Upcoming Gigs

World renowned record label ACT Music comes to the UK, presenting some of its top artists over the course of the London Jazz Festival this November. With debut performances from the recently signed sensations Frøy Aagre and young Polish star Paweł Kaczmarczyk, the label is also showing off its big hitters including Lars Danielsson and Michael Wollny, plus a very special one-off solo concert from piano star Vijay Iyer.

- - - - -

Vijay Iyer supported by Lars Danielsson & Leszek Możdżer
The Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre
15th November, 7:45pm

Recent ACT signing Vijay Iyer has carved himself a very successful niche as one of the most inventive and innovative American pianists working on the contemporary scene. The New Yorker’s latest album Historicity, released on ACT Music and currently picking up rave reviews around the world, presents him as a thoughtful and intriguing composer as well as a dazzling instrumentalist – his “versioning” of tracks by artists as diverse as Stevie Wonder, Andrew Hill, M.I.A. and Bernstein allows the listeners to delve deep into a unique musical mind, and for this headline LJF performance he appears in a rare solo setting.
Supporting Iyer is the wonderful pairing of bassist, cellist and long time ACT recording artist Lars Danielsson with Polish piano superstar Leszek Możdżer. The two have worked together on several occasions, with Możdżer appearing on both Danielsson’s most recent album Tarantella and their 2007 duo album Pasodoble, and Danielsson joining Możdżer’s own trio for a series of exhilarating live dates. Here playing a mixture of their material from their previous partnerships, they strike a stirringly emotive balance between contemporary classical and jazz influences with perfectly pitched harmonic interplay.

Paweł Kaczmarczyk
The Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre
14th November, 2pm – Polish Showcase, part of Polska! Year

One of the leaders in the wave of young musicians coming out of Europe, pianist and bandleader Paweł Kaczmarczyk’s album for ACT is an impressive display of versatility. Complexity In Simplicity shows his Audiofeeling group performing in both small and large scale groups as dictated by the needs of the music. This is his first appearance in the UK and his condensed group (piano sax, double bass and drums) gives audiences a chance to sample a shining example of the huge range of talent on offer from Europe that ACT consistently searches out.

Michael Wollny
Pizza Express at The Pheasantry, Chelsea
20th November, 8:30pm

Wollny’s piano playing has been a crucial part of the ACT ensemble for many years now, with his highly-acclaimed trio [em], duo work with saxophone giant Heinz Sauer and explorative solo playing all demonstrating different areas of his considerable skill as both a composer and performer. Since his early days on the label, he has easily outgrown his ‘rising star’ tag and now has a deserved reputation as one of the premier contemporary jazz pianists to have emerged in recent years. His latest offering, Wunderkammer, is a sparsely contemplative set of solo works and collaborations with harpsichordist Tamar Halperin, and it is largely from this that he will be drawing his material for his London Jazz Festival performance (part of a series of UK dates).

Michael Wollny UK dates:
17th November, Band On The Wall, Manchester
19th November, St. George’s Hall, Bristol
20th November, The Pheasantry, London

Frøy Aagre
Spice Of Life, Soho
22nd November, 7:30pm

Norwegian soprano sax sensation Frøy Aagre is the latest new artist to join the ACT roster. She appeared at last year’s London Jazz Festival with the great trumpeter Kenny Wheeler guesting, her melodic and animated compositions wowing the crowds as much as her intuitive musical rapport with her excellent band. Her new album, Cycle Of Silence, will be released on ACT in early 2010, but until then UK audiences will have a chance to catch up and get a preview of her new material.

Frøy Aagre UK dates:
19th November, Halifax, Dean Clough Theatre
20th November, Royal Northern College of Music
21st November, Dundee Jazz Festival
22nd November: Spice of Life, London