Sloth Racket 'Shapeshifters' tour comes to Leeds, June 26th

Sloth Racket release their second album, Shapeshifters, on 12th June on the Luminous label. To accompany this release, the band are embarking on a 6 date tour of the UK including a gig at Sproggits, the jazz and improvised music night run at Wharf Chambers in Leeds.

Sloth Racket are -

Cath Roberts - baritone saxophone, composition
Sam Andreae - tenor saxophone
Anton Hunter - guitar
Seth Bennett - double bass
Johnny Hunter - drums

From Cath's website...

To launch the album we’re heading out on tour at the end of June, with support from Arts Council England. The tour takes us to some new places, perhaps the most exciting of which is the first ever edition of Listen! in Cambridge. Listen! is being set up by dedicated London jazz scene supporters Carol Garrison and Graham Lee, who have relocated to Cambridge and decided to get their hands dirty setting up a new outpost for adventurous music there. As well as Cambridge we’ll be playing in Bristol and Norwich for the first time, plus returning to Leeds and Brighton to play at Wharf Chambers and Safehouse. To start things off we’ll be doing a set on the Saturday of the second LUME Festival, which presumably you’ve already got your tickets for…

Here’s the tour itinerary, with links to more info on the gigs:

24th June London: IKLECTIK (LUME Festival)
26th June Leeds: Wharf Chambers (presented by Sproggits)
27th June Bristol: The Old England (presented by Pull The Strings)
28th June Brighton: The Verdict (presented by Safehouse)
29th June Norwich: York Tavern (presented by Plink Plonk)
30th June Cambridge: Unitarian Church (presented by Listen!)

NJN Advent Calendar - Fragments Trio (Dec 1st)

Behind the first door of our 2016 NJN Jazz Advent Calendar is Fragments Trio, a collaboration between drummer Johnny Hunter, pianist Adam Fairhall and double bassist Seth Bennett.

We are starting off with a bang as this Fragments Trio track is 20 minutes of beautiful music.

Click here to listen to Fragments Trio - https://soundcloud.com/johnnyhuntermusic/fragments


Fragments formed in 2014 in order to work on new and better ways of integrating improvisation and composition. Rather than incorporating improvisation into composed frameworks, the trio uses Free Improvisation as their base and then may, at any point, begin playing one of a series of pre-composed fragments of musical material. The choice of fragment, the way it is incorporated into the improvisation and what happens after the fragment is played are all open to the spontaneity of the moment. This method provides a more flexible, spontaneous approach to the overall structure of a set in comparison to more conventional compositions, but still provides the virtue of a composer’s input via the fragments themselves. Each fragment is designed to inform a different sound space and is both substantial enough to give the players something to ‘chew on’ and flexible enough to allow many possible interpretations. They are also very varied in idiom, ensuring a constantly changing listening experience.

 Adam Fairhall - piano
 Seth Bennett - double bass
Johnny Hunter - drums

https://www.facebook.com/JohnnyHunterMusic http://www.johnnyhuntermusic.com/

Northern Musicians head to Canada

Discus Music owner and saxophonist Martin Archer has worked in collaboration with vocalist Julie Tippetts for the past 9 years. 4 studio albums have been recorded, receiving critical acclaim. As a team, they have been described as peerless, fearless musical adventurers.

Up until now, their work together has been confined to the studio but Martin has recently announced that they have been invited to perform at the prestigious Victoriaville Festival in Quebec in May.

FIMAV has a long history of programming forward-thinking artists spread across the world. Last year's festival featured musicians including Hamid Drake, Marc Ribot and Deerhoof.

Martin and Julie will be joined by Sheffield's Seth Bennett and Pete Fairclough on double bass and drums respectively,  Leeds-based Laura Cole on piano and Manchester's Anton Hunter on guitar.

Find out more about the festival on the FIMAV website and visit Discus Music's site for information on all releases.

Bradford Scratch Orchestra

A workshop series/large ensemble project has been set up in Bradford by bassist and composer Seth Bennett focused on experimental, improvised and collectively devised music. Bradford Scratch Orchestra will meet each Thursday, working toward a debut performance with Martin Archer's Juxtavoices as part of the 2014 RECON festival.