Halifax Piece Hall celebrates re-opening with Saxophone Massive

Halifax Piece Hall is currently one of the most significant and high profile heritage project in the UK. A £17 million conservation and transformation programme is underway and August will see a series of events welcoming the public back to enjoy this newly refurbished Grade I listed building.

On August 18th, renowned saxophonist and ECM artist Andy Sheppard brings his Saxophone Massive to join the festivities.


Led by world-renowned jazz saxophonist Andy Sheppard, the big band will perform an original composition amongst the colonnaded galleries of our Georgian building, filling the whole space with music and celebration. An ECM recording artist, bandleader and composer, Andy Sheppard is one of Europe’s leading saxophonists and one of a very few British musicians to have made a significant impact on the international jazz scene. An international phenomenon, Saxophone Massive has been performed in cities across Europe including in the UK, France and Norway and is now commissioned for Halifax. 

"It is an immense honour to be bringing my Saxophone Massive to Halifax and to be the first major event to take place in the new Piece Hall. Music unites" communities and by reaching out to and including local musicians to be part of the massive, amateur and professional alike, we will present an event that showcases the best regional talent to an audience celebrating The Piece Hall, one of the most stunning buildings in Yorkshire.” Andy Sheppard 

A massive musical feat that’s both uplifting and astonishing.

Tickets are free and will available from August 1st. For more information, visit the Halifax Piece Hall website.

Gig Preview: Arild Andersen Trio at Band on the Wall, May 17th

Ones eyes can tend to glaze over when the description of a musician is mainly a list of who they have played with. In some cases though, like Arild Andersen, the list bears repeating - a sideman for Stan Getz, Sam Rivers, Paul Bley and Pat Metheny, a band leader with groups that included Bill Frisell, Paul Motian, Ken Wheeler, a huge catalogue of recordings on the famed ECM label.

Andersen is currently to found with his trio featuring Tommy Smith and Paolo Vinaccia. The group released their first album in 2008 on ECM, Live at Belleville (for which Arild won the European Jazz Musician of the Year prize for the album) and since then have toured Europe a number of times as well as finding time to release another ECM album, MIRA.

The trio will make on stop in the North as part of their current UK tour, at Band on the Wall in Manchester on May 17th.

Widely regarded as one of the finest groups currently working in jazz, Andersen’s trio with the Scottish saxophone virtuoso Tommy Smith and the sensational Italian drummer Paolo Vinaccia presents music that thrills and moves the listener in equal measure. Drop-dead gorgeous melodies, razor-sharp interaction, urgent rhythms and the hallmark of all great jazz, spontaneous creativity converge in a live music experience that transcends style and genre and makes an Arild Andersen Trio concert an unmissable event.

Tickets cost £15.00 and full information can be found on the Band on the Wall website. You can find details on all the tour dates on Arild Andersen's website.

NEWS: Aaron Parks Trio in Leeds

October might seem like a long way off but audiences are advised to get in early and book tickets for what is sure to be a sell-out performance by NYC pianist Aaron Parks in trio with Ben Street and Billy Hart.

Appearing at the Howard Assembly Room on October 2nd, this date is part of Parks' first UK tour. Lauded as a musician at the forefront of the improvising scene in NYC, he has already built up an impressive discography including four albums for Terence Blanchard and his own records Invisible Cinema and his ECM solo release Arborescence.

Drummer Billy Hart has a career that spans decades and includes time with musicians like Miles Davis and Wes Montgomery. Continually looking forward, Hart has produced a number of acclaimed albums in recent years including All Our Reasons and One Is The Other, both on ECM.

Finishing off the line-up, Ben Street appears on Billy's two ECM releases and has also recorded with people like Kurt Rosenwinkel and Mark Turner. A student of Buster Williams and Miroslav Vitous, he is a sought after musical collaborator for many.

Tickets cost £12.50 and can be ordered from the Howard Assembly Room website.