Friday 26th September, 8pm
Melodies rooted in jazz but taking in the band’s wider love for soul, folk, and Latin music, and played with the verve and precision of some of the UK’s leading performers.
The band Monsterosa emerged from a lockdown project to write new songs and instrumentals for five jazz musicians based on Italo Calvino’s Marcovaldo collection of stories.
The songs follow a man trying to recapture country life in an urban setting, and the music follows the joy in each moment of possibility he finds: for sleeping outdoors, or gathering firewood, or eating well.
London Jazz News praised the album as “a beautiful jazz collection.”
“The band are terrific…crystalline vocals convey the joy and poignancy of these tales…the whole ensemble play with a deftness and sensitivity”
Listen to Monsterosa’s The Seasons In The City
Rebecca Hollweg is a singer and songwriter based in in South London (‘A great singer who I love very much…’, Jamie Cullum). She has released three albums featuring her own songs, June Babies, Orange Roses and Country Girl, as well as 2021’s Other People’s Songs, performed in its entirety at the EDF London Jazz Festival. International festival appearances include including Glastonbury and Latitude in the UK and Rochefort en Accords in France. She has been hailed as ‘akin to an old Brill Building songsmith’ (UNCUT); the Sunday Times praised her ‘soaring vocal lines’.
Saxophonist Graeme Wilson has performed with Julian Siegel, Marilyn Crispell and John Faddis and recorded extensively with his own Quartet (‘a magnetic aura… a firecracker’, London Jazz News). His writing, including for Voice of the North Jazz Orchestra and a score for silent film Die Bergkatze, is performed worldwide; A Bit in the Air, with sculptor Cath Keay was nominated for Scottish Jazz Album of the Year 2018. His writing on the psychology of improvisation includes The Art of Becoming (OUP) with Raymond MacDonald.
Ross Milligan is one of Scotland’s most highly regarded and guitarists and a composer, working in a wide range of musical styles and genres. He has recorded and toured extensively, and as a composer his music has appeared in film and TV worldwide. 2020 saw the release of his critically acclaimed duo release with fellow guitarist Malcolm MacFarlane, Two Rivers Meet..
Andy Hamill has had the pleasure of playing double bass & bass guitar with Laura Mvula, Natacha Atlas, 4 Hero, Eska, Annie Lennox, Kylie Minogue, Rumer, Lou Rhodes, Nitin Sawhney, Annie Ross, Tracey Thorn, Cara Dillon, Martin & Eliza Carthy, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and John Hegley. Andy’s own album Bee For Bass features singers Mark Murphy, Anita Wardell, Rebecca Hollweg, Carleen Anderson, Omar, & saxophonists Chris Bowden, Ben Castle & Tony Woods.
Tom Gordon is one of the most in demand drummers in the UK. In 2002 he took over the drum chair in the BBC Big Band, a position he holds to this day. He has worked with artists including NDR Big Band, Lalo Schifrin, Al Jarreau, Joe Sample, James Morrison, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Jamie Cullum, Phil Woods, Bob Brookmeyer, Eliane Elias, Sammy Nestico, Patti Austin, John Dankworth , Cleo Laine, and Jon Faddis.
Tickets: General Admission: £22, Students: £17
A £2 booking fee is included in ticket prices. This applies when booking online and in person. The booking fee covers costs charged to the charity for the booking system and payment processing.
