge - Jazz at the Fox

Bill Mudge

Gianni Chiarello - guitar
Bill Mudge - organ
Richard Preston - drums

23rd January 2020
Jazz on Toast, The Fox, Twickenham, UK

Jazz on Toast is a relatively new staple for jazz fans in South West London. An informal gathering of maverick musicians, usually with a house band of three players, and a wild card guest thrown in. An opening set of an hour (8.30-9.30pm) gives way to an open jam session for whatever remains of the night (10pm+). The night opened in October 2017 with Tom Ridout (saxophone),  Mike Redfern (guitar), Matt Gedrych (bass) and Jack Yardley (drums). It is testament to this night that it continues to flourish in 2020. Other Jazz Jams have flared to life and died during the two and half years that Jazz on Toast has been alive in Twickenham. Like the infamous Grey Horse Jazz Jam (Kingston) that burned so brightly in the late 2000s and early 2010s the core of musicians that play are young or brim with a latent talent.

Local guitar hero Gianni Chiarello has gained a reputation as an extremely versatile musician, having professional credits as a guitarist, bassist, arranger and producer. His style is a preconception-free mix of jazz, rock, blues, funk and modern harmony. A Native of Italy, took up the guitar at age 8, inspired by blues/rock players. In his forming years he performed with some of his country’s finest musicians, always keen to develop different musical styles. In 1999 he moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music, on a scholarship program, where he gained a degree. 

Hammond organ specialist Bill Mudge has been part of the London scene since 2010. His debut album, Skylight, is a thing of beauty, and although hard to find is well worth tracking down. A Renaissance man of considerable talents Mudge remains one of the brightest sparks of the London Arts scene. 

See his photography here - https://www.billmudge.co.uk/ 

and listen to some of his music with Toy Rokit  https://toyrokit.bandcamp.com/ 

Al Nicholls - The Exchange, Twickenham

Al Nicholls

Joes the Hat presents
Al Nicholls
Sandra Mae Luykx
Leon Greening
Dave Chamberlain
Sebastiaan de Krom

29th March 2019
The Exchange, Twickenham, UK

Leon Greening

Al Nicholls gained a sound musical education at Leeds College of Music (1983-6).  After leaving Leeds he cut his teeth in a succession of Jump Jive and Rhythm and Blues bands. In 1987 he joined Mike Sanchez’ Big Town Playboys, undoubtedly the best British R&B band of their generation. Al met Dick Laurie when he moved London (Putney) and played in various versions of Dick’s ‘Elastic Band'. In the 90s he became a major figure in the R&B/Jump Jive scene. 

Sebastiaan de Krom

After bringing some discipline and musicianship to the wonderful musical mayhem which was King Pleasure & the Biscuit Boys (1992/4), he fitted in superbly with the highly skilled masters of the JJ idiom, The Ray Gelato Giants (1994/6), becoming their principal arranger. In recent times Al continues to be a sought-after session musicians and freelance swing saxophonists, regularly invited to appear at prominent jazz venues, clubs and festivals, with such as Pete Long’s Echoes Of Ellington and many others. He’s also a regular member of T.J. Johnson’s band, Tony Pitt’s All Stars and, of course, Blue Harlem. 

Sandra-Mae Luykx

A talented singer and multi-instrumentalist, Sandra-Mae Luykx plays saxophone (soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophone), guitar, piano, percussion and has performed around the world in places like London, Amsterdam, New York, Brazil and in some of Vancouver's most prestigious venues including The Orpheum Theatre. Now living in London (UK), Sandra-Mae was a regular on the Vancouver music scene. She has played almost every venue in Vancouver (including the Vancouver International Jazz Festival) with her own groups performing jazz, pop, soul, R&B, folk, disco, Motown, funk and Brazilian music. She was in the house band for Vancouver's Backstage Lounge for five years playing baritone saxophone in the Funk/Soul/Motown band The Phonix.

Dave Chamberlain

Stuart Henderson Quartet - The Magic of Miles Davis

Stuart Henderson

Stuart Henderson Quartet
Stuart Henderson - trumpet
Pete Billington  - piano
Raph Mizraki - bass
Simon Price - drums
+
Kelvin Christiane - saxophone
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Barbie Benson - vocals

Pete Billington

Date - 20th March 2018
Venue - Twickenham Jazz Club, Twickenham, UK
Current album - Up Wind

Kelvin Christiane

Future performance
25th March 2018 (3.30pm) - Sunday Jazz at the Retreat
25th March 2018 (8pm) - Jazz at the Hare Bethnal Green
30th March 2018 - Remix Jazz Orchestra, Finchampstead Memorial Hall, The Village, Finchampstead, Wokingham RG40 4JT, UK

Raph Mizraki

A vibrant and energised night at Twickenham Jazz Club, one of the jazz jewels in the West London crown. Old and new faces packed out the music bar at the Cabbage Patch pub, the home of the club on Tuesdays. The music of Miles Davis and the performance of Stuart Henderson's quartet had drawn them in from the cold. Many had come to celebrate the 60th birthday of Kelvin Christiane, who runs the club with his wife Lesley, all left in uplifted spirits with cake and fire in their bellies. Long live jazz, long live Miles the king, the magic lives on.

From 1983 - 2005 Stuart Henderson was principal trumpet of The Scots Guards Band in Her Majesty’s Household Division. During this period he played many times for the Royal Family and at State occasions all over the world. Since leaving the services Stuart has become a fixture on the UK jazz scene appearing with many of the countries finest jazz musicians.

He leads various small groups and is musical director of the Remix Jazz Orchestra. He has played at many jazz festivals including Edinburgh, Glasgow and Brecon. Recording credits include dance labels “Nanny Tango”, “Soul Purpose” and “Greenfly”, and artistic collaborations with Tongues of Fire, Macnas and Mark Anderson “Dark Spark”. His commercial work includes the Rebecca Poole quartet, the String of Pearls, Joe Loss, The Showbiz Pops Orchestra and Nick Heyward.

Simon Price

Real Jazz musicians love to play to an intimate, individual audience who truly listen to their music. This cannot be achieved in huge venues like The Festival Hall, The Royal Albert Hall or many of our central London prestigious venues, yet often the musicians that appear at Twickenham Jazz Club are in middle of a tour at such venues and just seek a 'Proper Jazz Gig' - they just want to relax and play the music they love, to a listening audience.

In December 2014, the club moved to a new home, the world famous Cabbage Patch in London Road, Twickenham. Right in the middle of town, a stroll from Twickenham Station and with excellent bus services that stop virtually outside the door, the new venue promises to deliver even better jazz on a regular basis in a more accessible location where the Club continues to build its reputation as one of the best jazz clubs in London.

Barbie Benson

Richmond Rhythm Club - 2018 Winter Concert

Sara Dowling

Richmond Rhythm Club
Sara Dowling - voice
Amy Roberts - saxophone, flute
Richard Exall - saxophone, clarinet
Al Nicholls - saxophone
Dave Chamberlain - bass
Leon Greening - piano
Sebastiaan De Krom - drums

Date - 10th January 2018
Venue - Turk's Head, St Margarets, UK

Joe the Hat

The Richmond Rhythm Club meets on Tuesdays from 2-4pm, with drinks in the bar before and after. Based at The Twickenham Club, 7 Church Street, Twickenham, TW1 3NJ their schedule is full of fascinating speakers from the Jazz world. The booking of these personalities is largely due to the hard work of 'Joe the Hat', one of Twickenham's great treasures. Twice a year the Richmond Rhythm Club organises a concert that is much more about walking the walk rather than talking the talk. A hand picked group, representing the crème de la crème of the current scene, performs to a packed audience. The Winter Concert 2018 was a swinging affair with a hugely appreciative 120 listeners in attendance. The energy and fervour of the musicians rippled across the Winchester Room at the Turks Head, enthusing and captivating in equal measure.

Sebastiaan De Krom

RRC Schedule Winter 2018

16 Jan - Gary Wood – Trumpet, vocals

23 Jan - Sara Dowling – Vocals
30 Jan - Matt Home – Drums
6 Feb - Charles Alexander & Andy Robinson – Guitars
13 Feb - Gordon Campbell – Trombone
20 Feb - Allison Neale
27 Feb - Andy Dickens – Trumpet, vocals
6 Mar - Olly Wilby – Sax, clarinet
12 Mar Note: this is Monday - Colin Skinner – Sax, band leader, arranger
20 Mar - Walter Houser – Sax, raconteur​​
​3 Oct - Jeff Williams – drums 

Sara Dowling is a Singer/Songwriter currently living in London. Gifted with immensely emotional vocals her influences are wide and far reaching, reminiscent of jazz and  soul greats such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Candi Statton, but mixed with poetic lyrics and haunting melodies. Born in Oman to an Irish father and Arabic mother, she spent the early part of her life travelling through the middle east due to the nature of her fathers work. As a child she experienced great journeys through endless desert, in years to come this would provide much inspiration for poetry and lyrics. http://www.saradowling.co.uk/

Amy Roberts

Amy Roberts, from near Penzance, West Cornwall, is a multi award-winning flautist, clarinettist and saxophonist. Voted winner of the Miscellaneous Category in the 2015 British Jazz Awards, and the Rising Star Category in the British Jazz Awards in both 2009 and 2011, Amy has earned an enviable reputation throughout not only the UK but also abroad. http://www.amyrobertsjazz.co.uk/

Richard Exall

Richard Exall studied clarinet at the Royal College of Music with international soloist Michael Collins. Self-taught on saxophone, he formed his own jazz quartet and big band while still at college and quickly became a familiar figure on the London jazz scene. Recently, Richard has worked with Kenny Ball and toured with American pianist Johnny Varro’s Swing Seven throughout Germany and Switzerland, and runs his own band “Richard Exall’s Shooting Stars” which is a favourite  at jazz clubs and festivals. http://www.richardexall.com/home.html

Al Nicholls

Al Nicholls is the product of a sound musical training, both academically through Leeds College of Music and practically via the bands of Ray Gelato, The Big Town Playboys, King Pleasure and many others bigger and smaller. Al is also the leader and musical driving force of London's renowned jump jive and good time swing band Blue Harlem. Al also plays regularly with the band of TJ Johnson and with fellow tenor saxophonist Jo Fooks. http://www.alnicholls.co.uk/homepage

Dave Chamberlain

Dave Chamberlain has been playing the double bass since the age of 16. He studied in London and Paris with Dominic Black, Simon Woolf and Pierre Boussaguet, the latter an alumnus of Ray Brown. From 2002 to 2008 he was the full-time bass player with Blue Note recording artist Stacey Kent. Current projects with which I'm involved include 100 Years of Jazz in 99 Minutes, the Graham Harvey Trio and the Back To Basie Orchestra. https://www.davechamberlain.biz/

Pianist Leon Greening's hard swinging style has made him a favourite on the jazz scene for over a decade, and makes no apologies for his adoration of the great bebop pianists, with Wynton Kelly, Bobby Timmons and Bud Powell among his primary influences.

Leon Greening

Sebastiaan De Krom graduated with distinction from Berklee College of Music and went on to study a Masters degree at New England Conservatory. In 1995 he won the prestigious Buddy Rich Award and from 1997 to 1999 was the drummer for the renowned Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Performance programme. Sebastiaan has performed with artists such as Herbie Hancock and John Scofield, and played regular sessions for Jamie Cullum from 2001 to 2008.

Maciej Grzywacz & Nigel Price - Twin peaks

Maciej Grzywacz

Maciej Grzywacz - guitar
Nigel Price - guitar
Kelvin Christiane - tenor saxophone and flute
Richard Sadler - bass
Noel Joyce - drums
Lesley Christiane - vocals

Noel Joyce

Date - 22 March 2016
Venue -  Twickenham Jazz Club
Current Album Maciej Grzywacz - Solo (2015)

Nigel Price

Maciej Grzywacz is a guitarist and composer who hails from seaside resort of Sopot in Poland. He earned his music laurels from both the Fryderyk Chopin Academy of Music in Warsaw, Poland and the Higher School of Music in Munich, Germany. In addition to numerous concert and festival appearances in Poland, Maciej has toured in Canada, Israel and several countries in Europe, including Germany, France, Austria, Russia, Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria and Romania. He can now add England to this burgeoning list of nations after being the chosen recipient of the yearly cultural Jazz exchange between Twickenham Jazz Club and Poland.

 



Kelvin Christiane

Maciej Grzywacz has five albums as a leader to his credit - "Solo" recorded entirely on classical guitar, “Black Wine” with american drummer Clarence Penn and bassist Yasushi Nakamura, "Things Never Done" which features renowned New York trumpeter Avishai Cohen, "Forces Within" with Canadian drummer Tyler Hornby and "Fourth Dimension" with alto sax player Maciej Obara.

 

Maciej received a “Fryderyk”, Polish award nomination in the Jazz Album of The Year category twice.  He is a faculty member at Academy of Music in Gdansk, Poland.

 

Richard Sadler

A night dominated by the twin peaks of guitarists Maciej Grzywacz and Nigel Price although my sketch pad can never resist the walking totem of the moustachioed and besatcheled Richard Sadler.

 

Price toyed with us, his mouth opening and closing like the chomp of a Hungry Hippo, musical marbles poured out, cascading down the hill into the audience's laps. It was our job to keep on our toes, navigating Price's dexterous feints and jabs.

 

Faces of Nigel Price

Maciej Grzywacz is a roller skater, a glider, he sways in and out of Price's obstacles, rising above the plane on which our everyday ears twitch and stretch. Kelvin Christiane was full of capers, back to a carefree groove after months ploughing the winter furrow.

 

Always we were drawn back to the interplay between Grzywacz and Price. The former sang a light and soulful song while Price dug into clods of earth. Although the rise of Maciej lifted the spirits it was the lure of getting your hands dirty with Nigel that appealed to the filthy hearts of Jazz.

 

AL.

Lesley Christiane