Dinosaur Nominated for Mercury Prize

Huge congratulations to Dinosaur, the only jazz ensemble to be nominated in this year's Mercury Prize shortlist.


The Hyundai Mercury Prize ‘Albums of the Year’ celebrates and promotes the best of UK music, recognising artistic achievement across a range of contemporary music genres. The Shortlist was chosen by an independent judging panel and revealed at our Launch event, hosted by BBC Music’s Huw Stephens. 
 The judges said “This year’s Hyundai Mercury Prize shortlist celebrates the remarkable power of British music. What these artists have in common is an infectious pleasure in music making and an arresting sense of urgency about the music they make. They delight in exploring musical possibilities and refusing to be pinned down by genre conventions.”

The winner will be announced on September 14th at Hammersmith Apollo.

Find out more about Dinosaur by visiting Laura Jurd's website and see the full shortlist here.

Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2017 - Programme Announced

You might be looking forward to settling in for your festive break, but for some the hard work never stops. The programme for the 2017 Gateshead International Jazz Festival has been announced this week so it's time to get your diary and start thinking about what you'll be seeing between 31st March and 2nd April. Here's just a few highlights to whet your appetite - we'll take a more in-depth look at the programme in early 2017...

Fresh from their large scale gig at this year's EFG London Jazz Festival, Laura Jurd and her group Dinosaur will be perform at the Sage joined by tuba player Daniel Herskedal's trio.

Stalwart of the European jazz scene, trumpeter Thomasz Stanko, is famed for his ability to bring together exciting musicians from across the world to perform with. He doesn't disappoint this time, as he is joined by the Finnish pianist Alexi Tuomarila and two US jazz giants, Gerald Cleaver and Reuben Rogers.

If you like your jazz to have some vocals, definitely don't miss Clare Teal as she appears with 17 piece Hollywood Orchestra led by Guy Barker.

Saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings will pay homage to the music of South Africa when he is joined by some of the best young South African musicians.

That's just the tip of the iceberg so visit the Sage website to find out more and stay tuned for a more comprehensive festival preview from us soon.

Corrie Dick 'Impossible Things' Tour, September 2016

 “Corrie Dick is one of the most gifted drummers I’ve come across in recent years; he’s well on his way to being a visionary both as a musician and composer. With such vibrance and flair there is no doubt in my mind that he will soon assert himself as one of the finest contemporary percussionists on the UK scene.”  - Will Vinson


At 25, Corrie Dick has hit the ground running and quickly established himself as a drummer and composer to be reckoned with.

Winner of the Young Scottish Jazz Musician award as well as many nominations for Parliamentary Jazz Awards, Corrie has worked with some of the brightest emerging stars in jazz including Laura Jurd's Dinosaur, Jasper Hoiby's Fellow Cratures,  pianist Isfar Sarabski and more.

He released his debut album, Impossible Things, to great acclaim recently and now is about to embark on an extensive UK Tour.

He'll be joined by a myriad of musicians with differing line-ups throughout the tour. They are -

Alice Zawadzki/Jessica Radcliffe - Vocals/Violin
Laura Jurd/Tom Dennis - Trumpet
Joe Wright/George Crowley - Saxophone
Rob Luft - Guitar
Matt Robinson - Piano/Pocket Piano
Joe Webb - Organ
Conor Chaplin/Joe Downard - Bass
Felix Higginbottom - Percussion
Corrie Dick - Drums/Composition

Full tour dates are listed below - visit Corrie's website for details on line-ups for each gig and more. 

09/09 ~ LONDON, Oliver's Jazz Bar
10/09 ~ LONDON, Oliver's Jazz Bar
11/09 ~ NEWCASTLE, The Bridge Hotel
12/09 ~ GLASGOW, TBC
13/09 ~ GLASGOW, Slouch
14/09 ~ SHEFFIELD, The Lescar
15/09 ~ CAMBRIDGE, Hidden Rooms
16/09 ~ BRADFORD, Glynde House
17/09 ~ DERBY, The Voice Box
18/09 ~ LEEDS, 7Arts
19/09 ~ MANCHESTER, The Wonder Inn
20/09 ~ BIRMINGHAM, The Spotted Dog
21/09 ~ CARDIFF, Dempsey's
22/09 ~ BARNSTAPLE, Broomhill Art Hotel
23/09 ~ BRISTOL, The Bear
30/09 ~ LONDON, Vortex
01/10 ~ MARDEN, Little Mill Oast

 

Jazz Line-Up explores UK hotspots for jazz talent

                                                                      Reuben Fowler

Aside from the cities home to jazz degree courses, there are many small towns and cities that can boast large numbers of their residents (or former residents) becoming professional jazz musicians. This can often be traced back to the passion of a single music teacher or the work of a youth jazz initiative to encourage enthusiasm for the art-form in seemingly unlikely places (including the North's very own Wakefield!)

BBC Radio asked Sebastian Scotney to explore four of these hotspots for a segment on their weekly Jazz Line-Up show which airs this Saturday 6th February at 5pm.  

 Two musicians from each of the four locations were interviewed and invited to discuss their reflections on jazz education. The segment will be interspersed with music from each participant.

Reuben Fowler and Matt Robinson represent Wakefield and are joined by Alton's Laura Jurd and Gwyneth Herbert, Norwich's George Crowley and Kit Downes and Dunfermline's Calum Gourlay and Kim Macari.

You can find the programme on the BBC website and it will be available live and for a time on Catch-Up. 

Northern gigs for Wildflower Sextet

Saxophonist Matt Anderson is bringing his Wildflower sextet back up North for three gigs in January, after his recent move to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music.

The band released their debut album on Jellymould Jazz to a very positive reception. Jazzwise said Their own unique stamp on Shorter's very personal repertoire... of a quality that resonates with its inspirational source... Enjoyably un-pretentious.

From press release...

The sextet draws on an all-star line-up of UK jazz musicians. Laura Jurd was recently named 'Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year' at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards and a BBC New Generation Artist, and has recently released her second album 'Human Spirit'. Guitarist Alex Munk is a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and is currently working with a number of distinguished UK musicians/groups including Stan Sulzmann Big Band, Ivo Neame and Trish Clowes as well as his own band Flying Machines. Pianist Jamil Sheriff is the Jazz Pathway Leader at Leeds College of Music and is well known for his own projects such as his Octet, Big Band and Trio. Finally, drummer Sam Gardner and bassist Sam Vicary have built up a rapport playing together in a variety of settings, from appearing with jazz artists such as Jiannis Pavlidis, Tim Whitehead and Krzysztof Urbanski to performing and recording with ambient hip-hop band Ikestra, and the latter has recently recorded and toured across Europe with the Cinematic Orchestra.

Tour Dates

29/01/16 – Ushaw College, Durham, DH7 9RH, 7:30pm, tickets £? – see www.ushaw.org

30/01/16 – Zeffirelli’s, Ambleside, LA22 9DJ, 8:30pm, tickets free – see www.zeffirellis.com

31/01/16 – 7arts Centre, Leeds, LS7 3PD, 1pm, £10/8/5 – see www.sevenjazz.co.uk (note – for this

gig, trumpeter Mark Chandler will be substituting for Laura Jurd)

Wildflower Sextet Crowdfunding Campaign

The Wild Flower Sextet have launched a crowdfunding campaign to support the making of their debut album, which they are recording on February 22nd and 23rd in the Leeds College of Music recital room after receiving a place on the Jazz Services Recording Support scheme.