Jazz breaking news: Brian Auger, Christian Scott, And Music Of The Mind For Band On The Wall
Thursday, October 14, 2010
As In The City continues, Band On The Wall, fast becoming the leading jazz club in the north west with a growing national reputation as well, ramps up for a high profile November with some key jazz bookings.
It’s just over a year since the Swan Street club in Manchester's Northern Quarter reopened its doors after an extensive four-year redevelopment with a sold out double bill by Mica Paris and Julian Joseph.
Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, on a roll after their much talked-about gig at the Brit Jazz Fest in the summer at Ronnie Scott’s, hits Manchester on 1 November. An inspiration to the acid jazz movement in the 1990s, each new generation comes to Auger's cosmic Hammond sound with new ears mindful to the great heritage of jazz organ to which he belongs in the tradition of Jimmy Smith and Jimmy McGriff.
Other highlights next month include the soulful Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings plus the Youngblood Brass Band (4); Stockport DJ Mr Scruff of Trouser Jazz repute (6); Lee Ritenour touring the fine all-star 6 String Theory album (7); Northumbrian piper Kathryn Tickell (11); talented New Orleansian trumpeter Christian Scott (18); and Music of the Mind, Finn Peters’ spaced out spiritual “brain waves” band (26).
Band on the Wall in 1975 was established as a jazz club by local jazz musician Steve Morris and his business partner Frank Cusick who bought what had been the George and Dragon pub. The club became a beacon for the burgeoning punk and post-punk scene in Manchester and bands such as the Buzzcocks and The Fall played early gigs there. Yet BOTW’s jazz roots are at the heart of what the club is doing, with programming by Cutting Edge DJ Mike Chadwick and even the club logo, based on the face of one of the formulators of the language of bebop, Dizzy Gillespie, keeps jazz in mind.
– Stephen Graham
For more go to www.bandonthewall.org