Paradise in Ilkley

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 including a really exciting commission project with Jamil Sheriff and Beverly Beirne.

Hope to see you there.