| LES ROIS DU FOX –TROT
A most welcome return to Whitley Bay for this superb ten-piece orchestra,
first heard here in 2007 and led by cornettist and arranger extraordinaire
Jean-Pierre Morel. They play in the manner of his wonderful original
orchestra, Charquet & Co., with very hot solos, tightly-arranged
ensembles (without a piece of music in sight!), an intense approach
to all their material and that indescribably Gallic flavour that
so many of us find very appealing. The “Kings of Fox-Trot” feature
a whole new book of arrangements written by Jean-Pierre Morel and
tuba player Gérard Gervois in the manner of early bands both
black and white, with special emphasis on the work of Elmer Schoebel,
pianist with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings and a prolific composer
of jazz tunes. As to the name, Jean-Pierre points out that jazz was
originally dance music, and eighty percent plus of 1920’s jazz
records bear the legend “Fox Trot”…… |
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| MARTIN LITTON’S RED HOT PEPPERS
Martin Litton is one of our foremost and most versatile jazz pianists,
equally at home with any style from ragtime to swing and beyond. However,
it was the music of Jelly Roll Morton that first captivated him at
the tender age of twelve, when his piano teacher (an unsung hero!)
loaned him a book of Blues & Stomps. Small wonder, then, that one
of Martin’s major achievements has been to form a band to recreate
Morton’s marvellous music. Like their 1920’s forebears,
the Red Hot Peppers comprise a group of musicians whose exact composition
may vary somewhat from gig to gig, but all of whom have a deep understanding
of Jelly’s music. At Whitley Bay, Martin will be assisted by
Andy Woon on cornet, Paul Munnery on trombone, James Evans and Matthias
Seuffert on reeds, Martin Wheatley on guitar, Malcolm Sked on string
and brass bass and Nick Ward on drums. |
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MATTHIAS SEUFFERT SEXTET Matthias Seuffert surely needs no introduction to UK Festival audiences, as he has played all our major events and been a familiar presence on the British jazz scene for twenty years or more. Starting out on clarinet and firmly in the Johnny Dodds school, Matthias has matured into an elegant and self-assured stylist on both clarinet and saxophone, equally at home in the traditional field and in more modern settings. This year, we suggested he interpret the music of one of the great but underrated American tenor players from the late swing/early bop interface, Don Byas (1912-1972). Matthias jumped at the chance, and to help him in this task we have provided the talented multi-instrumentalist Jean-François Bonnel on trumpet, Martin Litton on piano, Martin Wheatley on guitar, Bruce Rollo on string bass and Nick Ward on drums, with the bonus of vocals by the excellent young American singer Cecile McLorin Salvant. |
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CECILE McLORIN SALVANT
When the great clarinet and sax player Jean-François Bonnel sent us a video clip of this young singer, we immediately booked her for Whitley Bay. Born in Miami, Florida, of a French mother and a Haitian father, she started her musical education at age eight and was accepted to study voice and piano at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. Aged just 20, she is currently studying music at the Conservatory of Aix-en-Provence and simultaneously pursuing a law degree at Grenoble. Quite how she manages to fit in a stream of jazz concerts is hard to imagine, but she has been working steadily with Kirby Memory (they were here in 2007) and with Jean-François’ own bands. Cecile has her own style when it comes to the jazz standards, but is also an outstanding interpreter of the classic blues; at Whitley Bay she will be giving two concerts, one dedicated to Billie Holiday and the other a tribute to Bessie Smith, both backed by Jean-François Bonnel & his Band. She will also be singing with Bent Persson’s New York Orchestra and Matthias Seuffert’s Sextet. |
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| MICHAEL McQUAID’S LATE-HOUR BOYS
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