Events

Gaz Hughes is a renowned jazz drummer and band leader, who first gained wide public attention as the original drummer in the Matthew Halsall Band. He has played a significant role in the early recordings of the Gondwana label and has been a highlight on the album “On The Go”, which won the Best Jazz Album of the Year at the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards in 2012, and was nominated for the Best Jazz Album MOBO Awards in 2011.

As a sideman, Gaz has performed with an impressive array of jazz artists, both in the UK and internationally, including Scott Hamilton, Harry Allen, Marshal Allen, Greg Abate, Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams, Mark Nightingale, Tony Kofi, Ian Shaw, and many others.

In 2019, Gaz was voted 5th Place in the British Jazz Awards. In 2020, he released his debut album as a band leader, “Plays Art Blakey”, featuring Alan Barnes, Bruce Adams and Dean Masser. The album was met with critical acclaim and was supported by a UK tour and extensive radio play. In May 2022, Gaz released a trio album “Beboperation” which was well received by audiences and critics. Following its success, the trio went back to the studio to record a follow-up album. In February 2023, Gaz released his third album as a band leader, entitled “Beboptical Illusion”, featuring mostly original compositions and representing a new direction for the trio.

“An extremely tasteful and swinging straight ahead drummer, Hughes exhibits a no nonsense approach to his playing” – www.jazzviews.net

As a renowned jazz saxophonist and clarinettist, Frank Griffith has been performing for over 40 years, primarily in New York and London. He has also achieved great acclaim as an arranger, composing for a number of well-known singers and musicians for over 30 years. More recently Frank has proved himself as a successful educator, teaching in both the USA and UK. Counting John Dankworth, Joe Henderson, Duke Ellington and Burt Bacharach as some of his main influences, Frank plays many forms of jazz including modern, mainstream and traditional alongside funk, soul and some crossover Classical. Now living in Liverpool, Frank continues to perform across the North West, UK and Europe.

Joining Frank this evening will be:

Steve Berry on bass and Mike Cearns on piano

Simon Toner - double bass, Gavin Lamont - drums, Luke Cunningham - piano

Dynamic, contemplative and majestic. Sekoya has carved out a sincere, personal and original sound. Drawing on their love of electronic, contemporary orchestral, world, folk and jazz music, Sekoya takes in influences including Esbjorn Svensson, Espen Eriksen, Björk, Brad Mehldau, Gogo Penguin, Mammal Hands, Hania Rani, Avishai Cohen, Aaron Parks, Emil Brandqvist, Vijay Iyer, Tingvall Trio, Yussef Dayes, Tigran Himasyan, Hiromi and Makiko Hirabayashi.

Formed in Glasgow in late-2021, Sekoya is the result of 10 years of collaboration between 3 active composers, musicians and friends, sidemen on the DIY/indie scene for a number of years, coming together to make their dream project a reality. All three members contribute equally to the writing process: one that favours the creation of a powerful group dynamic over individual solos. They have forged their own path and their unique sound grew out of long improvised rehearsals/meditations. The intention has always been to write interplay music which expresses their lives, inspired by European jazz, soul, minimalism, electronic music and reflecting (diverse and dynamic) Scottish modernity. They each brought their own backgrounds and histories; playing nu-jazz, folk, rock, soul, blues, Scottish trad and modern textural orchestral music; and found joy in playing together.

“Sekoya is an interdisciplinary trio combining the harmony from European musics and American jazz with articulate rhythms and decisive grooves to create a genre-defying musical entanglement uniquely their own. Vibrant Celtic-inspired piano melodies are interwoven with flowing bass lines over a foundation of propulsive drums creating an almost cinematic sound. The amalgam of these three instrumentalists is a singular sonic spirit that focuses on energy and improvised interplay.” - David Hagen Media

Written and recorded within 8 weeks, this self-entitled album is the culmination of both musician’s fruitful working relationship and individual passion for songwriting. With seven original songs and one never-before heard adaptation of a 17th century Aria, Elijah Jeffery & Eddie Gripper offer up an “eagerly awaited” (The Jazz Mann) collaboration straddling the genres of progressive pop, indie folk and alternative jazz.

Elijah Jeffery is a Hampshire-born vocalist, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. From an early age, Elijah developed a passion for musical theatre and the Great American Songbook, taking inspiration from many of the great vocalists and lyricists of the 20th Century. A Jazz graduate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Elijah has established himself as an up-and-coming artist in Wales and the South West, collaborating with the likes of Claire Martin OBE, Ian Shaw, and big bands such as Capital City Jazz Orchestra. Elijah released his debut EP, ‘One of Her Clowns’ in June 2023, marking his first foray into writing original music. Fusing a lifelong love of jazz with singer-songwriter and folk sensibilities, ‘One of Her Clowns’ weaves bittersweet tales of love lost and found through “poetic and intelligent lyricis[m]” (The Jazz Mann).

Having “already garnered comparisons with the greats” (Jazzwise) after the release of his debut album ‘Home’, pianist Eddie Gripper has rapidly established himself as a young contender on the national jazz circuit. He has worked as a performer, promoter and producer alongside top musicians in his field such as Nigel Price, Simon Spillet and Pete Long. Outside of Jazz, he has collaborated with Welsh folk artist Angharad Jenkins, writing and performing music that explores the various aspects of folk, jazz and contemporary classical traditions. In 2024, Gripper embarked on a 29-date tour across the four nations of the UK and Republic of Ireland, and remains active on the national and international scene (having played at venues such as Crazy Coqs, Pizza Express and various festivals, both under his own name and with other projects).

From jazz beginnings to alt-folk and electronica, Stuart McCallum is one of the most vital and creative musicians of his generation. An in-demand guitarist, composer, producer and educator.

Stuart’s current projects include:

• The Breath - signed to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records, the duo of Stuart and vocalist Rioghnach Connolly was nominated for Best Act at the BBC Folk Awards.

• Solitude - a series of solo acoustic guitar albums released on renowned UK jazz label, Edition

Records.

• Music for Imaginary Film - a series of cinematic-inspired albums co-written with Mark Slater.

• Richard Spaven - co-writing and performing with the well known UK drummer

• Research - Stuart’s research interests are practice-based approaches to contemporary music performance, composition and production. He completed his musical composition doctorate,

‘Making Music in the Real World’, in 2020.

• Education - Stuart is Deputy Head of Popular Music at the Royal Northern College of Music.

Stuart rose to prominence writing for and playing with the Cinematic Orchestra, on their MaFleur and Live at the Royal Albert Hall albums, as well as on their award winning Disney soundtrack, The Crimson Wing.

Stuart’s varied career has involved collaborations with electronic artists such as Jordan Rakei, James Zoo, JP Cooper and Bjork percussionist Manu Delago; performances with UK jazz greats John Surman and Kenny Wheeler; recordings with American jazz stars Ari Hoenig, Ira Coleman and Dan Weisz; and performances with prominent folk artists, such as Danny Thompson and Michael McGoldrick.

Quotes

‘A one-man guitar orchestra’ - Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2

‘Master guitarist McCallum's music is heaven sent. Beautifully crafted, warm blooded, folk and jazz

inspired magical stuff....' WRITTEN IN MUSIC