Pee Wee Ellis Joins Dennis Rollins To Jam At Launch of Never Ending Song
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
A who’s who of jazz musicians including alto saxophone horn legend Pee Wee Ellis gathered on Monday night at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London’s Soho for a surprise jam session to launch a new jazz initiative spearheaded by the club and the Pizza Express chain.
Opening with JB Horns legend Pee Wee Ellis jamming on the blues with trombonist Dennis Rollins, who himself is a key member of Pee Wee’s former JB colleague Maceo Parker’s band, the pair were followed on to the tiny bandstand by a host of singers and leading jazz musicians, including singer Christine Tobin, currently writing songs for her new album; singer Liane Carroll, accompanied here by singer Ian Shaw on piano; and later Julian Joseph sitting down side-by-side at the club’s Steinway for four-hand piano blues with Zoe Rahman.
The Never Ending Song tour following its London launch reached Brighton yesterday and moves on to Cardiff today. It’s the restaurant chain’s initiative to promote the ongoing revival of British jazz and also marks the beginning of the return of live music to Pizza Express branches nationwide.
A core group of eight jazz session musicians, called the All-Stars Collective, are the torchbearers of this week-long "non stop" musical performance and members of the collective walked down the Pizza Express Jazz Club stairs to have the beat picked up by more musicians on the bandstand at the Dean Street basement club. The ‘Never Ending Song’ itself is a simple 12-bar blues composed by the All-Stars’ leader Matt Clackett.
The thousand-mile tour reaches Birmingham tomorrow, Manchester on Friday, Leeds on Saturday, before descending on Edinburgh on Sunday.
– Stephen Graham
Go to www.neverendingsong.co.uk for more