This year we have an exciting program of world class musicians performing throughout the two weeks of the festival on the 12th & 19th September 2023. To book your tickets please click on the posters which will head you over to box office.
Tuesday 12th September 2023 Doors Open @ 6.30pm, Music starts @ 7.30pm Will Collier's Chet Baker Project transports you to the elegant decadence of 1950's West Coast cool. After the second world war, following Miles Davis and Gil Evans' lead, Chet Baker along with long term collaborator Gerry Mulligan decided to leave the technical improvisations of bebop behind to create a laid-back melodic style of jazz emphasising composition and arrangement. Will Collier's quartet pay homage to Chet's legacy with music ranging from his early recordings with Charlie Parker to the piano-less quartets to the seminal album Chet Baker Sings.
Will Collier Double bass player and singer Will Collier is a founding member of the Horne Section and leader of the Will Collier Septet who have released two albums. He has appeared on BBC1, BBC2, ITV, C4 and performed with Bobby McFerrin, Ed Sheeran, Jamie Cullum, Cleo Laine, Joe Stilgoe, Claire Teal, Katherine Jenkins, Tinie Tempah, Imogen Heap, Atomic Kitten, Big Zuu, Suggs, Robbie Williams. Will is joined by:- Robbie Robson (trumpet) Rob Updegraff (guitar) Dave Hamblett (drums)
Tuesday 19th September 2023 Doors Open @ 6.30pm, Music starts @ 7.30pm The Dean Stockdale Quartet brings together four of the UK’s finest musicians to showcase the music of the great Canadian jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. Showcasing new arrangements of Oscar’s compositions and music from famous albums such as ‘Night Train’, ‘We Get Requests’ and ‘The Canadiana Suite’, this is a show that brings the infectious swing and virtuosity that symbolised Oscar’s groups such as those with Ray Brown, Joe Pass and Ed Thigpen, and this quartet reflects the influence Oscar continues to have on musicians and listeners worldwide with his musicality, elegance and unsurpassed pianism. Dean Stockdale is a highly regarded jazz pianist, arranger and composer based in the North of England who is known for his sensitive, swinging style. He regularly appears around the UK with his trio and some of the best names in UK jazz. His biggest influences in jazz are the piano styles of Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Gene Harris, Mulgrew Miller and Erroll Garner. Dean continues to be in demand as a performer with his trio and quartet, and as pianist for touring jazz artists, accompanist for vocalists and as a teacher and session pianist. 2021 saw the release of his second trio album entitled 'Promise the Moon’, which was featured on BBC Radio 3, Jazz FM and BBC Introducing.
'Stockdale’s playing is consistently engaging and uniformly excellent’ - Ian Mann
'These sessions rarely deliver anything less than excellence and today topped just about everything that had preceded it. I feel sad for those who weren't there' - Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken HereLineup: Dean Stockdale - Piano, Tim Williams - Guitar, Gavin Barras - Double Bass, Gaz Hughes - Drums