Refujazz Charity Event at HEART, February 11th

Jazz at Heart's Lesley Jeffries and double bassist John Marley have teamed up to run a full day of jazz performances and workshops to raise money for several refugee charities supporting those fleeing from war.

The day runs from midday to 11pm on Saturday 11th February. Tickets for individual events cost £5 and a day pass is available for just £20. Events in the cafe are free entry but all donations are gratefully received.

The timetable of events is below. For more information, visit the Jazz at Heart website here - www.heartcentre.org.uk/jazz-at-heart

12-12.45pm - Al Morrison Trio (Cafe)
1-1.45pm - Joe Boyes Trio (Main Hall)
2.15-3pm - Bassa Bassa (Main Hall)
3-3.30pm - Inside Out Duo (Cafe)
3.30-4.30pm - George Macdonald Trio (Main Hall)
4.30-5pm - The Irrelevance (Cafe)
5-6pm - Louie Mcdonald (Main Hall)
6-6.30pm - Sam Dunn (Cafe)
6.30-7.30pm - York Youth Jazz Orchestra (Main Hall)
7.30-8pm - Aleks Podraza Trio (Cafe)
8-9pm - Leeds Jazz Orchestra (Main Hall)
9-9.30pm - Phil Green's Sky High Jazz Trio (Cafe)
9.30-11pm - Kate Peters Quartet + Jam (Main Hall)

Workshops -
John Marley - Jazz Bass Time TBC
Sam Dunn - Jazz Guitar Time TBC

Gig Preview: Perpetual Motion Machine at Heart, October 22nd

This month's Jazz at Heart gig features Perpetual Motion Machine, an all-star band put together earlier this year.

From the jazz at heart website...

Performing at Heart for the first time, Perpetual Motion Machine are a 6 piece contemporary jazz ensemble, comprising of some of the North of England's finest improvising musicians.

PMM play their own original music; a dynamic mixture of jazz, rock, funk and ambient soundscapes, with an energy and dynamism that will have you on the edge of your seat.

It's a band of familiar faces in a brand new line-up - Sam Dunn and Jamie Taylor on guitars, Ben Lowman and Riley Stone-Lonergan on tenors, Garry Jackson on bass and Steve Hanley on drums. 

The gig starts at 7.30pm and tickets can be purchased on the Heart website or on the door for £10/6 concessions. If you'd like a taster, click here to watch the band's new video - The Cut.

IMOWI Course with Jesse Bannister

Although not strictly jazz, there is quite a tradition in Leeds of jazz musicians and those interested in improvised music studying indian music, too. IMOWI, Indian Music on Western Instruments, has received Arts Council support to run a summer school at Heart in Headingley between 3rd and 5th September.

The course will be run by saxophonist and renowned indian music educator Jesse Bannister and he will be joined by vocal tutor Anol Chatterjee. From 10am until 5pm each day, musicians and vocalists of all abilities are invited to study the traditions of playing and practising Indian Music.

The course costs £130 full price and £90 for the unwaged. There are also two further discounted places at £40 and two places available at no cost for those who want to be involved but cannot afford the full fee.

To find out more about Jesse Bannister, visit his website and to keep updated about similar activities and events, visit the Leeds Inspired website.

Gig Preview: Krzysztof Urbanski's Urban Jazz Society in Leeds

Jazz at Heart Presents: Urban Jazz Society
Heart Arts Centre, Headingley
Saturday 28th March
7.30pm

Multi-award winning saxophonist Krzysztof Urbanski brings his newest project, Urban Jazz Society to Heart this Saturday (28th March).

Described as one of the best in his generation by the Thelonious Monk Jazz Institute, Urbanski has made the North of England his home recently and has teamed up with 4 UK musicians to perform his original music which pulls in elements from hip-hop, R&B and jazz.

Krzysztof is joined by Stuart McCallum on guitar, Ashley Henry on piano, Sam Gardner on drums and Sam Vicary on bass.

For more information and to hear tracks from their debut recording, see Krzysztof Urbanski's website.

Gig Preview: Tom Riviere Quartet at HEART, January 24th

Jazz at Heart Presents: Tom Riviere Quartet
Saturday 24th January, 7.30pm
£8/6

 Bassist and composer Tom has been a valuable part of the Leeds Jazz scene since moving from Brighton to study at LCoM in 2008. Leaving with a 1st Class Honours degree, Tom also won prizes for his compositions and had them performed by the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and Leeds College of Music Big Band.

Although he can be seen regularly with a number of ensembles in the North, this performance is one of the few occasions to catch Tom as a band leader. His quartet, featuring Young Jazz Musician of the Year Matt Anderson on saxophone, pianist Martin Longhawn and drummer Steve Hanley, the group will perform Tom's original compositions as well as some much-loved standards.

Read more about Tom at his website and follow him on twitter.

Gig Preview: LOCUS at HEART, November 15th

LOCUS, the collaborative project led by trumpeter Kim Macari and saxophonist Leah Gough-Cooper was launched by in 2012 and the group have since toured the UK, recorded in the US and are now back to perform 5 UK dates including two Northern dates, one at JATP Bradford (7th November) and one at HEART in Leeds (15th November.)

Kim Macari writes...

Leah and I started talking about putting something together about 18 months before we actually did the first gig (being 3,000 miles apart meant a lot of skype and email exchanges). It was always a risk to put a new group together that we thought would work theoretically but not having a chance for some of the band members to play all together until the first gig! That risk paid off and we had a great time on that tour last year.

Since then, Riley and I have been to NYC twice for extended visits, giving us and Leah the chance to record and play through material with some fantastic American musicians and plan our next project.

I'm really looking forward to these upcoming November dates. We've learned a lot about how we all play together and so this time, we are armed with a lot of new material which I think will really play to the bands' strengths. For me, there are certain things about each player that I really love - the way Riley plays over static harmony and build solos, Leah's playing over grooves and hits, the way Sam, Jay and Tom can play over free passages...So I've tried to make sure the material allows each of them to do what they do best.

LOCUS perform at JATP Bradford on the 7th, The Jazz Bar in Edinburgh on the 12th, Glasgow Art Club on the 13th, HEART in Leeds on the 15th and London Jazz Festival on the 16th. 

Apollo Presents: LOCUS Tour, November 2014

Apollo Jazz Network have announced their Autumn tour featuring international collaboration LOCUS.

Following a successful UK tour last summer and following on from a recording project in NYC, the group have five UK dates lined up in November to showcase new material including a date at the London Jazz Festival.

The inception of LOCUS in 2012, as a project to birth brand new music globally and begin the growth of a collaborating platform for some of the UK’s up-and-coming musicians, wouldn’t have been possible without the support of an internationally forward-looking enterprise as Apollo. Performing and working with musicians such as Kim, Riley and members of LOCUS, is a joy not only because their musical stylings are rich and diverse individually but it has brought about the incredibly important factor of community to the table (and an inclusive one at that). Our November tour will be an exciting prelude to 2015 and beyond - Leah Gough-Cooper, alto/co-leader

Trumpeter Kim Macari and tenor saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan will spend October in NYC working with Gough-Cooper on new material, which marks the latest in Apollo's international development strand.

Tour Dates

November 7th - JATP, Bradford
November 12th - The Jazz Bar, Edinburgh*
November 13th - Art Club, Glasgow*
November 15th - HEART, Leeds
November 16th - Front Room, Southbank Centre (London Jazz Festival)

*Supported by Bridge Music.

For more information, see Apollo Jazz Network website.

HEART hosts UK Premiere of Bossa Nova film

HEART in Leeds is hosting a special event on Saturday 26th July celebrating Bossa Nova and the brazilian influence in jazz.

The event will feature the UK premiere of the film Bossa Nova: The Brazilian Music That Seduced The World, a film made by renowned film-maker Bret Primack as part of a NEA funded project curated by Strathmore Performing Arts Center and guitarist Ken Avis. The film explores the influence of Brazilian music on jazz around the 1960s, including the seminal recording by Stan Getz - Jazz Samba.

After the film, American group Veronneau will perform a set of vocal-led bossa nova and jazz as part of their UK tour with Apollo Jazz Network.

The event will begin at 7.30pm with the screening of the film and music will start from 8.45pm.

Tickets can be bought by contacting HEART or at the door and cost £8 (includes music and film)

See a trailer for the film HERE.

Jazz at Heart Summer School - Rhythm Section Players Required

The annual Jazz at Heart Summer School will take place between 12th-15th August at Heart Arts Centre in Headingley.

Led by composer and trumpeter Matt Roberts (pictured above), the course is now in its fourth year and participants will spend time working on repertoire, improvisation strategies and more.

According to Jazz at Heart's Lesley Jeffries, the course is almost full but they are in need of some rhythm section players to even out the instrumentation! If you play piano, bass or drums and would like more information, get in touch with Lesley at lesley@jazz-at-heart.org.uk.

The course fee is £200.

For information on other events going on through Jazz at Heart, see the HEART website.

Headingley Festival of Ideas

Headingley is playing host to the Festival of Ideas between 6-24 May. A number of events will take place at HEART, Headingley Library, Headingley Club and Rose Garden.

From their website, the festival is described as being about creative ideas which may not necessarily lead to something – although some might – but the main purpose is to tap into the joy of ideas, debate and discussion. We aim to appeal to the wide variety of people in Headingley, and to all age groups.

Alongside debates, cycling events and literary events, there are two musical items in the programme. One is by Free Range Choir and the other is in tandem with Jazz at Heart and features well-loved LCoM graduate, pianist Sam Watts.