Mingus Profiles Sextet

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Mingus Profiles Sextet

Fri 20 05 2022 @ 8:00 pm - 10:45 pm

Mingus Profiles Sextet

At Crookes Social Club, 8-10.45 pm

Chris Biscoe: alto sax and alto clarinet
Henry Lowther: trumpet and flugelhorn
Peter Hurt: tenor sax and flute
Kate Williams: piano
Larry Bartley: double bass
Gary Willcox: drums

(photo credit; Peter Symes)

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Chris Biscoe’s Mingus Profiles sextet, a band inspired by Charles Mingus’ small group music, features an all-star line-up. Originally formed in 1997, the band is now in its 25th year and looking forward to celebrating the centenary of Mingus’s birth in 2022. The band concentrates on his musical portraits of friends, lovers, political enemies, musicians and one cat! The material is taken from the Mingus songbook, but the treatment varies from number to number. Expect superb arrangements and dazzling playing capturing Mingus’s energy while giving the music a fresh twist. “Uplifting, exuberant, rousing yet consistently intelligent music: Mingus would undoubtedly have approved” – The Times

Some pieces are transcriptions adapted to the line-up of the band, while others involve reworkings such as extended chord sequences, extra lines, or assembling tunes into a mini-suite. Chris Biscoe, who contributes most of the arrangements, says ‘Mingus Ah Um’ was the first Mingus record I heard, the first I bought, and remains my favourite for the amazing variety of inspiring solos and arrangements it incorporates. It is inevitable that music featured on this record should be at the core of the band repertoire. ‘Profiles of Mingus’ a recording of new performances of music by Charles Mingus released on Trio Records, was shortlisted for CD of the year by several critics, including John Fordham and Alyn Shipton. It’s also now available on Bandcamp

Chris Biscoe has appeared as a soloist on more than 40 albums, including records with George Russell, Mike Westbrook, Andy Sheppard and The Brotherhood of Breath. Major tours include the Hermeto Pascoal Big Band, The New York Composers Orchestra and (alongside Tony Kofi) the David Murray Big Band with Macy Gray. Records under his name include ‘Gone in the Air’ and ‘Live at Campus West’ with Tony Kofi and Larry Bartley, ‘Then and Now’ with Allison Neale, and (download only) ‘O Pioneers!’ with Liam Noble and Pete Hurt.
www.chrisbiscoe.co.uk/index.shtml

Henry Lowther – a UK jazz legend who has appeared with everyone from John Dankworth, Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs and Stan Tracey to Gil Evans and George Russell. In the sixties he worked on the rock scene with Alexis Korner, Manfred Mann, John Mayall and Keef Hartley, with whom he appeared at the legendary Woodstock festival in 1969. Henry leads ‘Still Waters’, for which he writes most of the music. In 2019 he won the Special APPJAG Parliamentary Jazz Award. He is a founder member of Mingus Profiles Sextet.
www.henrylowther.com/

Pete Hurt is featured on the 2013 album ‘Profiles Of Mingus’ and is a regular member of the London Jazz Orchestra and Henry Lowther’s quintet ‘Still Waters’. He has performed with Kenny Wheeler, Mike Westbrook, John Taylor, Abdullah Ibrahim and Andy Sheppard among others. Apart from his saxophone playing Pete has been recognised for his compositional and arranging skills having written most of the arrangements for the hit show, “Five Guys Named Moe”.

Kate Williams is a Young Jazz Musician of the Year prize-winner and leads her own trio, quartet, quintet and septet, as well as being much in demand by other bandleaders. Her recording ‘Four plus Three’ with string quartet marked a departure from jazz conventions and ‘Four Plus Three meets Georgia Mancio’ won Jazz Album of the year in the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. All eight of her records featuring her own compositions are on Kate’s label kwjazz
www.kate-williams-quartet.com/

Larry Bartley is a leading light of the contemporary jazz scene, featured with the bands of Courtney Pine, Jean Toussaint, Byron Wallen, Andy Sheppard, Soweto Kinch, Cleveland Watkiss, Ingrid Laubrock and Jason Yarde, and backing Stanley Turrentine and Steve Grossman. His compositions are featured on ‘Beauty and the Hideous’ recorded by Just Us. Led by Larry and featuring Tony Kofi and Ed Jones, Just Us became a mainstay of the British and European scene.

Gary Willcox is a bandleader and composer and member of the Way Out West collective. A founder member of The Tony Woods Project, he has appeared with Jim Mullen, Stan Sulzmann, Ian Shaw and Iain Ballamy. His quartet with the late Steve Main was well established in the UK and featured Gary’s compositions. He joined Loz Speyer’s Inner Space Music in 2015 and is on the latest album ‘Life on the Edge’
www.garywillcoxdrums.co.uk/

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Ticket Prices

Full – £16
Over 60s, disabled, unemployed – £14
Student with NUS card – £9
15 – 17 year olds – £4
Under 15s – Free

We encourage you to book tickets online in advance, to avoid missing out and to make life easier and safer for our Door Team.  It will be possible to pay for entry at the door (preferably by contactless payment) if seats are available.

Advance tickets available from www.ticketsource.co.uk/sheffield-jazz

Details

Date:
Fri 20 05 2022
Time:
8:00 pm - 10:45 pm
Event Category:
Website:
www.ticketsource.co.uk/sheffield-jazz

Organiser

Sheffield Jazz
Email:
sheffieldjazzorg@gmail.com

Venue

Crookes Social Club
Mulehouse Road, Sheffield, S10 1TD + Google Map
Phone:
0114 266 0114