
Saturday, 10th May
Derek Nash
Acoustic Quartet
Performing original compositions and unique arrangements of jazz classics, this quartet features some of the best exponents of jazz in the UK.
The quartet's last three albums have also featured special guest Martin Shaw (trumpet) and their 2012 CD Joyriding won the British Jazz Award for Best CD in 2012.
Their album You’ve got to Dig It to Dig It, You Dig? received this five-star review in The Guardian: "To get some idea of the sheer breadth of his accomplishment as a saxophonist, composer and bandleader, you should hear this.
"From smooth cool to groovy funk, to ingeniously recast standards, to one quite gorgeous ballad, the music fizzes with energy, even at its most restrained."
DEREK NASH
British Jazz Award-winning bandleader, composer, arranger, record producer and engineer, Derek Nash is one of the UK’s busiest jazz musicians. He is leader of six bands, each with its own unique sound and featuring some of the top jazz musicians in the UK today.
One of the UK's most in-demand and respected guest instrumentalists, Derek has been the recipient of numerous nominations in the British Jazz Awards.
A full-time member of the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra since 2004, Derek is also a member of the Ronnie Scott’s Blues Explosion.
With these bands, he has enjoyed sharing the stage with many great artists, including Tom Jones, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn, Jack Bruce, Amy Winehouse, Michael Buble, and Sir Paul McCartney. In the jazz funk world he has performed with David Benoit, Brian Culbertson, Ernie Watts, Mezzoforte, Nelson Rangell and Don and Dave Grusin.
Derek is a prolific composer, regularly penning compositions for his various bands and undertaking commissions. He has also composed for television and radio.
As an arranger, and following in the footsteps of his father, Pat (who was an arranger for the BBC Northern Dance Orchestra),
Derek has worked for many major artists, including Annie Lennox, Nile Rogers, Gregory Porter and Chaka Khan.
As a record producer and engineer, Derek received a gold disc for his work with Jamie Cullum for his Pointless Nostalgic album and has recorded some of the leading UK jazz artists, including Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, Georgie Fame, George Melly, Alan Barnes, Geoff Gascoyne and Digby Fairweather.
DAVID NEWTON
Voted ‘Best Jazz Pianist no less than 16 times, David's dynamic and lyrical jazz has perhaps been overshadowed by his work as accompanist for singers such as Marion Montgomery, Tina May, Annie Ross, Claire Martin, and Stacey Kent, with whom he spent 10 years recording and touring the world.
GEOFF GASCOYNE
A professional musician for over 30 years, Geoff has worked with such diverse artists as Michel Legrand, Everything But the Girl, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Sir Willard White, US3, Sting, Charlie Watts, Benny Golson, Bill Bruford, Jacqui Dankworth, Bob Dorough, Mari Wilson, The Mingus Big Band, John Martyn, Dianne Reeves, Guy Barker, Claire Martin, and Eartha Kitt. He also played a major part in the rise of Jamie Cullum, with whom he worked exclusively from 2000 to 2007.
SEBASTIAN DE KROM
A graduate of the famed Berklee College of Music, and winner of the prestigious Buddy Rich Award, from 1997/99 Sebastian was the drummer of choice for the renowned Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Performance programme.
He has performed with artists such as Herbie Hancock and John Scofield, and from 2001 to 2008 played drums in Jamie Cullum’s regular touring and recording rhythm section.
Currently Seb is the drummer of choice for a wide variety of top UK jazz musicians and groups – he is also a drum tutor at the British & Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) London. He was appointed MD of NYJO’s Academy Big Band in February 2015.