Jazz breaking news: Roller Trio Win Peter Whittingham Award And 2010 Winners WSP Rock Up For Water Aid Charity Bash
Friday, December 9, 2011
Now recognised as one of the most important markers for bringing burgeoning talents to wider recognition this year’s Peter Whittingham Award has been awarded to up and coming jazz-rock group Roller Trio (pictured).
Comprised of electronics/tenor saxophonist James Mainwaring, guitarist Luke Wynter and drummer Luke Reddin-Williams Roller Trio mix epic rock-edged riffs, angular sax explorations, brooding beats and haunting dub-step style electronics all shot through with heady improvisation.
A new name to many listeners out there this award will help bring them to wider attention and bolster their chances of developing their sound and presence on the live scene. Such has been the case for many of the award’s previous winners including many current UK jazz stars, like Mercury Music Prize nominees Soweto Kinch, Led Bib and Gwilym Simcock, and last year’s MOBO Best Jazz Act award winners Empirical.
The award’s namesake Peter Whittingham was an expert in survival medicine and also a gifted pianist who had a particularly love of George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Stephen Sondheim, Leonard Bernstein, George Shearing, and Oscar Peterson. Peter died in 1987 and his family set up a trust in his memory, which has been administered by the Musicians Benevolent Fund since 1989. The Whittingham family’s connection with the award continues with Peter’s son Chris, who chairs the auditions.
No better example of the Whittingham Award’s power to catapult new bands to wider attention can be seen with the rise of last year’s winners World Service Project who have become one of the most-talked about young bands on the current UK live circuit with their ferocious blend of warped funk grooves and twisted jazz punk electronica. Under the dynamic leadership of keyboardist/composer Dave Morecroft the group have been branching out into the Continent with a series of collaborations with like-minded bands and a growing fanbase in the UK thanks to their storming club and festival live shows.
With all this in mind they are performing a special charity gig to raise funds for Water Aid alongside rising star guitarist Moss Freed, the punchy Dagda Quartet and guitar-led Outboard Motor – all of whom appear at Servant Jazz Quarters on Thursday 15 December.
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– Mike Flynn