Thursday March 26^th Biggin Hall

Etheridge himself is in many respects the archetypal contemporary jazz artist – unassumingly virtuosic, witty, jazz-centred but open- to other influences. This quartet which includes fellow Zappatista Simon Finch premiered at the Vortex last year. The band featured tunes by John Scofield, Nat Adderley, Pat Metheny and a blisteringly fast version of Dizzy Gillespie’s bop flag-waver ‘Wee’.

A typically wide-ranging repertoire, with Finch providing moments of introspection and the whole thing driven by Mark Fletcher and Pete Whittaker’s Hammond organ.

John Etheridge - Guitars

Pete Whittaker - Organ

Simon Finch - Trumpet

Mark Fletcher - Drums

8.30pm  £10

Saturday April 18^th Taylor John's House

Zed-U’s music is energetic and improvisation-driven making considerable use of electronic loops and effects, keeping the raw elements of jazz at its heart, but dissecting numerous styles and genres to produce an original sound. All past members of Tomorrow’s Warriors, ZED-U is led by bassist Neil Charles - currently working with Soweto Kinch and Dizzee Rascal - alongside saxophonist/ electronics man Shabaka Hutchins, whose elongated solos create a hypnotic ambience over the dirty dubby grooves.

Shabaka is a member of Courtney Pine’s Jazz Warriors and the Mighty Jedah, and Tom has recorded with artists such as Finn Peters, Eska and Grammy Award-nominated Zero 7.

Shabaka Hutchins - Clarinet

Neil Charles - Bass

Tom Skinner - Drums

8.30pm  £8 (£6)

Monday April 20^th Warwick Arts Centre

Co-led by Julian Siegel (2007 Best Instrumentalist BBC Jazz Awards) and acclaimed guitarist Phil Robson Partisans have been thrilling audiences for over a decade with their ferociously energetic performances of tightly knit themes and the great freedom coming from the years of playing together. Gritty be-bop and hard bop, early electric Miles, rock riffs, grooves and ballads with sustained delicacy – Partisans are one of the first of the new wave of UK jazz bands to be influenced as much by Jimi Hendrix as by Miles Davis or Sonny Rollins and their visceral, groove-based sound bridges the gap between New York swing, European improv and UK jam band.

They’ve worked with American greats, such as Steve Swallow and Wayne Krantz (who wrote 'Partisans' for them on CD MAX), and played Euro and UK festivals including Appleby, Brecon, Coventry, Cheltenham, Manchester, Jyvaskyla Finland, Haarlem Holland, and London Jazz Festival.

Phil Robson - Guitar   Julian Siegel - Saxophone + Bass Clarinet   Thaddeus Kelly - Bass   Gene Calderazzo - Drums

"One of the most exciting all star experimental groups in Jazz today"   

BBC Radio 3 Jazz Line Up   

7.45pm  £10.50 (£8.50)

Thursday April 23^rd Biggin Hall

26-year-old alto sax player James Morton is a Bristol-based musician playing funk, reggae, soul, motown, and dance music as well as jazz. Andy Sheppard showed up at his Bristol wine bar residency and advised him to get a stable band rather than play with different people every week. From this Andy started playing with the band teaching and working with them leading to them playing together at venues such as the Coventry and Cheltenham jazz festivals and London’s Pizza Express. Morton’s Quartet proved to be far from being just a support band to Andy with their powerful contemporary Coltrane influenced style quickly establishing them as one of the country’s outstanding regional bands.

They have been nominated for the Jerwood Foundation Take Five scheme and the Promoters Choice awards.

James Morton - Alto Sax

Dan Moore - Piano

Spencer Brown - Bass

Simon Gore - Drums

8.30pm  £8

Saturday May 9^th Taylor John's House

Formed in 2007, Troyka are a jam band with a funky edge and relentless drive. Selected by Jazzwise Magazine as ‘Ones to Watch in 2009’, their debut album is set for release this summer. Featuring ex- Empirical keyboard player and BBC award winner Kit Downes alongside guitarist Chris Montague and drummer Josh Blackmore, Troyka has something in common with the likes of Medeski, Martin and Wood - with Montague’s superb guitar work providing a real edge to the music.

Acknowledging the influence of NYC guitarist Wayne Krantz, Troyka combines biting angular melodies with fractured rhythmic figures that blur the line between the composed and the improvised.

Chris Montague - Guitars

Kit Downes - Organ

Joshua Blackmore - Drums

8.30pm  £8 (£6)

Monday May 11^th Warwick Arts Centre Studio

An all-star band playing music by one of the great jazz composers. Toni Kofi won “Best Instrumentalist” at last year’s BBC Jazz Awards and Alan Barnes has won the same award twice in the past.

Bass player and composer Charles Mingus was one of the defining figures of 1960’s jazz. His genius as a composer and bandleader stood out even in a generation that included John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Thelonius Monk.

Arnie Somogyi - Bass   Alan Barnes - Saxes   Tony Kofi - Saxes   Alistair White - Trombone  Mark Edwards - Piano  Clark Tracey - Drums

7.45pm  £12 (£10)

Thursday May 21^st Biggin Hall

Clark has been leading his own bands for nearly 30 years as well as working with father Stan. Like his great hero Art Blakey, Clark has always led exciting bebop bands picking the best musicians in that style. Like Blakey he has enjoyed bringing in the best young emerging musicians.

This new band includes largely musicians in their early 20s hand picked from the young London Big Bands. A new sound in the current band arises from the introduction of 20 year old vibes man Lewis Wright who in 2006 won the Jazz Services award for best newcomer.

Lewis Wright - Vibraphone

Piers Green - Saxophone

Paul Jordanous - Trumpet

Leon Greening - Piano

Ryan Trebilcock - Bass

Clark Tracey - Drums

8.30pm  £10

ARTS COUNCIL GRANT FOR 2009

Regular supporters will be aware that we were not successful with our grant application for 2008, the Arts Council in that year having more good applications than they could fund. We are pleased to announce however that our 2009 application has been successful, this application being for 25 events split between our 3 regular venues.  Our 2008 programme had to be curtailed to only 5 events in the year and we are pleased to be back to more regular promotions and a wider variety of exciting music.

It would help us enormously to keep in touch with our supporters by having your email or postal addresses.

Our thanks to the Arts Council for their support for the new year.