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HASTINGS JAZZ CLUB |
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 (1920-1955) |
Archive March 2008 Simon D'souza's "Spirit" December Lynda Murray Quartet Again another great evening
from Lynda and the guys playing originals and carefully selected
standards. They get better everytime. A very pleasant surprise
was vocalist Naomi Kilby, Lynda's daughter from her marriage
to jazz photographer Jak Kilby.
Gilad Atzmon and the Orient House Ensemble Gilad never fails to delight, his playing is phenomenal, at times truly awesome, he is also funny and the band very enjoyable. This tour is promoting his latest album Refuge and I think it will become a must buy for any Gilad fan. Great gig - thanks guys. Hastings Urban Youth Project Review by Christine Harmar-Brown Comments from Hastings Urban Youth Joe Stout
(saxophone) Lizzie Rafati (vocals) September events Brass Jaw - saxohone quartet The Which Blair Project
and What's Cookin' August event Julia Biel - vocals/acoustic guitar/keyboard June event Saturday June 23 - Phil Robson - electric guitar, Lynda Murray - alto and soprano sax, Paul Whitten - double bass, Dave Trigwell - drums Superb playing from this quartet April Review The Blair Project - Juanita Homan It is high time that the 'boy Blair' was written about, and I don't refer to our current Prime minister but to Blair Mackichan, our local pop/jazz phenomenon and frontman of the jazz band Blair and Friends. On Sunday 22nd April, Blair and Friends
put on an electrifying performance of jazz/pop at
the Blair has got a powerful, beautiful Blair started his musical career playing
drums and later progressed to the piano. He writes a lot of his
own material and won his Brit award for Will Young's track 'Your
Gain'. He also wrote the Blair and Friends are a well-knit, highly talented little group. Jo Brooks plays a tiny Hammond organ, Russell Field is an inspirational drummer, and James McMallain provided some truly beautiful improvisation on the trumpet. Lynda Murray joined them on sax for a couple of numbers but just as she was getting warmed up club duties called her away and she did not manage to get back up on stage. She will be playing with them in September when hopefully we will be entertained by her exciting and sophisticated sound. To spend an evening with Blair and Friends
is an emotional roller-coaster of a ride through some pretty
amazing jazz. Blair strides like a Colossus over the whole performance
but wears, his talent lightly on his shoulders and therein lies
his charm. In his last hip-hop track, Blair and Friends are not to be missed. They make a great team. Go, see, listen. This is upbeat , life-enhancing music. And once again, we must thank Lynda Murray for organising such a fabulous evening for the Hastings Jazz Club. Review Estelle Kokot Trio - March 2007 South African born Estelle
is a lovely performer with a great voice and an earnest desire
to engage with her audience. Estelle writes her own material
and accompanies herself at the piano. We were treated to an evening
of mainly self-penned songs from her latest album 'Information'
and a very satisfying take on 'Round Midnight' by Thelonius Monk. Her trio was fantastic with Mick Hutton on bass and Cheryl Alleyne on drums, both consummate musicians. They support Cheryl but both, are individualistic and very interesting in their approaches to their instruments and accompanying styles. Lynda Murray Reveiw Trevor Watts and Jamie Harris - February 2007 The earthy sound of their
music makes me feel as if I have been transported to the Nile.
The beautiful, haunting, raw nasal sound of Trevor's soprano
is reminiscent of the Arabic shannai, a double reed woodwind
instrument from Africa and predominantly played in Arabic music. Jamie plays an intricate
but solid rhythmic foundation for Trevor to fly over. Trevor
plays melodies upon melody, harmonies over harmonies, he uses
circular breathing to quite stunning effect. Sometimes Jamie
will vocalise one of Trevor's melodies as in Ancestry, when there
only two players it is lovely to hear the pure timbre of the
voice, again in my imagination I am back in Africa. Trevor also
played percussion on Alatopa to very good effect before moving
on to the alto, which has a warmth and richness in sound that
was very engaging. Lynda Murray
Reveiw Alan Barnes and Mike
Hatchard - January 2007 What a great way to start
the year many laughs and some seriously good playing from all
three musicians. We were treated to two originals from Mike's 'Lewis Carol Suite', The Mock Turtle's Song and Father William. The soprano sax line on Father William was particularly exquisite and played to perfection by Alan, the two numbers were such a welcome relief from the standards. Mike then got us howling as he improvised the lyrics to a blues from three topics suggested by the audience - "Jade Goody, Fish and Chips and Kansas City". It was a great night
with some superb playing from all three guys and it was so good
to have a laugh. Lynda Murray
Roundup 2006 Jazzworld has had a great first year with some very special people travelling down to this little seaside town on the South Coast. The ones that really stand out in my memory for their uniqueness are Steve Lodder, Carol Griimes, Joan Davis, Gilad Atzmon, Annie Whitehead and Christine Tobin. During the late summer
and early autumn we had several generations of sax players play
with their respective impressive rhythm sections, the young Rob
Hughes, the maturing Tim Collinson, the well established Pat
Crumly and the These are all good sax players who predominantly play standards. The one that stood out for me was Tim Collinson - his choice of material was excellent and it was great to hear a very sensitive take on the Fredie Hubbard number Little Sunflower. Lester Bennett, his drummer started the tune with some really expressive and subtle percussion work. Rob Hughes is a fine sax player and a very good flute player. He is in that transition phase of leaving his David Sanborn funk influenced past and moving towards a more Coltranesque influenced style . His own compositions show flare and I particularly liked Buttlerfly which is the title name of his debut album. His band features a very talented Sam Edwards on piano, every solo met with great enthusiasm from the audience. We also managed a successful two-day jazz festival in October with workshops and jam sessions.
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voice of amazing range and plays
on his electric piano with the energy, passion and virtuosity
of a man much younger than his alleged age of 42. He is
also a master showman, weaving nonchalantly amongst the members
of his band whilst they
not so young Tony
Coe.