Cargo
83 RIVINGTON ST
KINGSLAND VIADUCT
SHOREDITCH
LONDON EC2A 3AY
Oddball funksters The Apples are set to bring their explosive live experience to fresh European audiences, after delighting thousands in the U.K., Belgium and their native Israel, celebrating their highly anticipated debut LP for London’s Freestyle Records, out now!!
Thousands more have been experiencing The Apples’ powerful sound on dance floors worldwide, as their relationship with Freestyle has to date yielded three compilation features and two popular 7” singles- 2006’s “Attention!” and 2007’s smash cover version of “Killing in the Name…”. The success of these singles also fuelled their recent sold out visits to Britain, including the London Jazz Festival and the Jazz Café in Camden. Surprised audiences are dancing and laughing from the first adrenalized downbeat. The Apples weave big band jazz into raw grooves and exciting scratch routines and into the mix they might throw anything from Ray Charles samples to traditional Jewish Kleizmer melodies. There’s always a sense of risk and adventure as the roles of solo and backing instruments change at the blink of an eye to any of the nine members. Initially a spontaneous composition ensemble, they’ve created an unusual blend of funk, jazz and electronic music, forgoing the traditional use of guitar, keyboards and vocals. Instead, they center around 4 turntables, flanked by a sharp horn section served up by thick double bass lines and steadfast drum beats, fed through an attentive sound console and organic effects.
Over the last six years they’ve claimed unprecedented feats for an Israeli instrumental live band, have inspired an avalanche of local groove artists, released two full length albums - "MITZ" (2003) and "ATTENTION!" (2005) - and have become the ones to look out for on the international live circuit.
NIA
King Edwards Road
Birmingham
B1 2AA
Ticket Hotline: 0871 954 6000
Phenomenal public demand has secured a second night of music from Stevie Wonder who will now be bringing his A Wonder Summer’s Night concert to The NIA on Saturday 4 October 2008 (new date) as well as sold out date Monday 8 September.
Tickets priced £55.00 and £65.00 plus booking and transaction fee go on general sale at 9am on Friday 4 July 2008. Tickets can be purchased on-line at theticketfactory.com or 0871 945 6000.
The legend that is Mr Stevie Wonder is one of contemporary music’s most iconic stars, and he will be hitting the road for the first time in more than a decade throughout Europe. The tour will feature an evening of music from Stevie, a performing and songwriting tour de force who has received an astounding 25 Grammy Awards as well the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
The tour kicks off on Monday 8 September at The NIA in Birmingham, and is being produced by Live Nation.
“I am looking forward to performing in these venues in Europe. We are going to have some wonderful nights of intimate excitement,” said Stevie Wonder.
http://www.myspace.com/thesubensemble
Town Hall
Victoria Square
Birmingham
B3 3DQ
It's been three years since Questlove (The Roots) famously revealed: "I listened to the album [Triple P] seven times in a row.......I made 23 friends listen to the album 3 days straight....... at gunpoint - I'm on the run. I will go to jail for Platinum Pied Pipers," and the time has been well used by the duo, who have since changed their name to the more simply stated PPP. The group's latest incarnation will be releasing a new EP on Ubiquity Records in the spring of 2008, with the follow-up album, Abundance dropping in the fall. Never ones for staying stagnant, PPP take a new, more progressive direction on this project that manages to stay true to Triple P's soul-based foundation, while broadening its sound and covering plenty of new sonic territory. The result is a fluid mash-up of the group's array of both vintage & modern influences from pop, house, funk, Detroit techno, and of course, hip-hop - all filtered through the group's unique vision for the future.
Seminal British outfit grazing between the boundaries of jazz and rock
It is all too common to hear of reunion bands that are nothing more than tired retreads of past glories. Soft Machine (Legacy) is something completely different: a band that references the spirit of its roots in seminal British jazz/rock group Soft Machine while avoiding literal homage. The members of Soft Machine (Legacy) demonstrate that the best artists are those who look forward - and if they do occasionally glance back, it from a fresh vantage point.
If Soft Machine constantly changing personnel resulted in equally constant stylistic shifts - from the psychedelic post-Dadaist pop of its early days, to the abstruse writing and jagged free improvisation of its middle period and fusion-centric final days - it was because every member brought a different perspective to the band. The same philosophy applies today to Soft Machine (Legacy), although the broader diversity of environments everyone has seen since those early days creates an opportunity for even greater musical cross-pollination.
The original Soft Machine Legacy line-up, a continuation of the short-lived Soft Works (Allan Holdsworth, Elton Dean, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall; June 2002-February 2004), came together in October of 2004, featuring bassist Hugh Hopper and saxophonist/pianist Elton Dean - members of what many consider to be the classic Soft Machine group responsible for 1970 "Third", 1971 "Fourth" and 1972's "Fifth". Guitarist John Etheridge joined Soft Machine in 1975 replacing Allan Holdsworth, and was featured on 1976 "Softs" and 1978 "Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris". Drummer John Marshall joined Soft Machine halfway through the sessions for 1972 "Fifth". Remaining with the band until it folded in the early 1980s, he is the link that tied the original Soft Machine Legacy together - the only member to have played with Hopper, Dean and Etheridge. When Dean passed away unexpectedly in February of 2006, woodwind multi-instrumentalist Theo Travis was recruited, bringing a fresh perspective and youthful edge to this evolutionary and unequivocally contemporary group.
Their new Cd "Steam" is out now.
http://www.myspace.com/omarlyefook 
http://www.myspace.com/donnyone
Jazz Cafe
5 Parkway
Camden Town
London NW1 7PG
NIA
King Edwards Road
Birmingham
B1 2AA
Ticket Hotline: 0871 954 6000
Phenomenal public demand has secured a second night of music from Stevie Wonder who will now be bringing his A Wonder Summer’s Night concert to The NIA on Saturday 4 October 2008 (new date) as well as sold out date Monday 8 September.
Tickets priced £55.00 and £65.00 plus booking and transaction fee go on general sale at 9am on Friday 4 July 2008. Tickets can be purchased on-line at theticketfactory.com or 0871 945 6000.
The legend that is Mr Stevie Wonder is one of contemporary music’s most iconic stars, and he will be hitting the road for the first time in more than a decade throughout Europe. The tour will feature an evening of music from Stevie, a performing and songwriting tour de force who has received an astounding 25 Grammy Awards as well the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
The tour kicks off on Monday 8 September at The NIA in Birmingham, and is being produced by Live Nation.
“I am looking forward to performing in these venues in Europe. We are going to have some wonderful nights of intimate excitement,” said Stevie Wonder.
Virtuosic pianist Brad Mehldau is a major force in contemporary jazz, injecting fresh intensity into the music through a combination of spontaneous improvisation and formal structure. His artistry stands out as a powerful contemporary influence in a line that stretches back through Keith Jarrett, Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner. Mehldau's approach embraces a reflective and musically profound command of melodic improvisation with bursts of full-on rhythmic intensity. He returns to the UK with his stellar bass and drums team of Larry Grenadier and Jeff Ballard. The new album Brad Mehldau Trio: Live is out now on Nonesuch Records.
Jazz Cafe
5 Parkway
Camden Town
London NW1 7PG
Azymuth – Jose Roberto Bertrami, Ivan Conti, Alex Malheiros & Ariovaldo - formed in the late 60s just as Os Mutantes released their debut record. Whilst Mutantes were honing a psychedelic ‘Amazonian’ version of western pop music Azymuth were creating a futuristic, electric interpretation of US Jazz - also driven by the same rootsy Brazilian ‘swing’ that Mutantes had harnessed.
Bertrami rose to fame as an arranger in the mid 60s and by the late 60s he was arranging for the queen of Brazilian music Elis Regina. This pushed him into the major league and by the early 1970s he was arranging for the burgeoning TV novella scene. When not working Bertrami made trips to New York to buy the latest keyboards and synths, ensuring he had the most up to date range of keyboards in Brazil. His work in TV Novellas meant Bertrami knew most of the A&R people in the Brazilian music industry yet when he shopped the demos that became the core of this album round to them in 1973 they didn’t share his vision - one label even going as far as to say that the music was ‘wrong’.
Released in summer 1975 the album was a minor commercial success selling 200,000 copies. Opening track ‘Linha do Horizonte’ – a sublime piece of melancholic electronic saudade where deep cinematic synths melt into gently strummed acoustic jazz guitar - was chosen for a TV Novella and went on to sell half a million, propelling Azymuth onto both the Brazilian music and international Jazz scenes.
Urban sambas, Brazilian funk and a bouncing, big band. Seu Jorge, star of The Escapist returns to the Roundhouse after his sold out debut in 2006. He will be playing music from his brand new album America Brasil.
Seu Jorge was the subject of a recent ITV South Bank Show which told his extraordinary story from street kid in Rio to starring role in the film City of God and his magical reinterpretation of David Bowie's repertoire in Wes Anderson's film Steve Zissou and the Life Aquatic.
Oct 29 Belfast Festival at Queen's. £19.50/£17.50 concessions 9pm
Mandela Hall. Belfast. 028 9097 1197 www.belfastfestival.com
Oct 30 London Roundhouse + DJ Gilles Peterson. £22 (in advance). Doors 7pm
Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH. 0844 482 8008 www.roundhouse.org.uk
Oct 31 Brighton Dome. £16/£19. Doors 7.15pm
29 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG. 01273 709 709 www.brightondome.org
Nov 2 Leeds University Stylus. £18 (in advance). Doors 7pm
Leeds University Union, Liston Place, Leeds, LS2 9JZ. 0870 534 4444 www.leedstickets.com
Nov 3 Bristol Colston Hall. £18. 8pm
Colston Street, Bristol, BS1 5AR. 0117 922 3686 www.colstonhall.org
Jazz Cafe
5 Parkway
Camden Town
London NW1 7PG
This is pure unadulterated jazz, not housey nu-jazz, or jazz fused with hip-hop or rock, but jazz in the classic modernist spirit. A jazz that resonates with early sixties straight-ahead and Latin. As one critic claimed of the first single, “‘Trading Eights’ snaps like a classic bit of Blue Note soul jazz… a soaring little groover with great rhythms that hooks the tune up nicely for the dancefloor. Real jazz played by a hip little quintet”.
The two innovators behind Five Corners Quintet are composer, producer and arranger Tuomas Kallio and the band’s benevolent svengali and record label manager Antti Eerikäinen. In musical terms the goal of the FCQ is to set an example of how, with contemporary production, stylish jazz tailored for the dance-floor can fruitfully meet the musical craftsmanship of the past. “I guess most people feel that the lush sound of classic jazz vinyl creates an exceptional mood that records of today fail to reach” says Tuomas, “that is exactly the atmosphere I was after for the project”.
‘Chasin’ The Jazz Gone By’ is the debut album from the Five Corners Quintet, featuring world-class guest vocalist, Mark Murphy. Six time Grammy nominee and 4 time Downbeat readers poll winner, the original jazz hipster is featured on three of the 12 tracks. Also featured is the gorgeous voice of Paris-based Okou who opens the album with a graceful blues.
Much of the FCQ crossover appeal is clearly the healthy mix of talents from different generations of players. Eero Koivistoinen is a tenor sax heavyweight who has been around since the sixties. Similarly, Severi Pyysalo, a jazz heavyweight on vibes is a Blue Note recording artist. Both bring heaps of experience to the group, whereas newer talents such as drummer Teppo Mäkynen , (voted year after year as the number 1 drummer among the Finnish jazz press and internationally known for Nuspirit Helsinki and his solo project Teddy Rok Seven) and the young trumpet phenomenon Jukka Eskola are essential in balancing the traditional with the modern. The orchestration arrangements for a 12-piece string and French horn ensemble complete the lush sound and atmosphere of the record.
In the studio The Five Corners Quintet is a gathering of some of the finest contemporary jazz musicians both from the Finnish and International jazz scene. Brought together by producer and arranger Kallio, musicians are selected, track by track, for the different combinations and instrumentation he visions. Utilizing both the analogue and digital domain, they draw on tools from tape recorders to samplers and sequencers, so, while the sound of the FCQ is similar to the jazz of the mid 20th century, the studio setting is entirely different.
Live, The Five Corners Quintet tell another story. On stage they are a real band featuring real musicians: no machines, no samplers, no DJ’s but instead energy, interaction and world class level of musicianship. Interestingly, Tuomas is not part of the live set-up, instead he passes the responsibility of successfully interpreting the studio sound to drummer Makynen. Technically talented and musically innovative, the live band is a phenomenal jazz quintet/sextet/septet that appeals to the seated jazz audience and a dancing club crowd alike. The live version of the 5CQ is a delicious mix of old and new and their compositions probably manage to lure some stubborn-ish traditional jazz listeners to embrace the dancefloor jazz sounds of the 21st century. The crossover thing works the other way around too, introducing more traditional sounds to those appreciating the new grooves.
As one critic comments “this is heavy, real jazz for the future. Search out’”
Ahead of the album release, Ricky-Tick release the vinyl-only Cornerstones EP featuring three tracks from ‘Chasin’ The Jazz Gone By’.
Southbank Centre
address SE1
0871 663 2505
www.southbankcentre.co.uk
Indian-American saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa is one of the most innovative young musicians and composers in jazz today. Drawing on the culture of his ancestry he melds jazz with the cyclic rhythms of Indian classical music creating an organic hybrid, playing here with a quartet that features the remarkable pianist Vijay Iyer.
Symphony Hall
Broad Street
Birmingham B1 2EA
Herbie Hancock, whose music has consistently crossed boundaries and challenged jazz orthodoxy since the heady days of the 1960s. His crucial association with the transition between the acoustic and the electric Miles Davis bands, alongside his own exploration of dance floor grooves marked the trail for decades of ground-breaking music, from headlong post-bop piano improvisation that transcends the jazz mainstream to the electro/techno innovations of Headhunters and Future Shock. Whatever the context, any Hancock concert carries a sense of anticipation and occasion that signals an artist who invariably produces music at the very highest level, as highlighted by his recent Grammy Award for Album of the Year.
A tribute To Sidney Bechet plus special guests EMPIRIC
Courtney Pine has been at the forefront of the UK jazz scene for over twenty years continually pushing at boundaries and reinterpreting the tradition. His new project Transition in Tradition brings a very personal insight into the music’s history. Taking inspiration from Sidney Bechet, the legendary New Orleans saxophonist who initially inspired Pine back in the 80s, Pine has written a set of fascinating new music, probing the Bechet legacy in typically original style. The net result is a medley of musical and cultural contrasts that are rooted in Bechet’s Creole heritage, whilst using the language and energy of today’s jazz. A cracking six-piece acoustic band takes a journey from the Caribbean to France and back again, with tango and latin flavours, and the exuberant spirit of New Orleans jazz creating a heady mix.
With Cuban electric violinist Omar Puente, Latin jazz pianist Alex Wilson, Dominican guitarist Cameron Pierre, Ghanaian drummer Robert Fordjour, and bassist Darren Taylor.
Barbican
Barbican Centre
Silk Street
London EC2Y 8DS
December 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th, 17th, 18th, 19th & 20th
Jazz Cafe
5 Parkway
Camden Town
London NW1 7PG
