Chris Allard at Jazz Nights 18th January 2015 at The Cock Inn, Clare + Roger Odell Jazznights Trio with Larraine Odell

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Chris is regarded by many as one of the best of the new generation of jazz guitarists in the UK. His career so far has seen him working with Dame Cleo Laine, Gwilym Simcock, Tim  Garland and many more and his playing has graced iconic spaces such as Abbey Road, Ronnie Scott’s, the Royal Festival Hall and beyond.  

Chris Allard is a freelance guitarist based in London. He has performed at major festivals and prestigious venues around the world, including the Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Centre, Montreux Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scott’s, Nuremberg Festival, Hackney Empire, the O2 London, Midem Festival Cannes, Maison Musique Torino Italy, The Queen 101Elizabeth Hall, Brighton Dome, Edinburgh Festival, Duoro Jazz Festival Portugal, The Royal Festival Hall. 

Ovation guitar prize winner in 2000, Chris was also awarded a classical guitar by the Barbarolli Foundation 2002, and was finalist in the Gibson Guitar Competition at Montreux Jazz Festival 2004, also receiving a guitar. Chris studied jazz and classical guitar at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, and Malmo Conservatoire, Sweden.

Chris has worked with Jacqui Dankworth, Russell Watson, Tim Garland, John Helliwell (Supertramp), Gwyneth Herbert, Dave O’Higgins, Dame Cleo Laine, Sir John Dankworth, Carleen Anderson, Paul Roberts (The Stranglers), Jamie Cullum, Mike Walker, Dylan Howe, Guy Pratt (Pink Floyd), Steve Furst, Kate Dimbleby, Madeline Bell, Gwilym Simcock, the BBC Big Band, Charlie Wood, Ken Peplowski, James Morrison to name but a few.  and playing with the Roger Odell Trio at Jazznights.

Chris played with the Jazznights Trio who were:

Roger Odell – Drums
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak and the forerunner band Tracks. Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day.

Simon Brown – Piano
Simon is a highly respected and popular jazz pianist who is equally known for his arranging skills. His bands include the quintet Beyond Cantaloupe featuring the music of Herbie Hancock, the Simon Brown Trio and Quartet.

                                

Bernie Hodgkins – 5 String Double Bass
Bernie grew up in a Jazz-oriented family and has toured in Europe and further afield with a wide variety of artists and honed his skills and adding to his prodigious repertoire. Spending much of his time in the recording studios, he is equally at home and in demand as an enthusiastic “live” rhythm section player.

With additional vocals from
Larraine Odell – Vocals
Beginning her professional singing career with the group CMU with whom she recorded two albums, Larraine performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including the Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall. Boxford Fleece & Ronnie Scott’s. 

                           

Our Master of Ceremonies for the evening was the erudite Gareth Williams-James

Larraine Odell opened the first set with the following:

A swing version of Ray Noble’s 1936 The Touch Of Your Lips
Mad About the Boy is a popular song with words and music by actor and playwright Sir Noël Coward.
Mooonray written by Arthur Quenzer, Artie Shaw, Nat Madison. First release by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra – Vocal Refrain by Helen Forrest (1939)
Don’t Go to Strangers (1954) Music     Arthur Kent & David A Mann, Lyrics by Redd Evans This was Etta Jones’ first album for the independent jazz label Prestige when it was released in 1960.
Get Out of Town is a 1938 popular song written by Cole Porter, for his musical Leave It to Me!, where it was introduced by Tamara Drasin.

Chris Allard then joined the trio to play:
You Stepped Out of a Dream (1940)by Nacio Herb Brown. from the Ziegfeld Girl which was one of the biggest film hits of 1941.
Antonio Carlos Jobim’s 1967 Triste  which means “sad” in English and was included in Jobim’s hit 1967 record “Wave.
Nature Boy 1948. Nat “King” Cole introduced this unusual tune, based on a Yiddish song “Schwieg Mein Hertz” (Be Still My Heart), in 1948.
Henry Mancini’s 1962 Days of Wine and Roses one of the favourite tunes of Wes Montgomery and was recorded by him in 1963 on Boss Guitar.

Following the Jazznights raffle of a jazz cd, a Japanese t-shirt presented to Roger Odell on a tour to Japan with Shakatak and a bottle of wine we had the traditional Jazznights sitting in spot which is open to all musicians who have an  opportunity to play with the band. Tonight we had Stuart Pringle on drums and Geoff Harriman on Harmonica playing All  Of Me. Stuart stayed on drums to play with Janice Oliver who sang Them There Eyes (1930)Words and Music by Maceo Pinkard, Doris Tauber and William G Tracey.

                                 

Chris Allard then re-joined the Jazznights Trio to play extended versions of:
The 1943 My Shining hour by JHarold Arlen. Notable recordings include John Coltrane on his Coltrane jazz Album.
Harry Warren and Joseph Young’s 1931 You’re My Everything.
Prelude to a Kiss is a 1938 song composed by Duke Ellington.
Solar jazz composition attributed to Miles Davis on the studio album Walkin’ (1954) and now considered a modern jazz standard.
Grand Lament from Chris Allard’s own album Jupiter Island published in 2013 a collection of masterfully executed and brilliantly composed original tunes.
The End of A Beautiful Friendship by Donald Kahn and Stanley Styne often remembered by the Nat King Cole recording.
For a great finale we had a compilation of many well known blues.

It has been said:
“One of this country’s finest guitarists”
Jacqui Dankworth.
“Chris Allard … Europe’s leading exponent of the great Pat Metheny”
Pendulum Jazz Orchestra
“Blinding guitarist”
Jazz in London
And so it all proved to be another great night from Jazznights, thanks to Roger and Larraine Odell.

JO FOOKS (sax) will be at Jazznights on Sunday 1st February 2015
Having won ‘The Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year’ Jo went on to study saxophone at the Guildhall School of music in London and at the Berklee School of music in Boston after  receiving a full fee scholarship. Famously a member of the late Humphrey Lyttelton’s Band, her mellow tone is often compared to Stan Getz and Zoot Simms.

THE BEST IN BRITISH MODERN JAZZ is at  Jazznights, The Cock Inn, 3, Callis Street, Clare, Suffolk, CO10 8PX

Admission £10. Doors open 7.30pm. Music 8.00-10.30pm.

Reserve seating on 01787 237653 or email info@jazz-nights.com
Pay on the night.

You can join us at facebook, read reviews of previous performances on more opinions blog or tweet at twitter.com/jazznightsuk

For further information on future gigs go to www.jazz-nights.com

Karen Sharp at Jazznights 4th January 2014 at The Cock Inn, Clare with the Roger Odell Trio, Ted Beament and Larraine Odell. Playlist, blog & Pictures

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KAREN SHARP (sax) made a welcome return with the Roger Odell Trio to Jazznights at The Cock Inn, Clare on Sunday 4th January 2015

With the release of her most recent CD “Spirit” Karen is now firmly established on the UK scene with her own quartet and her performances as part of “The Tokyo Trio” with Tina May & Nikki Iles. “Her sound is warm and full, her improvised lines bold and clear” Dave Gelly – The Observer. “An extraordinary talent” Phil Collins – BBC Radio 2.
In March 2004 Karen began a three-year stint in Humphrey Lyttelton’s band, which took her to venues and festivals across the UK and into Europe playing alongside Joe Temperley, Stacey Kent, Acker Bilk and the great blues singer Elkie Brooks. During this time Karen was also working hard to establish her own quintet with which she produced three albums and played at top jazz venues in the UK. In 2006 Karen played at the Ginza Festival, Tokyo, with British singer Tina May and pianist Nikki Iles, and she appeared at the Cape Town International Jazz Festival 2007, with US trumpet star Jeremy Pelt and South African singer Esther Miller.

Now a well-established player on the scene, Award wining saxophonist Karen Sharp’s powerful, swinging, melodic saxophone style has graced an impressive array of fine bands.  Her cv includes work with the likes of US stars Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Bucky Pizzerelli and Dick Sudhalter as well as many of the finest UK musicians such as Sir John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, Mark Nightingale, Jacqui Dankworth and Clare Teal.

Twice winner of the British Jazz Awards in the Saxophone category. Phil Collins remarked on a BBC Radio 2 show “….an extraordinary talent.” – IMHO quite a litotes as she is a sperb master of the tenor saxophone and as mentioned, at the top of the tree in UK jazz. And what a spectacular evening it proved to be.

Karen played with the Jazznights Trio who were:

Roger Odell – Drums
Roger was one of the founder members and drummer with the jazz-funk group Shakatak and the forerunner band Tracks. Roger has toured internationally and recorded numerous CDs, which he continues to do on a regular basis to this day.

Ted Beament – Piano
Ted is one of the UK’s most revered pianists. He was with Humphrey Lyttelton’s band for many years and before that with George Melly. He’s played with just about every name on the UK scene and many visiting American jazz stars too

For many years he did gigs with his own trio and with other freelance groups, reaching a point when many top international musicians were happy to have him supporting them. He is also a superb and sensitive accompanist.

Bernie Hodgkins – 5 String Double Bass
Bernie grew up in a Jazz-oriented family and has toured in Europe and further afield with a wide variety of artists and honed his skills and adding to his prodigious repertoire. Spending much of his time in the recording studios, he is equally at home and in demand as an enthusiastic “live” rhythm section player.

With additional vocals from
Larraine Odell – Vocals
Beginning her professional singing career with the group CMU with whom she recorded two albums, Larraine performed at numerous venues throughout the UK and Europe, including the Purcell Room, Royal Festival Hall. Boxford Fleece & Ronnie Scott’s. 

Larraine Odell opened the first set with the following:
Weaver of Dreams is an album by guitarist Kenny Burrell recorded in 1960 and 1961
I’ll Close My Eyes is a song with words and music originally written by the English songwriter and bandleader Billy Reid and published in 1945.
In 1940 Glenn Miller and His Orchestra introduced The Nearness of You with Music by  Hoagy Carmichael and Lyrics from Ned Washington.
Hoagy Carmichael and Johnny Mercer’s 1941 Skylark. The first recording was by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra.
Burton Lane and Yip Harburg’s 1946 Old Devil Moon was an up=tempo version which provided a great finale for Larraine’s set.

Our Master of Ceremonies for the evening was the erudite Gareth Williams-James

Karen Sharp with her tenor sax then joined the band to play:
Allie Wrubel’s 1937 Gone With The Wind after the publication of Margaret Mitchell’s book of the same name.
Bright Moments is from a live album by jazz multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk in 1973.
Tadd Dameron was one of the most influential composer/arrangers of the bebop era and wrote If You Could See Me Now in 1946 amongst many others Followed by a great Charlie Parker classic.

Following the Jazznights raffle of 2 jazz cd’s and a bottle of wine we had the traditional Jazznights sitting in spot which is open to all musicians who have an  opportunity to play with the band. Tonight we had Consuelo Velazquez’s 1941 Besame Mucho played by Geoff Harriman on harmonica and Michael Mason on drums. Roger then invited Michael to continue playing in the next two tunes with Karen.

Get Out of Town is a 1938 popular song written by Cole Porter, for his musical Leave It to Me!, where it was introduced by Tamara Drasin.
Tom Harrell has been widely admired for his skills both as a player and composer and Karen played the 1989 Sail Away.
Whisper Not is a composition by Benny Golson. Golson’s account of writing the piece is that “I wrote it in Boston at George Wein’s Storyville club when I was with Dizzy Gillespie’s big band in 20 minutes.
But Beautiful is a popular song with music written by Jimmy Van Heusen, (the lyrics by Johnny Burke.) The song was published in 1947.
(The End of) A Beautiful Friendship by Donald Kahn and Stanley Styne.
As a stunning end to the evening Karen Sharp played an exciting series of various blues.

ON Sun 18 Jan JAZZNIGHTS WELCOMES CHRIS ALLARD (guitar)

Chris is regarded by many as one of the best of new generation of jazz musicians in the UK; a wonderful guitar player and composer. His career so far has seen him working with the likes of Cleo Laine, Gwilym Simcock, Tim Garland and many more; his playing has graced iconic spaces such as Abbey Road, Ronnie Scott’s, Royal Festival Hall and beyond.

THE BEST IN BRITISH MODERN JAZZ is at  Jazznights, The Cock Inn, 3, Callis Street, Clare, Suffolk, CO10 8PX

Admission £10. Doors open 7.30pm. Music 8.00-10.30pm.

Reserve seating on 01787 237653 or email info@jazz-nights.com
Pay on the night.

You can join us at facebook, read reviews of previous performances on more opinions blog or tweet at twitter.com/jazznightsuk

For further information on future gigs go to www.jazz-nights.com