Interest area: Music

This concert has been organised in tribute to the legendary American jazz composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader Carla Bley who passed away recently, in October 2023, aged 87.

Carla Bley was a seminal figure in the free jazz movement of the 1960s and later a prolific composer of music for various ensembles including her own Big Band, which was a group of some of the finest players on the contemporary jazz scene. She was perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator over the Hill (released as a triple LP set), as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other artists, including Gary Burton, Jimmy Giuffre, George Russell, Art Farmer, Robert Wyatt, John Scofield, and her ex-husband Paul Bley.

Throughout her career, Bley thought of herself as a writer first, describing herself as 99 percent composer and one percent pianist. Early in her career a number of musicians began to record her compositions. George Russell recorded Bent Eagle for his album Stratusphunk in 1960, Jimmy Giuffre recorded Ictus on his album Thesis and Paul Bley’s Barrage consisted entirely of her compositions. She arranged and composed music for bassist Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, and wrote A Genuine Tong Funeral for vibraphonist Gary Burton.

She also collaborated with a number of other artists, including Jack Bruce, Robert Wyatt, her husband bass player Steve Swallow and Nick Mason (drummer for the rock group Pink Floyd). In fact, Mason’s solo debut album Nick Mason’s Fictitious Sports was written entirely by Bley, and features, alongside Mason on drums, many of her regular band musicians, leading Brian Olewnick of AllMusic to consider it a Carla Bley album in all but name.

Carla Bley released around 30 solo albums many on her own independent label WATT, alongside numerous other collaborative records, continuing throughout her career to record frequently with her own big band (which included Lew Soloff from Blood, Sweat & Tears and famed UK saxophonist Andy Sheppard). She also worked with a number of smaller ensembles, notably the Lost Chords. In 2005, she arranged the music for and performed on Charlie Haden’s latest Liberation Music Orchestra tour and recording, Not in Our Name and her last album, Life Goes On, was released in 2020.

The Late Trane is the powerful and commanding album and concert from British saxophonist Denys Baptiste, a giant of the UK jazz scene. Reimagining and reworking ten carefully chosen compositions from John Coltrane’s late music (from 1963 – 1967) with a fresh and modern new interpretation, The Late Trane perfectly balances Denys Baptiste’s unique artistic vision with the visceral emotions and cosmic references that encompasses Coltrane’s late music.

With Late Trane, Denys Baptiste has achieved something special and important. He has opened another rare window onto one of the greatest moments in jazz history. He’s made a beautiful and welcoming record that I’m sure will guide others towards those late 60s Impulse masterworks.

“Denys has once again taken his time. But it’s been worth the wait” – Jez Nelson

MOBO and Mercury award-winning UK saxophonist Denys Baptiste has a colossal talent – based on a powerful technique and an ability to improvise fluently and effortlessly across a wide range of musical styles.

From the moment he joined the London jazz circuit, Denys displayed extraordinary talent, energy and commitment. Spotted by veteran Jazz Warriors double bassist, Gary Crosby at the bassist’s regular ‘Tomorrow’s Warriors’ jam sessions, Denys was immediately invited to join Crosby’s new band, Nu Troop. Since then, Denys has soared in his development as a soloist and bandleader, earning enormous respect from his peers.

Over the years, Denys has has played/recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz and other genres including McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Ernest Ranglin, Bheki Mseleku, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Michael Bowie, Courtney Pine, Manu Dibango, Gary Crosby, Steve Williamson, Julian Joseph, Jason Rebello, Martin Taylor, Lonnie Plaxico, Ralph Moore, Billy Higgins, Jerry Dammers, Sean Oliver, Jean Carne, Marlena Shaw, Noel McCoy, Juliet Roberts, Incognito, Jazz Jamaica, and others of distinction.

Denys Baptiste – saxophones
Nikki Yeoh – piano / keyboard
Larry Bartley – bass
Rod Youngs – drums

Yolanda Charles MBE, the internationally renowned bassist and songwriter, has worked with artists such as Hans Zimmer, Paul Weller, Robbie Williams, BB King, Eric Clapton, Roger Daltrey, Van Morrison, Mick Jagger and Michael Jackson in an exemplary career of thirty years and counting.

Her Project pH Instra-mentals group features a diverse range of musical styles, their musical variety has drawn comparisons to Parliament/Funkadelic, Herbie Hancock’s Headhunters, Yes, and Return to Forever, as well as Jim Beard, Steps Ahead, John Scofield, and even the Mahavishnu Orchestra.

Project pH Instra-mentals features the composition skills of London-based guitarist Nick Linnik, who provides a stunning display of highly compelling soloing as well as being the co-producer and co-writer of the band’s Funk-Fusion sound. Pianist Hamish Balfour trained in both classical and jazz and as a dance music producer gives him the perfect mix of skills for the band sound. Joining the lineup in 2023 is Nicolas Py on drums. The group has a long-running Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club residency and continues to tour the UK and beyond.

Nick Linnik – guitar
Hamish Balfour – keyboards
Yolanda Charles – bass
Nicolas Py – drums

This passion project by David Helbock, in which the „young lions“ of Austrian jazz meet one of the most sought-after sidemen in the international jazz scene of the past decades, captivates with plenty of percussion and groove, and most notably, with many keyboards and other keyboard instruments, in the spirit of Austria’s most successful jazz musician, Joe Zawinul.

The American jazz pianist Peter Madsen, “a well-kept secret favorite among piano enthusiasts” (Jazztimes), can look back on a successful career spanning over 40 years. In 1987, he achieved his first breakthrough when world star Stan Getz invited him to join his band to tour the US and Europe. Since then, Peter has played with the “who’s who” of the jazz scene – with traditional musicians such as Benny Golson and Stanley Turrentine, with modern musicians such as Chris Potter, Joe Lovano, or Kenny Garrett, with free-jazzers such as Dewey Redman and Don Cherry, or in his over 30-year collaboration with funk legends such as Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker.

In 2001, Peter moved from New York to Austria, where he met 16-year-old David Helbock, already an exceptional talent on the piano, and became his teacher, mentor, and friend. Meanwhile, David Helbock has outgrown the footsteps of his former teacher and became his most successful student.

Helbock is a multiple winner of the world’s biggest jazz piano solo competition in Montreux (CH) and has released over 20 albums as a leader – the last six of which with the renowned German record label ACT – and the press praises him as a “savvy sound tinkerer and consistent pathfinder at the pulse of the times” (3sat Kulturzeit) and as a “shooting star of the European scene” (Süddeutsche Zeitung).

In this joint project, Peter Madsen and David Helbock now bring the best rhythm section that Austria has to offer in jazz on board for their “Austrian Syndicate.“ Raphael Preuschl and Herbert Pirker have been a well-rehearsed team for over 20 years and the most sought-after bass-drum duo in Vienna, and David Helbock has played hundreds of concerts worldwide with them as a trio.

Raphael, who is actually a studied double bass and electric bass player, has also mastered the unusual bass ukulele like no other, and Herbert contributes his grooves to such diverse bands as Shake Stew or rapper Fiva, and also teaches at the Bruckner University in Linz on the side. The quintet is refined by the percussion skills of Claudio Spieler, who has gone a similar way as David Helbock and studied with the Afghan master drummer Hakim Ludin in the traditional master-apprentice relationship at a young age, and now performs as well on the big stages with artists like Konstantin Wecker or Martin Grubinger.

Their new album, which was released by ACT in mid-2023, also features many international jazz stars as guests, companions of Peter Madsen, David Helbock, and even Joe Zawinul himself.

David Helbock – keys, synths
Peter Madsen – piano
Raphael Preuschl – bass, bassukulele
Herbert Pirker – drums
Claudio Spieler – percussion

Tommy Smith and Gwilym Simcock collaborate to bring two generations of UK jazz mastery to the stage in world-class performances. Their intimate, intensely musical duets, with a repertoire drawn from many musical avenues, have delighted audiences at events across Scotland and the UK.

Tommy Smith, OBE is one of the world’s leading saxophonists. A presence on the global jazz scene since his teenage years, when he toured internationally with vibes virtuoso Gary Burton’s Whiz Kids quintet, Smith has gone on to record with the definitive jazz label, Blue Note and work with myriad jazz greats, including Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Dame Cleo Laine, John Scofield, Randy Brecker, Jack DeJohnette, Arild Andersen, Dizzy Gillespie and Trilok Gurtu to name but a few.

Since leaving Berklee College of Music, an experience that shaped his affirmative approach to jazz, he has recorded over thirty solo albums for Blue Note, Linn, ECM and his own Spartacus Record label, toured 50+ countries and performed with many influential figures in modern twentieth century jazz

“Tommy has a unique sound and approach. I like it from when I first heard him play as a student at Berklee” – Chick Corea

Gwilym Simcock has carved out a career as one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the European scene. He moves effortlessly between jazz and classical music, with a ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’. Gwilym has been hailed as a pianist of ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’ ability, and his music has been widely acclaimed as ‘engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex yet hugely accessible’, and above all ‘wonderfully optimistic’.

Gwilym’s influences are wide ranging, from jazz legends including Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny, to classical composers including Maurice Ravel, Henri Dutilleux, Béla Bartók and Mark-Anthony Turnage. Although principally a jazz artist, Gwilym has composed numerous works for larger Classical ensemble that combine through-composed elements with improvisation, creating a sound that is distinctive and very much his own.

“Gwilym is one of the most exceptional musicians that I have ever known ..he’s a really significant force in music” – Pat Metheny

Together, they provide stunning ‘not to be missed’ performances that are packed with excitement and incredible improvisation technique, leaving audiences wanting more.

Tommy Smith – saxophone
Gwilym Simcock – piano