Ivo Neame Quintet

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, Ivo Neame is one of an elite handful of conservatory-educated British jazz musician/composers who are redefining the sound of British jazz. Ivo is a member of the 2011 MOBO-Award winners Kairos 4tet, as well as Phronesis, whose 2010 album “Alive” was recognized by both Jazzwise and MOJO magazines as “Album of the Year”. A multi-instrumentalist possessing an enviable technical facility on both saxophone and piano, his style is distinctive, characterized by a rhythmic complexity that is pensively meandering one moment and dazzling with exhilarating bursts of speed the next. As a composer, to quote the Guardian, Ivo has a “knack for spry and surprising postbop writing”, gracefully balancing the new and novel with the more traditional. For his 606 date this evening Ivo has written an entirely new set of material exactly along these lines which he describes as inspired “by Thelonious Monk’s unique approach to composition, the music is largely polyrhythmic, following in the fundamental tradition of jazz. The tunes have been influenced by writers such as Seamus Heaney, Aldous Huxley and Roger McGough with a strong narrative flow to each piece". This is an exciting original project from Ivo (who will also play Rhodes and Mellotron for added colour and diversity) with a completely new line up featuring some of the finest young musicians around, George Crowley-sax, Tom Farmer-bass and James Maddren-drums. Ivo is intending to take this project in to the studios to record an album in the near future (a good month at the Club for this, see Ian Shaw Sunday 9th) so a great chance to be the first to hear this exceptional music performed by some exceptional musicians.

“…the impeccable craftsmanship, the subtle narrative ebb and flow, and the sheer inventiveness of the music are all Neame's” the Arts Desk; "Jazz composition and improv in beautiful balance" Guardian; "Neame...shaping the future of British Jazz" Irish Times; "An inventive and...able pianist [Neame's] ideas....poured out in a confident stream of power and conviction" Evening Standard