Brassy, funky, groovy jazz juice for your soul from a 7-piece collaboration oozing talent with every beat!

Saxophonist, composer and producer Paul Booth (Steely Dan, Carlos Santana, Van Morrison, Incognito, Jamiroquai, Gregory Porter, Chaka Khan) embarked on the project ‘Secret Sessions’ as an outlet for new music that is created, played and ultimately recorded by grouping like-minded artists and friends together. It works like this… Paul carefully selects highly talented musicians who turn up to the recording studio, only knowing the instrumentation of the music but not knowing who they will be playing with. The result is a dynamic cocktail of spontaneous, exciting and highly rewarding music.

Hoop emerged from the second of these sessions in 2019 with an incredible line-up! In the ‘engine room’ we have Ian Thomas (Seal, Steve Winwood, Incognito, Georgie Fame, Sting, Amy Winehouse, Mark Knopfler, Jim Mullen, ) on drums and Laurence Cottle (Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, Gary Moore, Seal, Jason Rebello, Jim Mullen, James Taylor Quartet) on bass.

The horn section puts Booth alongside Ryan Quigley (Quincy Jones, Aretha Franklin, George Michael, Vince Mendoza, Kurt Elling) on trumpet and Nichol Thomson (Incognito, Tina Turner, Paloma Faith, Omar, Beverly Knight, Brand New Heavies, Jamie Callum) on trombone.

Chris Allard (Tim Garland, John Helliwell, Dave O’Higgins, Dame Cleo Laine, Sir John Dankworth, Carleen Anderson, Claire Martin, Jamie Cullum) on guitar and Ross Stanley (Jim Mullen Organ Trio, Will Vinson, Dennis Rollins, Guy Barker, Michael Janisch, Liane Carroll, Stan Sulzman, Clark Tracey) on keys rounds out this incredible band.

This is a ticket-free, “Pay What You Can” event. Just add this event to your calendar, show up on the night and pay what you can afford (£5 minimum, cash or card) on the door. Click here for more information on how we are cutting our costs and making exceptional live music affordable to all in Worcester.