Tuesday, 1 December, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Glasgow born Jim Mullen is possibly best known for his long association with the legendary sax player Dick Morrisey. Their popular group Morrisey Mullen was at the forefront of the jazz-funk movement in the UK, producing seven albums. Jim has also gained acclaim backing vocalist Claire Martin on three albums. As a sideman he has been in demand by visiting U.S. stars like Gene Harris, Mose Allison, Jimmy Smith, Percy Sledge, Plas Johnson, Jimmy Witherspoon and Terry Callier. A dynamic and forceful player, his deep affinity with the blues gives his music a quality of earthy excitement.

Tuesday, 24 November, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

In-demand saxophonist Carlos Lopez-Real, who studied with David Liebman in New York, is the founder of e17 jazz, the East London-based collective spawned out of both F-IRE and LOOP associations, whose members include Brigitte Beraha, John Turville, Adam Bishop, Will Collier, Jez Franks and Dave Manington. Carlos has collaborated with Zoe Rahman, Gary Husband and the Nicolas Meier Group, and held the sax chair in John Mayer's classic band Indo-Jazz Fusions. He also features with salsa king Roberto Pla and the Tito Puente Orchestra. Tonight we welcome Carlos to the East Side for the first time. Pianist Barry Green however has "previous", with many polished performances here at the club bearing testimony to his excellence.

Tuesday, 17 November, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

"More than any other British jazz trumpeter, Pearce probably deserves the mantle of heir to Jimmy Deuchar, offering a style that contains a fractured lyricism reminiscent of his forebear. Pearce began his career as a military band musician and subsequently emerged in the 1970s from one of the earliest editions of that ongoing jazz dynasty, the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO). Surrounded by would-be plugged-in Miles Davis clones, and by those musicians who had reached attention through the very different apprenticeship of free music, Pearce was notable for being the kind of straight ahead player who might well have appeared on the London jazz scene twenty years earlier. He has a sophisticated command of harmonic improvising, although, as with his self-confessed (and disparate) trumpet heroes - Chet Baker, Art Farmer and Don Cherry - his playing comes across as anything but contrived. Pearce had a lengthy association with Ronnie Scott which lasted from the 1970s until Scott's health forced him to abandon performing in the mid-1990s, and some of his best recorded work can be found on the CD Never Pat A Burning Dog (Jazz House, 1990), where his solos contrast admirably with Scott's more forthright contributions, and contain a heat and urgency never far beneath the cool surface." - Simon Spillett

Tuesday, 10 November, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Who said the supergroup was dead? Tonight's offering includes musicians more familiar with headlining their own groups: Frank Griffith hails from Oregon and then New York. As a composer and arranger he has worked with Jon Hendricks, Lionel Hampton and Ron Carter. Probably best known on the London scene for his excellent Nonet, formed in 1997. Ace trumpeter Dick Pearce had a lengthy association with Ronnie Scott which lasted from the 1970s until Scott's health forced him to abandon performing in the mid-1990s. “If John Etheridge weren’t so brilliant he might be more famous. His versatility is confusing. What other guitarist could have begun his career as a member of Soft Machine and the Stephan Grappelli Quintet?” - Dave Gelly, Observer. “One of the best guitarists in the world” - Pat Metheny.

Tuesday, 3 November, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Tony Coe began his performing career with Humphrey Lyttelton’s band and in 1965 Count Basie offered him a place in the Basie Band sax section. His credits since then include the John Dankworth Orchestra, Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland Band, Stan Tracey, Mike Gibbs, Stan Getz, Dizzy Gilespie and Bob Brookmeyer. Coe’s extensive experience in recording is heard on such films as Superman II, Victor Victoria and he is the featured tenor sax soloist in Henry Mancini’s music for the Pink Panther films. “Tony Coe is one of the most remarkable and brilliant musicians in the world” - Humphrey Lyttelton. “If my life depended on a jazz ballad, I think I’d ask Tony Coe to play it” - Richard Williams, The Independent.

Tuesday, 27 October, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Now something of a veteran, Lewis Wright began his musical education a little earlier than most - drum lessons from his father, a percussion teacher, at the age of 3, followed by the piano at 7 then vibraphone at age 9. Lewis gave his first public performance age 6 and by 10 was the youngest ever member of the Norwich Students Jazz Orchestra - he retired aged 13. Work credits include Stan Sulzmann, Clark Tracey, Julian Siegel, Martin Drew, Laurence Cottle, Bill le Sage, Jack Parnell and Mark Lockheart. 2001 saw the formation of the Lewis Wright Quartet and this year Lewis was invited to join the award winning group Empirical.

Tuesday, 20 October, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Tonight sees the welcome return of two highly respected musicians and good friends of the club, Chris Batchelor and Julian Siegel. Chris began playing trumpet with Steve Buckley and Django Bates in 1979 and soon after with Dudu Pukwana’s Zila. He was a founder member and composer for Loose Tubes from 1983-1990, touring extensively in Europe and the US, releasing three acclaimed albums. He's a senior lecturer in Jazz at Middlesex University. Julian has become one of the most in-demand saxophonists on the scene today. Winner of "Best Instrumentalist" at the BBC Jazz Awards 2007, amongst his many projects he continues to co-lead the inestimable Partisans with guitarist Phil Robson - himself recently crowned "Jazz Musician of the Year" at the 2009 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Tuesday, 13 October, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Sam Mayne's debut at the East Side came earlier this year when he played alto sax on John Horler's gig. Suffice to say that the strength and creativity of his performance that evening more than merits an early invitation to return, this time as leader. A former student of the Royal Academy of Music, Sam's work credits include Billy Cobham, Amy Winehouse, BBC Big Band & Concert Orchestra, Joe Locke, Victor Bailey, Django Bates, Tim Garland, Stan Tracey, Joe Lovano, Bud Shank, Patti Austin and Gladys Knight. Trumpeter Steve Fishwick is already a firm favourite here with his stylish and perfectly executed take on the classic hard bop sound.

Tuesday, 6 October, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

A big welcome back for tenor ace Benn, grandson of the famous theatre and revue artist, Gertrude Lawrence. Raised in London he has been a resident of Los Angeles since 1980. As a teenager Benn took sax lessons from Ronnie Scott who recommended him to Berklee College, Boston. His work credits include such notables as Cedar Walton, Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Cleveland. Benn is a member of the Fransisco Aguabella Latin Jazz Septet, Tony Insalaco Quintet and Pete Christlieb's Band.

Tuesday, 29 September, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Born in Vancouver, Canada 1982, Jay took up the trumpet at 11 years of age. At 15 he became the youngest artist to lead his own band at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Keen to develop his career further, Jay moved to London at the age of 17 where he immediately attracted the attention of Gary Crosby who engaged him as a dep for Jazz Jamaica All Stars and Nu Troop. In 2002 Gary offered him a place in the core band of Tomorrow's Warriors. Formerly co-leader of the much admired band Empirical, Jay is a featured member of Dennis Rollins’ Badbone & Co and has performed with Andrew Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Brown, George Benson and Hugh Masakela.

Tuesday, 22 September, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Stan Sulzmann is without question one of the most highly respected musicians in the UK today, admired by musicians and audiences for his instantly recognisable sound, boundless creative imagination and is a source of inspiration to many of Britain's emerging young musicians. Sulzmann’s career stretches back to the 60’s, when as part of a uniquely talented crop of British musicians, he played with Graham Collier, John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler and Gordon Beck as well as leading many groups of his own. Since that time Stan has been at the forefront of European contemporary jazz, his talents having been sought by a host of discerning musicians including Gil Evans, Mike Gibbs, Kenny Clarke/Francy Boland and Michael Brecker. Constantly in demand as a guest soloist, he has appeared with bands across Europe including the Hilversum Radio Orchestra, NDR Big Band (alongside Chet Baker), Hanover Radio Symphony Orchestra and the New York Composers Orchestra. Further intimate and refreshingly innovative musical partnerships have developed with acclaimed British pianist Nikki Iles, American keyboard player Marc Copland and the trio Ordesa - a drumless, bassless combination with Kenny Wheeler and John Parricellli.

Tuesday, 21 July, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

Art Theman, orthopaedic surgeon and illustrious saxman, remains a firm favourite on the British jazz scene with a pedigree as long as Southend Pier. Art was involved in the early British blues movement with Alexis Korner’s All Stars, Jack Bruce’s Band and Long John Baldry’s Hoochie Coochie Men. He has played and recorded with the bands of Michael Garrick, Graham Collier, Don Weller and in 1974 began a long association with Stan Tracey. He also toured and recorded with Charlie Parker alumni, Red Rodney and Al Haig.

Tuesday, 14 July, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£6 on the door

As part of this year's Leytonstone Festival we present a unique opportunity to see award-winners Liane Carroll and Julian Siegel with top pianist and educator Simon Purcell together with bassist Roger Carey and drummer Clive Fenner perform outside of their normal musical settings. Liane, Julian and Simon are tutors on Clive's International French Jazz School and it has been in the relaxed environment of the school's nightly club that they have developed a musical relationship that has explored aspects of their playing not normally seen in their various bands and that will be featured here tonight. The evening will feature quartet, trio, duo and solo arrangements and will cross a wealth of musical styles. Not to be missed.

Tuesday, 7 July, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Trudy moved to London in 1990 from her native Australia and, whilst continuing to gig regularly, worked during the day as secretary for popular clarinettist Acker Bilk. She took time out to study jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and in 1995 got her musical career break when Ronnie Scott offered her a week at his club. "Australian expatriate Trudy Kerr is another artist who understands the importance of seducing the public. A combination of artful programming and assured arrangements has made her one of the country's most polished singers" - Clive Davis, The Times. "..Trudy Kerr is outstanding, imaginative but respectful to the original song, with excellent phrasing and diction and a smile in her voice"- Dave Gelly, The Observer.

Tuesday, 30 June, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

As a saxophonist and composer, Mark Lockheart's work often defies categorisation and crosses the boundaries of the jazz, new music and folk worlds. Mark came to prominence in the mid 1980s with the influential and radical big band Loose Tubes, which he toured with throughout the USA and Europe and recorded with until its demise in 1989. In the mid-nineties Mark toured extensively with Django Bates' Delightful Precipice. He joined Seb Rochford's Polar Bear in 2003. In 2005 Mark released Moving Air featuring John Parricelli, Martin France and Mark's muti-tracked reeds; this album has been described as his most personal album yet. "Lockheart is a consummate saxophonist and an original and versatile composer" - The Rough Guide to Jazz.

Tuesday, 23 June, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Born in Forest Gate, East London, Quentin Collins is an outstanding hard bop trumpeter who graduated from the Guildhall School of Music by winning the ‘Best Finals’ prize. Already with a wealth of experience, he has worked with the likes of Jean Toussaint, Stan Tracey, Norma Winstone, John Surman, Tim Garland, Tony Kofi, Ray Gelato and is the longest serving member of the Blue Note inspired Dylan Howe Quintet. Quentin's debut album ‘If Not Now, Then When?’ is a balance of poignantly autobiographical originals and standards. It was voted 5th best Jazz Album of 2007 in the January 2008 edition of MOJO magazine. “...with Collins bringing a bright, crisply articulated Lee Morgan - like intensity to the proceedings..and a soft, brassy lyricism” - John Fordham, The Guardian.

Tuesday, 16 June, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

Geoff Simkins started playing jazz in his early teens. His first instrument was drums, but he quickly changed to the alto saxophone turning professional in 1977. Geoff has played concerts, clubs and festivals in the UK, Europe and beyond. He often works with American musicians who are visiting the UK, and over the years has played with such luminaries as Art Farmer, Bobby Shew, Al Cohn, Tal Farlow, Slide Hampton, Warren Vache, Al Grey, Kenny Davern, Bill Berry, Al Casey, Howard Alden, Ruby Braff, Bill Coleman and Conte Candoli. He has recorded with UK tenor player Danny Moss and with US trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Yank Lawson. Since the 1980s he has worked regularly with tonight's sideman guitarist Dave Cliff.

Tuesday, 9 June, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

A real favourite of the club, Dennis Rollins was born 1964 in the Midlands to Jamaican parents and raised in South Yorkshire. Dennis cut his teeth at the age of 14 performing with the Doncaster Youth Jazz Association. He moved to London and began playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and the legendary all-black big band Jazz Warriors. A charismatic and energetic musician, composer and educator, well known on the British and international jazz scene, and celebrated for his versatility and unique approach to the underrated trombone. Dennis' Badbone & Co was the winner of the BBC's Jazz Award for Best Band 2006. "Rollins' trombone blares out like the cry of a sexual predator on heat: that's right, the trombone can be sexy" - James Griffiths, The Guardian.

Tuesday, 2 June, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Rob Townsend started playing the sax when he got fed up with carting drums around. A senior lecturer in Jazz at Middlesex University, he has performed with a broad range of leading musicians including Django Bates, Sam Rivers, Iain Ballamy, Mark Lockheart and Bill Bruford. Rob has been a featured soloist with ex Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett for a number of years, touring internationally and recording a number of albums and DVDs. He’s also played on film and TV scores for Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck. "..by turns playful, rhapsodic and irreverent, he injected an almost folksy sensibility into his solos, coaxing sunshine out of the most oblique chord progressions" - James Griffiths, The Guardian.

Tuesday, 26 May, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Born in Oldham, Lancs, Annie Whitehead learnt trombone at school and by the age of fourteen was already busy playing with brass bands, local dance groups and the Manchester Youth Jazz Orchestra. At sixteen, she started her professional career with Ivy Benson's legendary All Girls Orchestra. Annie has worked with many well known artists including Elvis Costello, Joan Armatrading, Chis Rea, The Style Council and Robert Wyatt. She was a member of Chris MacGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, The Carla Bley Very Big Band and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. "Annie Whitehead is a trombonist of elegant technique and musical tastes taking in funk, salsa and ska as well as jazz" - John Fordham.

Tuesday, 19 May, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Tonight Karen features material from her latest CD "Brandy and Beer", a tribute to the tenor giants Al Cohn and Zoot Sims. The CD also includes tonight’s tenor partner Robert Fowler. Originally from Suffolk, Karen took up the tenor sax whilst studying composition at the Royal Northern College of Music. A friend introduced her to a recording of Dexter Gordon and she was instantly hooked, quickly joining the college jazz band and finding regular work in a busy soul band based in Liverpool. Moving to London in 1999 she became a busy freelance. In 2004 Karen took over from Kathy Stobart in Humphrey Lyttelton's band and stayed for three and a half years, playing tenor and baritone sax to packed houses up and down the country. She won the 2007 British Jazz Awards for both tenor sax player and rising star.

Tuesday, 12 May, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

Born Birmingham 1964, Dave learnt trumpet, drums and piano at school but was self taught on the sax. Dave’s playing credits include Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Cleo Laine & John Dankworth, Martin Taylor, Jim Mullen, Matt Bianco, Jason Rebello, Clark Tracey Sextet, Peter Gabriel and Jamie Cullum. Winner of the 1995 BT British Jazz Awards in the tenor sax and rising star categories. Dave’s most seen and heard career moment (and arguably moment of least artistic merit!)...as the busker in "The Return of Mr Bean". "O’Higgins, well - does he know just how good he is? When it comes to bop of any kind, on either soprano or tenor saxophones, he is, live, one of our few world-class players, capable of holding his own with the Americans" - Sholto Byrnes, The Independent.

Tuesday, 5 May, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

Jim Hart was born in Cornwall, and began learning piano and percussion at the age of four. Taking an early interest in jazz he was playing both drums and piano in the Tamar Youth Jazz Orchestra when he was eleven. He now plays regularly with Martin Drew's New Jazz Couriers, Stan Sulzmann, Gwilym Simcock, Alan Barnes, Paul Clarvis and the Matt Wates Sextet. Jim was the winner of a 2007 British Jazz award, the 2006 British Jazz award for 'Rising star' and the 2006 Worshipful Company of Musicians Jazz medal. "His vibes playing is a revelation" - Alyn Shipton, The Times." Hart has developed an impressively individual voice, using a four mallet technique that allows him to switch between pointed chords and mellifluous runs with ease" - Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise.

Tuesday, 28 April, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Son of the late Jimmy Skidmore, also a tenor saxophonist, Alan has toured and recorded with Elvin Jones, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Henderson, Dexter Gordon, Mike Gibbs and Mike Westbrook, Chris McGregor’s Brotherhood of Breath, John Dankworth and Tubby Hayes Big Bands, the widely influential SOS group with Mike Osborne and John Surman as well as a continuing association with Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames. “Skidmore - one of the most ferociously virtuosic saxophonists to have emerged out of the British sax generation that worked up its momentum around 1970 - is no mere mirror of Coltrane’s glory. When he attacks the master’s long, twisting odysseys into melodic and harmonic density, he plays as if the effort is fearsome. To watch his chest pumping after a five-minute double-time avalanche of improvisation, you almost wish he would sit down and recover with a bit of Coltrane-like yoga breathing” - John Fordham, The Guardian

Tuesday, 21 April, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

John Horler is a highly respected pianist and composer who has earned a formidable reputation on the British jazz scene over many years. His credentials as a musician are as impeccable as they are diverse. The route to success was through pub gigs and appearances on BBC’s Jazz Club, funded by work as a successful session musician. As his reputation grew he found himself increasingly supporting American jazz stars such as Bob Brookmeyer, Clark Terry, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Art Farmer, Pepper Adams, Bud Shank and Shorty Rodgers. One of the most memorable of these events was working with Chet Baker for a week at The Canteen in Great Queen Street. He worked closely with Pete King, Tommy Whittle, Tony Coe and the late great Ronnie Ross for many years, playing regularly in their groups and recording with them. For the last twenty years he has been first pianist to Sir John Dankworth and Dame Cleo Laine. "Musicians know John Horler as one of the finest jazz pianists that Britain has ever produced, but his name is rarely banded about by the fans" - Dave Gelly, The Observer

Tuesday, 31 March, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

Alto giant Bob Martin hails from Atlantic City, USA and studied at Berklee College before spending four years on the road as one of the featured saxophonists in the great Buddy Rich Big Band. He went on to perform with many of the greats: Sarah Vaughan, Ella Fitzgerald, Billy Ekstine, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Sammy Davis Jnr. Bob is a wonderfully fluent and inventive alto sax player in the classic hard bop style with superb technique and control of the instrument. Resident in the UK since 1997, he has worked with many of our top names including a lengthy spell with the Frank Griffith Nonet. Tonight he teams with fellow Nonet player, the ever popular Steve Fishwick on trumpet.

Tuesday, 24 March, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

Guildford born, Chris began playing the violin at the age of 5. At home, his father Michael, the jazz pianist and composer of international renown, taught him jazz tunes, introducing the colours, flavours and rudiments of the great improvising music. He has worked with many artists including Julian Joseph, Dolly Parton and Brian Ferry and made tours of the Far East and Australia with guitarist John Etheridge in a tribute to Stephane Grappelli. His recording ‘Different Strokes’ was called “The outstanding British album of the year” in the Sunday Times. “His violin playing was a stunning display of musicianship, whether lightly dancing, delicately teasing or producing pyrotechnics that scorched the very timbers of the building” - Jazz Journal

Tuesday, 17 March, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£4 on the door

“Known for his collaborations with legendary US drummer Paul Motian and The Bad Plus pianist Ethan Iverson, Speake has for a long time now been quietly building up a unique body of work that puts him in the top flight of British contemporary jazz. With a sound steeped in the tradition of fifties cool jazz” - BBC Jazz on 3. "A saxophonist with an unusual turn of phrase, a persuasively gentle sound and jazz allegiances that don't follow the usual Coltranesque paths but veer instead toward the fifties Cool School. Martin Speake is not just a distinctive improviser but a striking composer too." - John Fordham, The Guardian

Tuesday, 10 March, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£5 on the door

The stageposts along Jean Toussaint’s career have all made their mark - the Caribbean, New York and London. From a calypso band in his teens in St Thomas, Toussaint moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music where fellow students included Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby and Jeff Watts. In 1982 he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. “I learned more in four years with Art than I’d have learned in ten had I not got through that audition” says Toussaint, who played alongside Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Lonnie Plaxico. While in New York, Toussaint also worked with Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner and Gil Evans. In 1987 he accepted an invitation from the Guildhall School of Music to teach improvisation for three months. He’s still here. From London, Toussaint works extensively in Europe and the US. “Toussaint displays a beautiful incisive tone that you can only compare to liquid crystal..” - Time Out

Tuesday, 3 March, 2009

8.30 - 11.00pm
£6 on the door

John Altman's All Star Big Band

  • soprano sax & arrangements: John Altman
  • trumpets: Quentin Collins, Simon Gardner, Steve Sidwell & Steve Waterman
  • trombones: Pete Beachill, Neil Sidwell, Sarah Williams & Andy Wood
  • saxes: Alan Barnes, Jay Craig, Bob Sydor, Jamie Talbot & Martin Williams
  • tuba: Graham Read
  • guitar: Mitch Dalton
  • piano: Brian Dee
  • bass: Chris Laurence
  • drums: Ian Thomas
Back by popular demand, tonight we welcome the return of John Altman's All Star Big Band. Emmy and BAFTA winning composer John Altman formed his big band in 1985. Dubbed "the best big band in the UK" by the Daily Telegraph, it is certainly the only big band to have performed on a number 1 worldwide hit single (Bjork's "It's Oh So Quiet") and in 2 top 5 hit movies (Little Voice and Shall We Dance). With all material written and/or arranged by John and showcasing the star studded line up of great jazz soloists this should be as memorable a night as were the last two years’ sold out performances. John's long playing career has seen him perform with jazz giants like Al Cohn, Jimmy Heath, Chet Baker, Bud Freeman and Joe Newman. His quartet album recorded in LA was Observer Jazz CD of the month, as was his previous big band CD featuring vocalist Joan Viskant. John wishes to make it known that he has never won a BBC Jazz Award!
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