Tags
Barbara Morrison, Bill Kyle, Colin Steele, Dana Dixon, Dana Gillespie, David Vernon, Dick Lee, Dominic Spence, Gluesta, Ian Millar, Joe Acheson, Ken Ramage, Konrad Wiszniewski, Malcolm Macfarlane, Niki King, Paul Harrison, Preston Reed, Ricardo Garcia, Roberto Pla, Roy Williams, Sermon Orchestra, Tam White, The Jive Aces, The Oxford Gargoyles, Valery Ponomarev, Verona Chard
The Edinburgh Fringe doesn’t have a specific jazz strand, but contrary to the impression given by the London-based media on their once-a-year excursion north of the M25, it’s not just stand-up comedy, and if you look hard enough there is a bit of jazz. Here’s some of the stuff I’ve spotted coming up in the second half of the Fringe. I don’t claim it’s a comprehensive list.
Bill Kyle’s Jazz Bar has a full programme of music, including
- Colin Steele’s Kind of Blue. Steele’s Quintet playing music by or associated with the late 50s Mile Davis bands, rather than his own folk-influenced pieces.
- Valery Ponomarev. The former Jazz Messengers trumpeter in a quintet with Konrad Wiszniewski on tenor and Bill Kyle himself on drums.
- Verona Chard. Singer. Don’t know much about her, but she seems to have good credentials.
- Joe Acheson. Inventive blend of jazz and electronica.
Elsewhere in town, the Guildford Arms is putting on a mini-festival of traditional jazz, Ken Ramage and Friends’ Orkney Jazz Jamboree. Roy Williams is part of the line-up, it’s free, and it’s in a pub with excellent beer. I don’t know what the Orkney connection is, unless it’s sponsored by Orkney Brewery.
Edinburgh bluesman Tam White has a couple of gigs: a solo set at the Acoustic Music Centre in Dalry, and a concert at the Queen’s Hall with Niki King and the Sermon Orchestra. The Sermon Orchestra is presumably an augmented version of the Sermon Organ Trio (Paul Harrison, Malcolm Macfarlane, and one of an assortment of drummers).
Barbara Morrison, an excellent soulful singer who worked with Ray Charles for 7 years, is doing a series of concerts at The Outhouse. She puts on a very entertaining show, with an amusing line in between songs patter.
Ian Millar & Dominic Spence are playing a series of lunchtime gigs in the Radisson Hotel Bar.
There is also a wheen of things on which could probably be best described as “jazzy”, “involving musicians who sometimes play jazz” or “having elements of jazz”, including:
- Dana Dixon Blues Band
- Dana Gillespie
- David Vernon & Dick Lee
- Ricardo Garcia’s Flamenco Flow
- Gluesta
- The Oxford Gargoyles
- The Jive Aces
- Roberto Pla’s Latin Ensemble
- Preston Reed
Full information about dates, times and venues on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe site