Tim Whitehead "In A Spin" + Mark Taylor

8:00PM Tim Whitehead "In A Spin" Presented in association with the 2012 Parliamentary Jazz Award “Best venue” winner The Spin Jazz Club in Oxford, this night features multi-award-winning saxophonist Tim Whitehead performing with the Spin’s “house band”, guitarist Pete Oxley, bassist Raph Mizraki & drummer Mark Doffman. Tim is renowned throughout the UK, Europe and the USA as a remarkable performer and composer with a dazzling CV. In the 70s he toured with Ian Carr’s “Nucleus” and “Graham Collier Music” winning the Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award on the way. In the 80’s he was a member of the groundbreaking big band Loose Tubes and continued to develop his own music recording with his own bands featuring, at different times, John Parricelli, Django Bates, Nic France and Pete Jacobsen. In the 90’s he made several critically acclaimed albums, winning The Andrew Milne Award for Jazz, as well as the BBC Music Magazine Jazz Album of the Year. More recently, Tim has collaborated with renowned contemporary classical composer Colin Riley, creating music for several different ensembles and receiving numerous awards and accolades for the innovative projects, while still touring and recording with his own fantastic bands. As further testament to his extraordinary talent, in 2009 he was made the first ever musician Artist in Residence at Tate Britain, resulting in a number of brilliant gigs, a highly acclaimed album “Colour Beginnings” and a short-listing for the British Composer Of The Year Award 2010. Currently Tim is working with former “Children’s Laureate” Michael Rosen on an innovative production, “Centrally Heated Knickers”. Tim’s muscular yet fluent and highly melodic playing is widely regarded as amongst the finest around and he commands considerable respect throughout the jazz scene. A truly special opportunity to hear three of the UK’s most respected non-London based jazz players lend their magic to Tim’s always stellar performance. “the finest tenor player in Britain today'' Jazz Review; “He is a prodigious tenor player whose graceful compositions always rise above,,,mere technicalities... marked by a sense of grace and economy” The Times; “Whitehead is one of the most creative, exciting and passionate saxophonists in Europe and also one of the finest small-group composers” A Rough Guide

9:45PM Mark Taylor A seasoned veteran of the mainstream, bop and post-bop jazz scene Mark is a renowned drummer with precisely attuned listening skills, making him a highly sought after accompanist. A "natural born" percussionist he started playing at the age of 5 and was a regular at the old 606 Club in the King’s Road in the late 1970’s when he was still at school! Turning pro at 16 he rapidly came to prominence on the UK scene, performing with British greats including Sir John Dankworth, John Taylor, Gordon Beck, Tony Coe and Dick Morrissey. After relocating to New York in the 1990’s Mark started to work with a series of acclaimed US jazz musicians, including the likes of Lew Tabackin, George Cables, Kenny Barron, Randy Brecker and Art Farmer. He has also has played on more than sixty albums, including the 2001 Grammy-nominated ‘The Mose Chronicles’ by legendary singer/pianist/composer Mose Allison and he continues to impress, currently playing with the fourteen-times Grammy-nominated, NEA Jazz Master, pianist Toshiko Akiyoshi. He leads his own fantastic trio tonight with two of the finest players in the UK, organist Ross Stanley and bass player Andy Cleyndert. “British drummer Mark Taylor is a tower of strength.” Music Web International