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NEWS

 

STEVE HANLEY QUARTET

 

 

 

 

On Monday 22nd July I'm playing with a great new band I'm really excited about .We are playing for NQ JAZZ at The Whiskey Jar on Tarriff Street, Manchester, a brilliant jazz venue run by some fantastic musicians, for musicians. 

 

The band is led by one of the most exciting young drummers I've heard in a while, Steve Hanley. Steve is an encyclopedia of jazz drummers and yet, you are never quite sure what he is going to play, this to me is the essence of jazz and it's certainly an adventure every time we play together. The music is deeply atmospheric with emphasis on a real group dynamic, the nature of the music is that everyone is improvising all of the time around the framework of the written music.

 

Guitarist Jamie Taylor brings a broad pallette of sound to the band. I particularly enjoy the high unisons we play together where I can barely hear myself, very exciting! Richard Jones is on piano and has only recently come into my musical orbit, he is a real talent who brings depth and spontaneity to the music and is a constant presence in the music shaping the sound and groove. 

 

It would be great to see you there at our premier gig.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE PARADISE TRIO - ILKLEY JAZZ FESTIVAL 2018

 

 

 

On Saturday the 18th August, The Paradise Trio will be playing at the Ilkley Jazz Festival at 1pm. The trio features Mike Walker on guitar, Les Chisnall on piano and myself on Flugel Horn. We're into our 4th year of playing together as a trio but we have been playing together for many years in many different combinations. My previous band, Microscopic was a quartet featuring Percy Pursglove on bass, Mike Williams on Alto and of course, Les on piano. Percy and Mike were based in Birmingham so it was sometimes difficult to get them together for gigs up my neck of the woods. I decided to ask one of my oldest friends if he would like to be part of a new trio with Les and myself and like the man from Del Monte, he said yes!

 

This for me was an amazing turn of events to play in such an intimate setting with Mike and Les. So much so that I decided to call it The Paradise Trio which is what it feels like to play with them. Initially there was some crossover of material from Microscopic but after quite a few gigs we are now playing music exclusive to the trio itself. One of my favourite musicians is Paul Bley and his approach to music is something I really aspire to. The nature of the music I write draws on my experiences listening to Bley, Jimmy Guiffre, Lee Konitz, Paul Motian amongst others. 

 

The content of The Paradise Trio is strong on melody and with the prodigious talents of Les and Mike, harmony and counterpoint is always evident. You can't imagine how great it is to have your music played by these two extraordinarily talented musicians interpreting it in such a way as to re-invent every performance. Really looking forward to the festival at Ilkley as the venue is beautiful and there is a lovely grand piano for Les to use. There are also many great performers at the festival icluding a really exciting commission project with Jamil Sheriff and Beverly Beirne.

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For a link to the whole festival go here 

 

Hope to see you there. 

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