Jazz breaking news: Led Bib, Kit Downes and Courtney Pine line up for inaugural Liverpool Jazz Festival
Friday, March 1, 2013
Following in the footsteps of neighbouring Manchester and its successful annual city-wide jazz festival, the first Liverpool Jazz Festival kicked off this week on Thursday with performances from fast rising stars Roller Trio and local trumpeter Martin Smith’s group The Weave.
Things continue tonight with hard skronking Mercury Music Prize nominees Led Bib and local improv crew GORP. All events are being held in the Capstone Theatre, which, since opening in 2010, has established itself with a high-quality programme of leading jazz artists including Courtney Pine, Zoe Rahman, Dennis Rollins, Neil Cowley, Portico Quartet and Phronesis among many others. Saturday sees an opening solo piano set at 2pm from Robert Mitchell, playing music from his latest left-hand-only piano album The Glimpse, followed by local band White Canvas at 4.30pm, with another Mercury Prize nominee Kit Downes headlining at 7.30pm playing a set of music from his forthcoming album Light From Old Stars.
Sunday features powerful post-bop saxophonist Denys Baptise’s hard-firing three-piece, Triumvirate, with bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Moses Boyd who take the likes of D’Angelo’s ‘Brown Sugar’ and Gnarls Barkley’s ‘Crazy’ and give them a jazz twist. Leading UK saxophonist Pine returns to the Capstone with his barnstorming House Of Legends set that mixes up ska, soca and reggae rhythms with blistering improvisations – all performed by his superb band – which includes impressive guitarist Cameron Pierre. The Sunday programme also includes two jazz workshops – Taming The Saxophone: Tone Production (11am) and How To Improvise Effectively (12.30pm) – as well as performances by other local bands including the Blind Monk Trio and Perri and Neil Quartet.
For more info go to www.thecapstonetheatre.com
– Mike Flynn