Mark Crooks/Colin Oxley Quartet - 'Jazz Samba'
Wednesday 18th October, 8.15pm
The Five Bells
Stanbridge
Leighton Buzzard LU7 9JF
Tickets £13 / £3 (u18s and students)
(available online around a month before the gig)
Wednesday 18th October, 8.15pm
The Five Bells
Stanbridge
Leighton Buzzard LU7 9JF
Tickets £13 / £3 (u18s and students)
(available online around a month before the gig)
Featuring leading saxophonist Mark Crooks and much in-demand guitarist Colin Oxley, ‘Jazz Samba’ spotlights Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd’s groundbreaking 1962 recording, the first ever fully fledged bossa nova album recorded by American jazz musicians. A commercial success, it topped the LP charts on its release and produced its own pop hit single - ‘Desafinado’
Reviewer John S. Wilson, writing in leading American jazz publication ‘Down Beat’, awarded ‘Jazz Samba’ four and a half stars and went on to say ‘These tracks are beautifully turned little gems played by a pair of brilliant jazz musicians who seem very much in rapport.’ The same could be said of Mark Crooks and Colin Oxley, who have worked together extensively over the years, recording three albums and appearing at jazz venues throughout the UK. Mark Crooks is a lyrical and passionate saxophonist in the Stan Getz mould. He has appeared at jazz clubs and festivals throughout Europe, and at the Lincoln Center in New York. He is a long-standing member of the John Wilson Orchestra with whom he plays at the BBC Proms each summer. Guitarist Colin Oxley is one of the unsung heroes of the British Jazz Scene. A musician’s musician he was a long-standing member of Stacey Kent’s group with whom he recorded several albums as well as touring worldwide, appearing at the Montreux, North Sea, Nice, and Vienne Jazz festivals, plus residencies in New York and San Francisco. The quartet also features Ronnie Scott’s regular Matt Home on drums, and Arnie Somogyi on bass. |
Mark Crooks - saxophone
Colin Oxley - guitar Arnie Somogyi - bass Matt Home -drums |
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Jim Mullen Quartet
Wednesday 15th November, 8.15pm The Five Bells Stanbridge Leighton Buzzard LU7 9JF Tickets £13 / £3 (u18s and students) (available online around a month before the gig) Jim Mullen - guitar Mike Gorman - piano Arnie Somogyi - bass Clark Tracey - drums |
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With a career spanning four and a half decades and four British jazz awards, guitarist Jim Mullen is a legendary figure, rightly regarded as one of the UK’s most swinging and in-demand musicians.
Growing up on the East side of Glasgow, Jim began his musical life playing tea chest bass with a local skiffle group and teaching fellow Glaswegian Billy Connolly the banjo chords to “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
In 1969 he moved to London and went on to work with Brian Auger’s Oblivion, Vinegar Joe, and Kokomo. In 1975 he met saxophonist Dick Morrisey and began a 15-year association, recording seven albums and becoming one of Britain’s top club bands. He is the first choice guitarist for many visiting Americans, having performed regularly with Jimmy Smith, Mose Allison, Gene Harris, and Terry Callier.
A four-time winner of the British Jazz Award for Best Guitarist, Jim plays with great drive and energy, combining contemporary knowledge with a basic determination to swing. Exciting and unique, Jim’s playing has elements of the old and the new - a mixture of “tradition and transition”, as he puts it. Performing a richly dynamic set of originals and standards, Greensand audiences can expect a hard swinging evening of melodic, blues-drenched, modern jazz.
Jim appears with an all-star trio including Mike Gorman on piano, Clark Tracey on drums, and Ronnie Scott’s regular Arnie Somogyi on bass.
Growing up on the East side of Glasgow, Jim began his musical life playing tea chest bass with a local skiffle group and teaching fellow Glaswegian Billy Connolly the banjo chords to “Sweet Georgia Brown”.
In 1969 he moved to London and went on to work with Brian Auger’s Oblivion, Vinegar Joe, and Kokomo. In 1975 he met saxophonist Dick Morrisey and began a 15-year association, recording seven albums and becoming one of Britain’s top club bands. He is the first choice guitarist for many visiting Americans, having performed regularly with Jimmy Smith, Mose Allison, Gene Harris, and Terry Callier.
A four-time winner of the British Jazz Award for Best Guitarist, Jim plays with great drive and energy, combining contemporary knowledge with a basic determination to swing. Exciting and unique, Jim’s playing has elements of the old and the new - a mixture of “tradition and transition”, as he puts it. Performing a richly dynamic set of originals and standards, Greensand audiences can expect a hard swinging evening of melodic, blues-drenched, modern jazz.
Jim appears with an all-star trio including Mike Gorman on piano, Clark Tracey on drums, and Ronnie Scott’s regular Arnie Somogyi on bass.
