London Jazz Festival **Composers Night** Kate Williams & Gareth Lockrane

So, this is a fascinating one. It all started when Kate Williams launched her brilliant album “Four plus Three" here at the Club in June, featuring Kate’s jazz trio along with a terrific string quartet. The blend of the trio and classical string quartet combined with Kate’s innovative writing was quite spellbinding and the idea of bringing this line up to the LJF was mooted. Which is where it became very interesting as Kate suggested that for this LJF gig it would be good to invite one of Europe’s finest jazz flute players, Gareth Lockrane, to join the band. Gareth is an old friend of the Club and his fluent and creative playing has been heard here with many different settings, not least his own big band and small groups. However, what made this a particularly inspired choice is that Gareth is also considered to be one of the country’s finest composers and arrangers. And so the idea of Gareth guesting with Kate and her arrangements for the first set and then Kate guesting with Gareth on his arrangements for the second half of the evening was born. Gareth was very excited by the idea and so both he and Kate have written arrangements especially for this line up (trio + string quartet) specifically for the gig this evening. And, just to add a little spice, Gareth has also asked the brilliant jazz guitarist Mike Outram to join him for his portion of the evening. Promises to be a unique and exciting night.

8:30 - KATE WILLIAMS with Special Guest GARETH LOCKRANE Award-winning pianist Kate Williams is a fine musician who has made a name for herself as both a performer, composer/arranger and music educator (teaching at both the Guildhall School of Music and Middlesex University). A previous winner of the John Dankworth Award she was featured in the Steinway 2-Piano Festival in 2010, 2011 and 2013, with two of the concerts broadcast on BBC Radio 3. As mentioned, Kate just released her seventh, and potentially most fascinating, CD "Four Plus Three", a collaboration between Kate and the Guastalla classical string quartet at the Club in June. The repertoire for this latest project includes material by Bill Evans, Cole Porter and Antonio Carlos Jobim as well as originals by Kate herself. As Kate explains it "the arrangements exploit the varied sound palette of both string quartet and jazz trio, creating contrasts between the improvised and the notated, between sustained textures and strong grooves, seeking a fully integrated approach that is definitely not just a jazz trio with string accompaniment!".

10:00 - GARETH LOCKRANE with Special Guest KATE WILLIAMS also featuring MIKE OUTRAM Over the last few years Gareth Lockrane has established himself as one of the finest jazz flautists in Europe, with a string of high profile appearances alongside the likes of the James Taylor Quartet, Natalie Williams and the late, great, Bheki Mseleku. It is a measure of Gareth’s growing international standing that his band “Grooveyard” won the “Best European Jazz Group” at the Granada Jazz Festival in 2003 and he was named “Rising Star on Flute” in the prestigious Downbeat Critics Poll (USA) in 2008, just one of many awards and accolades he’s received. A highly respected composer and arranger as well as brilliant soloist Gareth’s own 16 piece big band is considered to be one of the finest in Europe. The featured musicians tonight, along with Kate & Gareth, will be Mike Outram-guitar, Oli Hayhurst-bass and David Ingamells-drums, alongside John Garner and Marie Schreer-violins, Miguel Rodriguez-viola and Sergio Serra-cello. This promises to be a wonderfully inventive and uniquely musically satisfying evening. Booking advised.

“Williams...a worthy addition to the ranks of British Jazz composer pianists…” The Observer;
“Pianist Kate Williams writes robustly and fashions clean, cool improvised lines” Mojo;
“Williams…a superbly lucid and inventive pianist and composer” BBC Radio 2;
“Lockrane’s flute work is exceptional, combinin