Jazz Aberdeen

Jazz Aberdeen is delighted to announce it's return to the Blue Lamp for our Winter season of Thursday Night Jazz on October 2nd. Highlights include Partisans' first ever trip north to Aberdeen on October 2nd, the live recording of Brian Kellock and Liane Carroll's new album over two nights on October 30th/31st and the powerful trio of heavies Tommy Smith, Arild Andersen and Paulo Vinaccia on December 4th. More details are available at Untitled Document where tickets will be on sale shortly. Don't forget to take advantage of our online discount by buying tickets through our website - 2 off per ticket. Also, students get in 2 for 1 on concession tickets at the door when they show ID so bring a mate and get in for a bargain 4 each. See you at the Lampie!

We are running a competition with Northsound 2 all this week - listen to the Golden Hour between 9 and 10 tomorrow and Wednesday to win tickets to the Avishai Cohen gig, on Thursday and Friday you can win tickets to next weeks gig - Tam White. If you have any interest in Jazz this gig is really not to be missed - there are only 2 UK dates on his world tour, one of which is Aberdeen, so we're incredibly proud to bring Avishai back to Scotland. Get your tickets online - http://www.jazzaberdeen.com or at the Aberdeen Box Office.

Herb Geller has unfortunately had to cancel his UK tour dates due to ongoing health issues. The remaining members of his band will be doing this gig as a trio instead - they have played and recorded together for many years and have two widely acclaimed albums out. Tickets for this gig are now at the lower price of 10/8 on the door or 8/6 online - as ever, students get 2 for 1 on concessions on the door with ID.

BBC Radio Scotland Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2007, eighteen year old pianist Alan Benzie is a jazz star in the making. Originally a classical violinist, Benzie switched to jazz piano in his mid-teens and was soon featuring with the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland as well as playing gigs with his own trio and trumpeters Valery Ponomarev and Colin Steele. Currently studying at Berklee School of Music in Massachusetts, where he has already won the 2008 Jazz Performance (Piano) Award, he returns to Scotland with fast-rising young rhythm team Andrew Robb (bass) and Jonathan Silk (drums) for an evening of swinging standards and high-energy original compositions. This performance is presented in association with the 2008 Aberdeen International Youth Festival. Succinctly swinginga very bright prospect John Fordham, The Guardian

Saxophonist Adam Bishop leads one of the freshest, most compelling groups to arrive on the London jazz scene in the past decade. Born in England and raised in Australia, Bishop studied jazz formally at the Canberra School of Music and with heavyweights including Barry Harris and Mark Helias in New York and has played with Tomorrows Warriors, Polar Bear and Jazz Jamaica All Stars. Featuring vibraphonist Jim Hart, Larry Bartley (bass) and Shane Forbes (drums), his quartet is the perfect setting for Bishops assured, lyrical and searching tenor and soprano saxophones and bass clarinet, creating melodic, daring music with grooving momentum. http://www.myspace.com/bishwan

Scotlands very own Howlin Wolf, Tam White has been a major presence on the UK blues and jazz scene for almost fifty years. With a rasping, lived-in voice that caused British blues godfather Alexis Korner to purr in admiration and inspired the late Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell to form a band specially to feature him, White declaims blues standards and his own street-wise songs with unimpeachable authority. Accompanied by Paul Harrison (organ), Malcolm MacFarlane (guitar), Martin Kershaw (saxophone) and Tom Bell (drums), playing in the spirit of Hammond organ master Jimmy Smith, White is proof positive that hard times never felt so good. The greatest undiscovered blues talent of our time http://www.tamwhite.co.uk

Double bassist Avishai Cohen brings a world class trio to the Blue Lamp, playing music that sings with emotion and packs an irresistible rhythmical punch. Since coming to international attention with keyboard legend Chick Corea in the 1990s, Israeli-born Cohen has gone on to record nine acclaimed albums, blending jazz tradition with Israeli folk music and popular influences from The Beatles to Dr Dre. After a brilliant appearance at Aberdeen Jazz Festival 2006, he introduces the astonishingly gifted young pianist Shai Maestro alongside effervescent drummer Mark Guilliana for a session that will appeal to EST and Neil Cowley Trio fans especially. one of the best double bassists in the world Time Out http://www.avishaimusic.com

Jazz Aberdeen The Graeme Stephen Quartet One of the most accomplished and inventive guitarists on the European jazz scene, Graeme Stephen began playing rock music during his teens in Aberdeen before discovering jazz through Pat Metheny and Jim Hall. These influences, along with a thrilling sense of adventure, still inform his music, which has recently found enormous favour at London Jazz Festival and on tour with his multicultural sextet. Back at the Blue Lamp for a hometown gig, he leads long-time associates Garry Gibb (saxophone), Pete Lowitt (bass) and Bill Kemp (drums) in a quartet full of energy and engaging creativity and fresh from a successful performance at the Maijazz Festival in Stavanger. http://www.myspace.com/graemestephensextet http://www.graemestephen.com ...a fantastic band, the audience loved them Maijazz Stavanger.

Paul Towndrow is one of the UKs most exciting young saxophonists. With a style that honours the great jazz masters of the past and present while creating an individual voice of his own, he has won lavish praise from the critics as well as earning enthusiastic responses from audiences at home and abroad. A star soloist currently with both the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra and the multinational European Colours Orchestra, he brings a hugely talented quartet featuring Steve Hamilton (piano), Mike Janisch (bass) and Alyn Cosker (drums) to the Blue Lamp for a session of tough, melodic blowing. "A turbo-charged amalgam of all your saxophone heroes" John Fordham, the Guardian www.paultowndrow.com

Herb Geller is an unsung giant of the saxophone. A completely individual player with absolute command on both alto and soprano, Geller emerged on the American west coast scene in the 1950s and played with Shorty Rogers, Maynard Ferguson and Benny Goodman before settling in Germany to teach and work in radio orchestras. Accompanied by a responsive, creative international trio comprising Scots pianist Paul Kirby, German bass master Martin Zenker and Chicago-born drummer Adam Sorensen, Geller turns the Great American Songbook into constantly inventive, joyous music. Herb's Website Visit http://www.jazzaberdeen.com to buy tickets at a discounted online rate of 8/6. Students get in 2 for 1 on concession with valid ID at the door!

Four of Europes most exciting jazz musicians combine in a group guaranteed to make sparks fly. Norwegians Frode Nymo (alto saxophone) and Hakon Mjaset Johansen (drums), English tenor saxophonist Dave OHiggins and Swedish bassist Torbjorn Zetterberg are still-youthful players with loads of experience, having worked with, between them, Chick Corea, Michael Brecker, Benny Golson, Mark Murphy and Jan Garbarek. Their wholehearted, energetic performances include music by Sonny Rollins and Steve Grossman, a tribute to Michael Brecker and homages to their spiritual leader, drummer Elvin Joness tempestuous Live at the Lighthouse sessions Visit http://www.jazzaberdeen.com to buy tickets at a discounted online rate of 8/6. Students get in 2 for 1 on concession with valid ID at the door!

Anders Bergcrantz is one of the most creative and compelling trumpeters in jazz. One of the few European jazz musicians to make as big an impact in America as he has at home, the Swede has been a regular visitor to New York since the late 1980s, playing and recording albums including In This Together with top Big Apple musicians. With his clean, assured tone and an ability to play both with high intensity and lyrical coolness, Bergcrantzs return to Aberdeen with a hugely talented quintet is guaranteed to be one of the musical highlights of 2008. Visit http://www.jazzaberdeen.com to buy tickets online and recieve a 2 discount. Students get in 2 for 1 on concession tickets with valid ID at the door!

http://www.myspace.com/theotravis Saxophonist and flautist Theo Travis is a jazz adventurer. A talented, ever-inquiring composer, he is equally at home refreshing jazz standards, interpreting Pink Floyd and King Crimson songs, collaborating with Robert Fripp, Soft Machine, Gong and author-lyricist Jonathan Coe, and experimenting with wah wah saxophone. Traviss latest group, Double Talk, features Hammond organist Pete Whittaker, guitarist Mike Outram and drummer Roy Dodds creating music thats by turns intensely physical, hauntingly atmospheric, passionately direct and infectiously groovin. Visit http://www.jazzaberdeen.com to buy tickets online and recieve a 2 discount. Students get in 2 for 1 on concession tickets with valid ID at the door!

You can get an advance discount on tickets by buying online HERE - full price tickets are 13 and Concessions are 10. ALSO - students get two for one on concession tickets on the door with valid ID. Bargain! This is a rare chance to see one of the hottest jazz acts in the UK at the moment in such an intimate venue - don't miss out! Jazz Aberdeen's Website

This gig is set to be an absolute stormer! Visit Jazz Aberdeen to buy tickets in advance and receive a 2 discount. Students get in 2-for1 on Concession tickets if they show valid ID.

Cutting edge creativity, feelgood rhythms, instantly memorable melodies and waggish mischief all conspire to make Trio AAB one of Europes most creatively entertaining jazz groups. Featuring twins Phil and Tom Bancroft on saxophones and drums and guitarist Kevin Mackenzie, the trio runs a gamut from plaintive ballad through nubop, funk and free improvisation to heavy metal in a performance that marries serious musicianship with a totally engaging sense of fun.

Saxophonist Martin Kershaw is one of the Scottish jazz scenes top talents. An extraordinarily versatile player, he is a star soloist with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, has won acclaim for his celebration of Charlie Parkers music and is a vital member of the wonderfully exciting, willfully experimental trio, Trianglehead. The group he brings to the Blue Lamp combines jazzs core values of melody, swing and improvisation to create music thats accessible, spontaneous and soulfully expressive. http://www.jazzaberdeen.com

One of the hottest new acts in jazz, the Neil Cowley Trio are revitalising the piano, bass and drums line-up for the MP3 generation with an exciting, megadynamic style that acknowledges Radioheads influence as much as Erroll Garners tenderness. Already BBC Jazz Award winners for their brilliant debut album, Displaced, they have gone on to even greater things with the follow-up, Loud Louder Stop, wowing the Later with Jools Holland audience with a sensational performance. Following their Aberdeen Jazz Festival 2007 success, their return to the Blue Lamp is a guaranteed stonker.

Fasten your seat belts. Roaring out of New Yorks Knitting Factory-centred hip scene, the Hub is a rampaging, energetic trio who apply the rigours of punk rock with jazz sophistication to create a spellbinding ferment of sweaty excitement. Comprising Tim Dahl (electric bass), Sean Noonan (drums) and keyboardist Alex Marcelo, the Hub has left audiences breathless in thirteen countries over the past decade and yet can be capable of breaking hearts with the jaw-dropping beauty of their reflective side.

Cathie Rae is one of Scotlands finest jazz singers. With a warm, personal approach that brings out the story in every song, this daughter of the well-known Scottish jazz clan came late to jazz singing but has been making up for lost time, adding the life experiences she gained beforehand to give real meaning to a lyric. Accompanied by a band comprising piano (Paul Harrison), bass (Euan Burton) and drums (Stu Ritchie) and with special guest Colin Steele on trumpet, Cathie promises a stylish, swinging session at the Blue Lamp.

NeWt is one of the most creative bands on Scotlands vibrant jazz scene. Featuring Scottish National Jazz Orchestra trombonist Chris Grieve, the splendidly accomplished drummer Chris Wallace and guitarist Graeme Stephen, an Aberdonian carving out an international reputation, the trio combines melody with adventure, harmony with intensity and muscular rhythms with poised reflection. Entirely composed by the group, NeWts music is Scottish in its darkness, international in its influences and universal in its appeal. http://www.jazzaberdeen.com 01224 619770

Peter King is one of the worlds greatest keepers of Charlie Parkers alto saxophone flame. A brilliantly creative player, he negotiates bebops hairpin bends with the speed of thought of a formula one racing driver and can also play ballads with sensitivity and major emotional impact. Leading a top London quartet with Steve Melling (piano), Geoff Gascoygne (bass) and Martin Drew (drums), King brings the bebop spirit into the modern age, presenting music brimming with virtuosity, imagination and heart. http://www.jazzaberdeen.com 01224 619770

Saxophonist Danny Healy is one of the most vital musicians on Melbournes vibrant music scene. Inspired by Sonny Rollins, Joe Lovano, Joe Henderson and Dexter Gordon, he has led his own trio and quartet for the past decade and is a star performer with the Melbourne Jazz Orchestra. The group he brings to the Blue Lamp features long-time associate, Berlin-based guitarist Jon Delaney, who has recently been making a big impression in Europe, leading Scottish bassist Brian Shiels and drummer Bill Kyle, and promises keenly reworked standards alongside distinctive original compositions. http://www.jazzaberdeen.com 01224 619770

One of the UKs most exciting young saxophonists, Konrad Wiszniewski plays in a style that honours the past masters of jazz while presenting a new sound full of clear thinking passion. A crucial member of the Scottish National Jazz Orchestras fabulous saxophone section, Wiszniewski has also featured with the European Youth Jazz Orchestra, Paul Towndrows sextet and singer Jacqui Dankworth and as his recent debut album confirmed, he is a genuinely talented composer. His quintet celebrates hard bop and beyond with sharply honed skill and vigour. http://www.jazzaberdeen.com 01224 619770

Bheki Mseleku and John Donaldson are brilliantly individual pianists who make hugely compelling music together. Born in South Africa, Mseleku made an immediate impact on the London scene when he arrived in the late 1980s, winning a Mercury Music Prize nomination with his debut album, Celebration, and going on to work with Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson and the great Marvin Smitty Smith. A comparatively late starter, Donaldson made up for lost time by studying with Joe Henderson in the US and since returning to the UK has won many admirers for his resourceful improvisations and a trio that blazes with energy and vigor.