Upcoming Gigs

Abram Wilson

Born in Fort Smith, Arkansas in 1975, at nine years old, Abram received his first trumpet and after being taught his first note by his mother, he immediately began learning songs from the radio and developing his own method of ear training. At 13 he was elected to front his 75-piece school band as drum major and at 17, Abram earned a music scholarship to Ohio Wesleyan University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in music education.

Anita Wardell

ANITA WARDELL, one of the UK’s most creative and best loved vocalists, presents Kinda Blue, her much anticipated second album on Specific Jazz.

"...the singer's mercurial musicality and acute sense of improvisation freedom can at times take the breath away." Jazzwise

Bobby Hutcherson

Bobby Hutcherson is nothing short of a legend. One of the defining vibraphonists of his generation, he has been intermittently represented on record, with a twelve-year run on Blue Note starting in the mid-sixties and regular releases on Landmark through the eighties. Hutcherson is most famous for a series of sideman appearances on some of the defining modern jazz albums of the 1960s: Eric Dolphy's Out to Lunch, Jackie McLean’s One Step Beyond and others by Grant Green, Andrew Hill, and Tony Williams.

Chihiro Yamanaka.

Chihiro has performed with Nancy Wilson, George Benson and George Russell, Clark Terry, Gary Burton, Ed Thigpen, Curtis Fuller and Herbie Hancock. She also won the IAJE Sisters In Jazz Competition and Downbeat Magazine's Outstanding Award while she was still a student in Berklee College of Music.

Denys Baptiste

Born in London of St Lucian parents in 1969, Denys took his first lessons in music at the age of 13. At the age of 14 he began to play tenor sax. His introduction to jazz came from videos of Morrisey-Mullen and from listening to recordings by Charles Mingus and Count Basie.

He studied music for two years at the West London Institue and then went on to take part in a jazz course at London’s Guildhall School of Music. He joined Gary Crosby’s Nu Troop as the tenor saxophonist after attending an open jam session organized by Tomorrow’s Warriors. In 1993 Denys joined the Jazz Warriors.

e.s.t.

e.s.t. is a phenomenon: A jazz trio, which sees itself as a pop band that plays jazz, which broke with the tradition of leader and sidemen in favour of equality within its members, which not only plays jazz venues but also venues usually reserved for rock bands, which uses light effects and fog-machines in their live shows, which gets a whole audience to sing-a-long with jazz-standards such as Thelonius Monk’s “Bemsha Swing”. e.s.t. is a trio that goes far beyond the scope of the usual classic jazz trio.

em

“I think we all have the impression that things are changing right now,” says Michael Wollny, one of European jazz’s leading young musicians. Wollny is right. Something is in the air. Across Europe, musicians, promoters, record companies, commentators and fans are gradually becoming aware that European jazz is in the ascendancy. Indeed, some of the most interesting, challenging and dynamic jazz around is no longer just coming from its land of origin, but from the Old World.

Empirical

Empirical’s long-awaited debut album, produced by Courtney Pine, is a fine showcase for this collective of five future jazz stars. Jay Phelps (trumpet/voice), Nathaniel Facey (alto sax/voice), Kit Downes (acoustic piano), Tom Farmer (double bass), and Shane Forbes (drums/percussion) perform with astonishing musical maturity, confidence and cohesiveness derived from many years of playing together. Empirical is dedicated to maintaining the roots of traditional modern jazz but has a definite finger on the pulse of the contemporary world.

Finn Peters

Winner of the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards Best Band.

Gary Crosby

Born in West London of Jamaican parents on 26 January 1955, Gary Crosby has been acknowledged as one of this country’s pioneer Black British jazz talents and one of the most important bandleaders in the UK.