Very much looking forward to playing some gigs this month with an international quintet put together by young London drummer Phelan Burgoyne and featuring the great Jorge Rossy on vibraphone. Best known as a drummer (and particularly for his role in Brad Mehldau’s trio from the mid ’90s to the mid ’00s), Jorge has, in more recent years, concentrated on the vibraphone. He also plays piano but is an amazing melodic improviser, regardlessof which instrument he plays. Here is his band with Mark Turner, Peter Bernstein, Doug Weiss and Al Foster playing Benny Golson’s Stablemates.
The lineup is completed by Linus Eppinger (guitar) and Tilman Oberbeck (double bass), who are both coming over from Germany for the gigs. I’m looking forward to seeing and playing with Linus and Tilman again, having done some fun house concerts in southern Germany with the two of them in December 2016.
We’ll be playing music (chosen by Jorge) composed by Lee Morgan, Joe Henderson, Kurt Weill, Lee Konitz and others. Our gigs in London are as follows (click on venue names for tickets and more info):
10th February: Vortex Jazz Club, 8.30pm
11th February: Toulouse Lautrec, 9pm
13th February: Ronnie Scott’s Late Show, 11pm
14th February: Ronnie Scott’s Late Show, 11pm
Then on 23rd February I’m playing with the house rhythm section at Dereham Jazz Society, which is now located at Dereham Golf Club. I grew up in Dereham so it’ll be nice to be on home turf. It’s not often I get to play a gig that’s walking distance from my parents’ house! I’ll playing music by Rodgers & Hart and Rodgers & Hammerstein.