I met up with Mary Ellen O'Shea, the woman behind The Lock In, to talk about her motives for beginning the night, its success, jazz and her plans for the future.
Mary Ellen ran the Lock In in Durham for two years and upon
relocating to Leeds saw that there was a gap in the market for such an event
there as well. She now presents the night with the help of her co-organisers Donnchadh O Conaill, Abi Sharp and Sarah Parkin.
'Leeds has vibrant scenes for jazz, folk, rock, comedy and
poetry but you never get to see them all on the same evening,' says Mary Ellen. 'Something that
makes [The Lock In] stand out is the variety of acts in one night…. The idea of
juxtaposing the acts is very deliberate’.
As a frequent visitor to the Lock In, I can happily vouch for the success
of this idea. The contrast and variety
of acts is truly refreshing and the acts themselves are always of a high
standard.
'The audience know that because of the variation and relatively short duration of each act, they will always her something they like and this makes for a very receptive audience', Mary Ellen tells me, and this is something I've always found to be true in my visits. The audience at the Lock In is a very mixed crowd and yet they all willing to embrace the full breadth of acts that Mary has booked.
Space F!ght playing the Lock In
This is quite an impressive feat considering that many of
the jazz acts that have performed at the Lock In in the past are not exactly on
the most accessible end of the spectrum. Thanks to a collaboration with Jazz
North, Shatners Bassoon and Space Fight! have both made appearances, and other
bookings include solo performances by Roller Trio's James Mainwaring and recent
Leeds College of Music graduate ensembles Sam Dutton-Taylor's Non- Lethal Death
Robots and Ben Powling's Shark Squad. Each of these groups performs their idea of
jazz with an uncompromising personal vision that would not necessarily be very
palatable to a non-jazz audience, but at the Lock In these groups
have always found a great response.
Perhaps this is partially down to the sense of the unknown that pervades the night and
it is something that has delighted Mary Ellen. She speaks about it passionately,
saying ‘For someone who isn't into jazz to enjoy [these groups] is a really
significant thing! A lot of the time the audience will turn up for
the poetry and comedy and then they will hear one or two jazz bands, but 99% of the time they'll
approach me to say how much they enjoyed it, even though they didn't expect
to. I think it’s the live experience of
jazz [that does this]. People who don’t like it have often only heard it on
record.’
With regards to the future of The Lock In, Mary Ellen is aiming to search for funding to bring in acts from further afield (such as a recent appearance by the phenomenal Trio Riot from Manchester) and also to incorporate some contemporary classical music into the night.
In the short term, the next Lock In is on the 5th November and is entitled ‘The Dorothy Parker Memorial Lock In’. Each month, the night is in celebration of a different deceased person and past months have been in memorial of such diverse characters as Bruce Lee, Captain Beefheart and Tony Hancock. ‘The Dorothy Parker Memorial Lock In’ will feature jazz from The Matthew Aplin Trio, poetry from Rose Condo and singer/songwriter duo Hat and Coat among other acts.
Tickets are £2 in advance or £3 on the door include a free piece of cake. Search 'The Leeds Lock-In' on Facebook or find them at @LeedsLockIn on Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment