Ben Holder

Still in his early 20’s Midlands-based virtuoso jazz violinist Ben Holder has already made quite a name for himself on the Gypsy Jazz/Swing circuit and seems destined for great things. A graduate of the Birmingham Conservatoire this multi-award-winning violinist started life as a classical musician, but his interest in Jazz, inspired by listening as a teenager to the likes of Benny Goodman and Oscar Peterson as well as the great jazz violinists Stefan Grappelli, Joe Venuto and Stuff Smith, led him to a parallel life as an accomplished Jazz musician. These days his powerful and swinging playing can be heard with a number of the North’s finest Swing outfits including Gypsy Fire and Djangology. Tonight Ben will be appearing with his own quartet featuring Jez Cook on guitar, Paul Jeffries on bass and Dave Wilkes on drums. The music is classic Jazz Standards with the occasional swing original thrown in, and if you’re lucky Ben may even sing a bit as well! This is great straight ahead jazz from one of the finest swing exponents of his generation.

“Ben Holder has the warmth and flexibility of a sax player, and all the extra possibilities of a string instrument - lightning speed harmonics, glissando and double stopping. Chilled and confident… he puts on a hugely enjoyable show” LondonJazz News