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The big seaside jazz weekender www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com

22nd - 24th April 2016

Featuring:

• Swinging at the Cotton Club • Claire Martin OBE & Ray Gelato with the Dave Newton Trio • Geoff Eales Trio • Dave Griffiths Little Big Band • Rhondda Symphony Pops Orchestra Plus17 super support shows Grand Pavilion Box Office 01656 815995 Book online at: www.grandpavilion.co.uk/tickets www.epmcreative.com

www.seetickets.com

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The Venues

Brentwood Hotel, 37 - 41 Mary Street, Porthcawl, CF36 3YN. Tel: 01656 782725

4 Trinity Church, John Street,

Glamorgan Holiday Hotel, The Square, Porthcawl, CF36 3BW. Tel: 01656 785375

5 Parkdean, Trecco Bay,

Grand Pavilion, The Esplanade, Porthcawl, CF36 3YW. Tel: 01656 815995

6 Seabank Hotel, Esplanade,

www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com

Porthcawl, CF36 3DT. Tel: 01656 783017

Porthcawl, CF36 5PW. Tel: 0844 335 3450

Porthcawl, CF36 3LU. Tel: 01656 782261

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Welcome Message from the Mayor

The Porthcawl Jazz Festival has been growing from strength to strength over the last ﬁfteen years and each year the quality and talent of artists taking part has increased. This year is no exception as you will appreciate as soon as you start reading this programme. Where else could you ﬁnd yourself swinging at the Cotton Club on the Saturday night and listening to a full, augmented Symphony Orchestra playing great jazz on the Sunday. What more can you ask!

Director’s Welcome

During the 1920s and 30s when jazz was Top of the Pops, no venue better summed up the spirit of the age than New York’s Cotton Club. Good-time seekers flooded in to enjoy a wealth of fabulous music, song and dance. Our Saturday night re-creation, Swinging at the Cotton Club, features Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra, the dynamic Jiving Lindy Hoppers and vocalists Marlene Hill and Megs Etherington, worthy successors to such original greats as Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday and Bojangles Robinson. You’ll go home smiling. Friday’s equally impressive A Swinging Affair features the sublime Claire Martin, rated as amongst the four or five finest female vocalists on the planet, booty saxophonist/ vocalist Ray “Godfather of Swing” Gelato and a world-class trio led by award-winning pianist Dave Newton. Equally eclectic and inspirational, globe-trotting pianist Geoff Eales returns to his native South Wales with a new trio to offer his own very special level of virtuosity combined with consummate musicality.

www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com

As a town we are very proud of the way that the Porthcawl Jazz Festival has grown in stature over the years until it has reached a level where it is recognized as being one of the premier jazz festivals in the Principality. With your continuing support it can only improve further. Enjoy the Festival, and indeed enjoy the pleasures of the town and we hope to see you next year as well! David Newton-Williams - Mayor of Porthcawl The Rhondda Symphony Pops Orchestra’s programme, which includes tributes to Irving Berlin and Frank Sinatra and also features the ﬂawless voice of leading London session singer Sarah Moule and the lyrical alto saxophone of Glen Manby, has as its centrepiece Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra by Howard Brubeck, composer brother of Dave. Written for the Dave Brubeck Quartet and New York Philharmonic Orchestra, the chance to hear this unusual and rarelyperformed piece should alone justify the cost of your ticket. Seventeen other bands, duos and solo performers complete the 2016 programme. Some are ﬁrm favourites, others brand new to the event, but all are committed to providing high quality entertainment for your pleasure. Our thanks as ever are due to our patrons, sponsors, volunteers, venues, professional staff, programme advertisers and of course the artists without whom none of this would be possible. Have a great time. Best wishes, Wayne Warlow – Festival Director

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Friday 22nd April

Grand Pavilion 7.30pm - 9.45pm

Claire Martin / Ray Gelato and the Dave Newton Trio Friends for 30 years, multi award-winning vocalist

Claire Martin OBE and legendary saxophonist and vocalist Ray Gelato have combined their love of all things swing and joined forces for their ﬁrst show together, A Swinging Affair. These much celebrated and respected musicians share the stage with a worldclass trio led by multi-award-winning pianist

Dave Newton to explore the Great American Songbook. If you like

your music sassy, sharp and swinging, this is the show for you. A swinging affair indeed! “A consummate jazz singer with old-school virtues… she wins plaudits everywhere she works” The Guardian “Not for nothing is Gelato known as ‘The Godfather of Swing’” The Telegraph

www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com

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Friday 22nd April

Dave Cottle Fast becoming a Porthcawl Jazz Festival regular, Dave takes time out from his management role at Swansea Jazzland to appear this year in the guise of solo pianist at 1.00pm on Friday in the Grand Pavilion Café Bar. Always the complete musician, Dave’s lunchtime session should not be missed.

John Mills

is another solo pianist featured in this year’s series at

the Café Bar. Also a talented trombonist who occupied the principal trombone chair of the Cardiff University Symphony Orchestra during his music studies at that ﬁne Institution, John’s keyboard skills have since become predominant. He has also mastered a very different collection of keyboard skills through his work in the ﬁeld of computers in education, especially in the area of music technology, and is acknowledged to be one of the foremost authorities in that regime.

John Stark Amalgam Returning again to the Porthcawl Jazz Festival, Cardiff drummer John Stark reinforces his mainstream credentials with a new Quartet featuring Alan Johnson on guitar, Nigel Hart on keyboards and Robin Hames on bass.

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Saturday 23rd April The Liberty Street Jazz Band is one of the longest

established and most popular New Orleans style bands around. Their impressive gig list takes them to all parts of South Wales, the South West and the M4 corridor as far as Henley-onThames where they are regularly featured on the popular New Orleans Riverboat. They have become ﬁrm favourites at successive Porthcawl Jazz Festivals and always look forward to re-establishing their special rapport with the event. Led by Marcus on cornet, John, Simon, Graham, Dewi and Richard never fail to please with a varied programme centred on the traditional rags, shouts and blues as played by jazz’s founding pioneers.

The Sarah Jayne & Dan Phelps Duo Sarah Jayne and Dan are

honours music graduates of Bath Spa University. Now seasoned performers, they present an attractive mix of soft, gentle vocals combined with a diverse but sensitive piano style perfectly suited to their own original material and carefully crafted covers of blues, smooth jazz, easy listening and classic songs.

Rumblestrutters bring you the feel-good blues, jazz and ragtime of the Prohibition era. The Swansea-based acoustic three piece band’s vivid

evocations of the music of the 1920s and ‘30s have earned them a reputation as one of the most authentic and popular roots bands around.

Brilliant Corners with Remi Harris Brilliant Corners is a new Quartet

led by pianist Dave Jones featuring Remi Harris on guitar, Ashley John Long on double bass and Kevin Lawlor on drums. One of the most exciting groups to emerge in recent years on the South Wales circuit, they give a new twist to the classic jazz repertoire with a particular emphasis on the works of Thelonious Monk.

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Grand Pavilion 3.00pm - 5.00pm

Saturday 23rd April

The Geoff Eales Trio The Welsh pianist, composer and improviser has enjoyed an incredibly varied career in music. At Cardiff University he studied composition under Professor Alun Hoddinott and piano with Martin Jones. He was awarded a Ph.D for his large-scale work, An American Symphony, and his chamber setting of the Dylan Thomas poem In the Beginning for tenor, horn and piano. Other early works include a piano concerto, string quartet, brass quintet and A Sussex Rhapsody, the latter commissioned by the BBC. As well as his love of contemporary classical music, Geoff is passionate about jazz. As a member of the BBC Radio Big Band in the late 70's and early 80's, he was featured in well over 1000 broadcasts. During this period, he formed the electric rock-fusion band, Electric Eales, which recorded extensively for the BBC. Geoff left the BBC in 1983 in order to pursue a career as a studio pianist, arranger and composer. His credits include technical musical adviser for the American mini-series, Ellis Island (the last ďŹ lm to star Richard Burton), musical associate / arranger for the Wayne Sleep / Bonnie Langford TV series, The Hot Shoe Show, and featured pianist on the Andy Williams album, Greatest Love Classics, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Geoff remained a top studio musician for over 15 years, working alongside a host of musical luminaries such as, Leonard Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, Lalo Schifrin, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Shirley Bassey, Jose Carreras, Kiri Te Kanawa, Lesley Garrett and Michael Ball.

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Saturday 23rd April Open Mic Youth Afternoon

A free open mic, performance and workshop session devoted to young musicians. All singers, instrumentalists and bands aged 18 and under are welcome to come along, show us what you can do and maybe pick up a few performance tips along the way. The session is hosted by the Archbishop McGrath High School Jazz Band which is rapidly gaining a ﬁne reputation, resulting in an ever increasing number of public performances at some notable venues. In July the Band, under founder and Director of Music, Glyn Price, will extend its travelling schedule even more by giving three concerts in the Lake Garda area of Italy.

Easy Street With their unique line up and sound, Easy Street

present sophisticated swing, chilled-out bossas and cool ballads. In short – Very West Coast. Alexa Dene (ﬂute and vocals) brings to the table her experience of festivals and concerts with everything from big bands to small celebral groups. Eurig Morgan (trumpet) has that right sound which has won him endless gigs from the UK to the South of France. John Clayton (guitar) demonstrates genuine creativity in addition to passing nods to Jim Hall, Howard Alden and his old sparring partner Eddie “Guitar” Burns.Steve Van Koningsveld (guitar) is a multi-instrumentalist veteran of more bands than he can remember and it shows. Derek Howells (double bass), backbone of Cardiff’s Wonderbrass, has played with everyone from Dave Cliff. Claude Deppa and Jason Yard. Cliff Prior, formerly principal BBC percussionist, has for years extended his considerable talents to the jazz ﬁeld and is now an integral part of Easy Street’s success.

The Scott-McNicholas Experience Pianist Sue Scott and singer Steph McNicholas - aka The Scott-McNicholas Experience - met at Penarth’s

legendary Pilot jam night around eight years ago. The duo have performed songs from the Great American Songbook at shows across South Wales ever since. Sue is an associate of the London College of Music and has been playing piano since she was six. Steph has sung in a number of bands over the past 30 years and is lead singer with Cardiff-based trio Cheatin’ Hearts. Expect to hear classics by George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and Rodgers and Hart when the Scott-McNicholas Experience play at the Porthcawl Jazz Festival.

www.porthcawl-jazz-festival.com

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Saturday 23rd April Grand Pavilion 7.30pm - 9.45pm

Swinging at The Cotton Club is an action-packed show celebrating the music, dance, and songs of the Cotton Club – New York City’s legendary nightclub of the 1920s and ‘30s. Performances by Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and Fats Waller would have had the club swinging – whilst dancers such as Bojangles Robinson and the Nicholas Brothers lit up the stage with their breathtaking routines. In this show, the exciting dance and music of the Cotton Club is recreated by the fabulous Jiving Lindy Hoppers, the world’s premier jazz dance company and Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra featuring vocalist Marlene Hill and compere/vocalist Megs Etherington. “A positive pleasure to behold” The Guardian The London based Jiving Lindy Hoppers worked themselves and their unbuttoned audience into a fine lather … their collective performances manage to retain the wholly spontaneous, improvisatory, uninhibited spirit of swing dance in its heyday The Washington Post

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creative marketing solutions WEB design, mobile, online marketing DESIGN logos, branding PRINT marketing material flyers, posters, brouchures

we are honoured to be working with the Festival Committee for 2016

EVENT MANAGEMENT, MARKETING & PROMOTION SOCIAL MEDIA facebook twitter, intagram set up, management & courses

email: www.epmcreative.com or call Paul on 07860 406834

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Sunday 24th April

Seabank Hotel 2.00pm - 3.00pm The Dave Grifﬁths Little Big Band Well known for his work in a wide spectrum of musical styles from classical to jazz, pop and leading West End and touring musicals, Dave brings to Porthcawl the latest of his own bands. With a programme which is both comprehensive and accessible, satisfaction is guaranteed.

Babajack is fast becoming one of the most sought

after bands on the festival circuits in the UK and Europe. Their brand of roots is contemporary and powerful: ‘an intoxicating brew of blues, folk and roots music’ (Classic Rock Magazine). They combine great musicianship, passion, energy and charismatic performance to create a unique sound and a great stage show.

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Sunday 24th April

Li Harding / Gary Phillips Quartet Generally regarded as Wales’s leading jazz and blues singer, Li Harding grew up in “the most cosmopolitan square mile in Europe,” the Cardiff docklands area known worldwide as Tiger Bay. Now totally redeveloped as a home to the Welsh Government, National Assembly, Millennium Centre and innumerable dining and leisure outlets, the Bay of Li’s childhood was a hotbed of jazz, blues, folk and world music which heavily inﬂuenced her future career. Swansea guitarist Gary Phillips’s long career includes touring Europe with some of the best American and British artists. His collaboration with Li results in Rhythm and Blues at its best.

The Graham Watkins Quartet featuring Clare Hingott

THINK shades of Shearing punctuated with Peterson, a little laid back Loussier with a dash of Nat Cole all brought up to date, and you have the Graham Watkins Quartet. Their present library consists of classic jazz standards, the best of the Great American Songbook and items from the repertoire of contemporary female singers interpreted in her own unique way by the vivacious and oh so good musically, Clare Hingott.

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Sunday 24th April Grand Pavilion 7.30pm - 9.45pm

The Rhondda Symphony Pops Orchestra

Sarah Moule

Glen Manby

Conductor - Edward John The Rhondda Symphony Pops Orchestra is delighted to present as the centrepiece of this year’s PJF concert Dialogues for Jazz Combo and Orchestra by Howard Brubeck, elder brother of the great Dave Brubeck. This fascinating and challenging major composition adds a whole new dimension to the Festival and cannot fail to impress on this, its Welsh premiere. Supporting orchestral works include Jimmy Webb’s MacArthur Park and tributes to Frank Sinatra and Irving Berlin. Alto saxophonist Glen Manby brilliantly reworks some of the classic orchestral tracks recorded by Charlie Parker in the early 1950s. Stylish and much In demand vocalist Sarah Moule tops a superb evening with the Orchestra in the company of high ﬂying composer, arranger, conductor, pianist and husband, Simon Wallace.

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Lesley Dearn Artist in Residence

Artist in Residence

at Porthcawl Jazz Festival. Local Artist Lesley has a growing reputation that has seen her feature in shows across Wales. Lesley's work is on display in the CafĂŠ Bar of the Pavilion during the Festival and illustrates the fact that her abstract roots and strong ďŹ gurative skills combine to produce a style well suited to the jazz world.

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Thanks to...

PATRONS