Acid Jazz and Brazilian funk party vibes from this energetic West Midlands 7-piece You won’t be able to sit still for this rare Saturday Music Spoken Here night at The Marrs Bar. Birmingham-based Headquarters of Groove had a great 2023 with several gigs at Hockley Social Club in Birmingham, two dates at the Cheltenham Jazz […]
Flavours of 60s Blue Note records, 90s Radiohead, pre-war Vaughan Williams and contemporary New York jazz combine to create an intensely engaging sound Hailing from rural Leicestershire with Welsh roots, graduating from Trinity Laban via Junior Birmingham Conservatoire and now bringing a fresh perspective to South East London, Nye Banfield is a profoundly creative saxophonist […]
Loose Tubes and Bill Bruford’s Earthworks saxophonist brings his new quartet featuring rising star Rebecca Nash and world-class drummer Jeremy Stacey I love musical connections, don’t you? Probably the first time I heard Iain Ballamy was on the Loose Tubes 1988 album ‘Open Letter’. That wonderful big band line up included Django Bates and Mark […]
Four heavyweights from the London jazz scene playing jazz fusion influenced by Holdsworth, Weather Report and John McLaughlin. We’re excited to announce the return of Sam Leak to the Marr’s Bar stage, this time around with his own band ‘Looking Glass’. You may remember Sam from his performance with Francesco LoCastro back in May last […]
Exotica, Calypso, West African Grooves, Japanese Folk and a sprinkling of Jazz from this sought-after London quartet. Following sold out shows at esteemed clubs across Europe, including Ronnie Scott’s and The Vortex in London, Porgy & Bess in Vienna and B-Flat in Berlin, we are delighted to welcome Vienna-born, London-based saxophonist Guido Spannocchi to Worcester […]
Jazz-funk and fusion from world-class drummer featuring phenomenal guitarist and singer/songwriter Rosie Frater-Taylor. Following the wonderful Music Spoken Here show from Rosie Frater-Taylor in December 2022, I was delighted to discover her parents have an outfit that includes Rosie in the line-up! I absolutely had to get them on our program and am totally stoked […]
Uplifting, transcendent, jazz-inflected street soul from Manchester Come and join us as we celebrate two years of Music Spoken Here at The Marr’s Bar with a very special show from British street soul masters, Secret Night Gang. Formed by Manchester natives and childhood friends Kemani Anderson and Callum Connell, this 7-piece collective spread their uplifting, […]
Groove, funk & fusion from a saxophone heavyweight at the height of his powers We are delighted to welcome Australian/UK saxophonist and composer Brandon Allen to The Marr’s Bar with his Groove Band for an evening of groove, funk & fusion influenced by Weather Report, Herbie Hancock, Eddie Harris, John Scofield, Tom Scott, David Sanborn […]
Celebrating the music of Joni Mitchell featuring Hattie Whitehead in a formidable 7-piece band Hejira is a 7-piece band set up to celebrate and honour the masterpiece works of Joni Mitchell, mostly from the late ‘70s. Having released the albums ‘The Hissing of Summer Lawns’, ‘Hejira’, ‘Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter’ and ‘Mingus’ (regarded as her […]
A tribute to iconic, legendary guitarist Jeff Beck featuring music from the significant albums "Wired" and "Blow by Blow" We’re no strangers to the music of Jeff Beck on the Music Spoken Here stage at The Marr’s Bar. In January, FNUK (which included Jeff Beck’s pianist of six years, Jason Rebello in the line-up) featured […]
Jazz, funk and Latin from some of the West Midlands' finest Ray Butcher started playing cornet at the age of eight and progressed through brass bands to study classical trumpet at Peter Symonds College in Winchester. Disillusioned with classical music, he took up piano for a while, playing in various cocktail bars and clubs including […]
Rising Birmingham guitarist presents new project developed with Jazz Central Mentoring program We are delighted to support the Jazz Central Mentoring program again this year, with a project from Birmingham-based rising star Torin Davies. The program accepts applications from young jazz musicians based in the West Midlands, from which a selection is made by a […]
