Double bill featuring a classic Ellington sound followed by award-winning singer Vimala Rowe, a major talent on the British jazz scene.
The Pocket Ellington featuring Alan Barnes & Dave Green
ALAN BARNES baritone & alto sax, clarinet
ROBERT FOWLER tenor sax
SIMON FINCH trumpet
DAVID LALLJEE trombone
ALEX WEBB piano/MD
DAVE GREEN bass
ALFONSO VITALE drums
Born out of a love of the music of the great Duke Ellington, The Pocket Ellington manages what ought to be impossible. Great charts are presented in clever new arrangements which evoke the period but also offer solo space to these top-flight musicians. Their repertoire also includes pieces from artists and arrangers who were influenced by the Duke – Mingus, Monk and Gil Evans. It’s a big sound from a pocket band.
“A terrific band with a rhythm section as good as any on the planet” – Blue Light, magazine of the Duke Ellington Society UK
Vimala Rowe Quartet
VIMALA ROWE vocals
CHARLIE FLINT piano
MIKELE MONTOLLI bass
DARREN BECKETT drums
From her training in Hindustani classical music, to world music, soul and effortlessly swinging jazz, award-winning singer Vimala Rowe has rapidly become recognised as a major talent on the British jazz scene. Sell out performances at Ronnie Scott’s, London Jazz Festival and countrywide, she delights and enchants her audiences with her naturally passionate and emotive range of expression.
“… a singer of quite astonishing versatility and adaptability…” – London Jazz News
*Sheffield Jazz tickets do not qualify for any other Music in the Round ticket offers or discounts.
Alan Barnes & Dave Green
Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.
“Barnes plays music that was radical 50 years ago but he infuses it with so much passion and energy you could believe it was minted on the spot, which is always part of the story with jazz” – John L. Walters, The Guardian.
Dave Green, the bassist who grew up next door to Charlie Watts and toured with his quintet to USA, Brazil and Japan, is a British jazz legend who has worked with everyone from Humphrey Lyttelton, with whom he spent eighteen years, Scott Hamilton for over fifteen years and Stan Tracy. He is the only survivor of 1960’s British musicians who played with the great black pioneers of the music — Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster, Roland Kirk, Sonny Rollins.
“No musician can have covered more of the British jazz scene than bassist Dave Green” – Dave Gelly, The Observer
Vimala Rowe
In her early teens, Vimala Rowe left England for the Far East where she quickly established herself as a successful vocalist, writing and recording a hit album and performing extensively. Her interpretations of jazz standards incorporate her own unique voice while echoing the classic sound of the likes of Sarah Vaughan and Ella Fitzgerald.
Her most recent album was a duet project with legendary guitarist John Etheridge and was wonderfully received. She has performed at world-famous venues including Ronnie Scott’s and the Leicester Square Theatre and has appeared at the London Jazz Festival.
