Eyes Shut Tight were finalists in July 2011 at the European Jazz Contest in Rome.
Paul Baxter (double bass)
Kristoffer Wright (drums)
Johnny Tomlinson (keyboards)
“Rising bassist Paul Baxter has selected eight cuts of exploratory piano-based jazz, forged in the company of keys master Johnny Tomlinson and the excellent skins and bronze of Kris Wright. ‘Evolution’ manages that often sought, yet rarely achieved balance of being sweetly melodic and sufficiently experimental to please both the improv cognescenti and those who prefer their small band jazz to maintain a mainstream appeal. ‘Time of Arrival’ is a wonderful example, scene-setting arpeggios leading with a warm-hearted sense of inevitability to closing expansive splashes of colour. A True Gem!”
- The Musician, Dec 2010.
Eyes Shut Tight website
Charlie Mcgovern’s photos of the gig ©
Charlotte Glasson – reeds, violin, musical saw
Mark Bassey – trombone
Dave Holdsworth – tuba, pocket trumpet
Mick Hutton – bass guitar & steel pans
Sam Glasson – drums
Charlotte Glasson’s website
Just East Website
Neil Angilley (Piano) Jeremy Shoham (Reeds) Phil Scragg (bass) Rick Finlay (percussion)
More Photos of the gig by Charlie McGovern ©
Mark McKnight Quartet Website
Seamus Blake (Saxophone) Ross Stanley (Hammond Organ)
Mark McKnight (Guitar) James Maddren (Drums)
Originally from Belfast, Mark McKnight was early hailed as “the future of Irish jazz guitar”, but has since expanded his horizons through tours of the UK and Europe, both with his own groups and as a sidesman in other bands (his only previous Tyneside appearance was in June 2010, with Paul Towndrow’s ‘Newology’ sextet).
His regular organ trio, with Hammond whiz Ross Stanley and rising star drummer James Maddren, has made such a critical impact that he is now able to sign up such major international stars as saxophonist Seamus Blake, a regular member of the Mingus Big Band, and it’s this stunning quartet that comes to the Cluny, following the release of their superb new album ‘Do or Die’. This is music which is absolutely contemporary, yet has its roots in the kind of guitar/sax/organ groups that were almost the essence of the Blue Note sound in the ’60s.
Photos of the gig by Charlie McGovern ©
Paul Harrison (organ) Graeme Stephen (guitar) Chris Wallace (drums)
BREACH is an exciting new project that brings together three of Scotland’s most progressive and versatile musicians. Each member composes material specifically for the group and all share the desire to look forward, fearlessly moving into new territory and unashamedly trampling over musical preconceptions. The band create a unique brand of music which is difficult to categorise. Modern jazz and improvisation provide the backbone of the Breach sound, with the trio always willing to explore new sonic language and rhythmic variations.
Graeme Stephen is a well known musician on the Scottish scene. Winner of Jazz Services prestigious Promoter’s Choice award in 2006 and selected for the Take Five professional development scheme in 2008 he has performed internationally as a member of various groups including NeWt, Fraser Fifield and his own Sextet.
Paul Harrison was improvising long before he was exposed to jazz. He settled in Scotland after entering Edinburgh University on a prestigious piano scholarship, where he was awarded the Tovey Memorial Prize. In 2009 Paul won the award for Best Pianist at the first Scottish Jazz Awards. He has performed internationally with a host of world class musicians and has led his own successful groups, releasing two acclaimed albums with Trianglehead. He also produces electronica under the alias “Phenoplastic”
Chris Wallace was born in Canada. Since arriving in Scotland, he has worked with many of the country’s top jazz musicians. Wallace is a member of the experimental trio NeWt, a group that has begun building international credentials via its recent collaborative work with Berlin saxophonist Silke Eberhard. His quartet Loose Grip recently released their debut album. Chris was one of five Scottish jazz musicians selected for the Air Time career development scheme in 2010.
Breach Trio Website
Eric Echampard (Percussion) Benjamin Moussay (Piano) Arnault Cuisinier (Double Bass)
A joint promotion with Jazz North East
Photos of the gig by Charlie McGovern ©
Rachel Musson (tenor sax); Alcyona Mick (keyboards); Will Collier (bass); Javier Carmona & Josh Morrison (drums)
EMERGING from the E17 Collective, London’s newest hotbed of creativity, Skein is led by Welsh-born Rachel Musson, who is rapidly building a reputation as saxophonist, composer, and organiser.
The band’s debut CD ‘Flight Line’ has been highly praised for its “patient unfolding of idiosyncratic themes”, and particularly for the interplay between the leader and pianist Alcyona Mick – whose own group won a Promoters’ Choice award a couple of years back – with one reviewer writing that “Mick’s nudging and cajoling of Musson represents backup of world-class ingenuity”.
The repertoire, almost all of it written by Musson, covers the range from haunting melodies through Latin swingers to stuttery postboppers, all of it handled with huge assurance by the whole band. Bassist Will Collier lays down a powerful underpinning, while the dual drum team of Javier Carmona and Josh Morrison provide a rich rhythmic tapestry that keeps the pot boiling.
Robin Fincker & Tom Challenger (reeds); Johnny Brierley (bass); Dave Smith (drums); Hilmar Jensson (guitar)
OUTHOUSE has been widely acclaimed as one of the most interesting and innovative line-ups in contemporary UK jazz, and also as one that is constantly seeking out the challenge of new situations.
A couple of years ago they worked with Ruhabi, a quintet of traditional Gambian drummers, and now they come to the Cluny in a collaboration with outstanding guitarist Hilmar Jensson, who divides his time between his native Iceland and downtown New York, where he has been a regular member of drummer Jim Black’s quartet AlasNoAxis. Black reciprocates by playing in Jensson’s own trio, Tyft, where the guitarist takes a thoroughly post-millenium approach, with heavy metal riffs and electronic samples mixed into a fundamental jazz feel.
While he still sometimes lets rip in his work with Outhouse, he very much shares the front line with the two saxes. This is a partnership of equals, combining semi-abstract free passages and grooving riffs in frantic and arresting music that – as with everything Outhouse do – is constantly up for a challenge.
Outhouse Review
