Jazz

Wallen’s study of cognitive psychology has aided his transition towards conceptualising music as a medium for healing. Wallen raises awareness and invokes change by unlocking boundaries through the nature and science of sound. Widely recognised as a seminal figure in Jazz, Wallen is an acclaimed writer and producer whose original scores have been commissioned by the Science Museum; PRS, The BBC, Jerwood Foundation, Southbank Centre, National Theatre, Arts Council, FIFA and Sage Gateshead. He has also composed soundscapes for Universal Pictures, Warner Bros and Game of Thrones.

Wallen’s PRS commission (2017) Anthem for Woolwich forges new links between schools, venues, musicians and residents to strengthen the resilience and promote the cohesion of the community. His latest commission is a collaboration with Sheila Hill and Howard Skempton for Brighton Festival 2019 called Eye to Eye.

Wallen has received the BBC Jazz Innovation award (2003) and has been nominated several times for the MOBO award. In 2017 he was awarded the Paul Hamlyn Award for Artists.

Photograph credit: Urszula Tarasiewicz.

Malcolm’s love of many different styles of jazz has made him a versatile performer as well as a distinctive voice on the UK Jazz scene. In 1989, after studying at Exeter University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, occupying the lead trombone chair for two years. He has since performed with a variety of artists including Kenny Baker, John Dankworth, Henry Lowther, Martin Speake and Liam Noble. His debut album Lyric Trombone (1996) received wide acclaim – including encouraging words from American trombonist Jimmy Knepper, one of Malcolm’s major influences. He has also worked with soul artists Ronnie Spector and Martha Reeves and has twice toured with Bryan Ferry, featuring on two of his albums As Time Goes By, and The Jazz Age. More recently,  Malcolm has performed widely with the acclaimed Basin Street Brawlers and Three Way Stretch, a trio which also features Liam Noble and Dave Wickins, and draws on a wide range of jazz styles to achieve it’s unique sound. Their album I’ll be Seeing You (2020) is dedicated to the memory of the late Dave Wickins.

As a vocalist, Malcolm has developed a distinctive swinging style and an exciting approach to scat singing. Things are Looking Up by VoxCity5 (2007), features Malcolm’s original arrangements for two voices and rhythm section. The line-up includes fellow vocalist,  Nia Lynn and pianist Barry Green. His next release (due out  Autumn 2020), features Malcolm’s vocals  backed by a quartet, all of whom are graduates of the Trinity Laban Jazz Course and now well known names on the UK jazz scene: Leo Richardson (saxophones), Chris Eldred (piano), Conor Chaplin (bass) and Douglas Marinner (drums).

Mick has recently been recording and touring with Alan Barnes + 11 and Jim Rattigan’s ensemble Pavillon, and is currently a member of The Humphrey Lyttelton Band, the Back to Basie Orchestra and the London Jazz Orchestra.  Other notable jazz musicians that Mick has worked with include Dame Cleo Laine, Jacqui Dankworth, Trudy Kerr, Mark Lockheart, Guy Barker, Laura Jurd and Digby Fairweather.  Mick has recorded three albums under his own name and is in demand as a session musician, having played for many film and TV soundtracks including Prometheus, Vice and Downton Abbey.

As a composer Mick has written for various ensembles which include the London Jazz Orchestra, Quartz Saxophone Quartet, Docklands Sinfonia and Onyx Brass as well as his own jazz groups.  His music has been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and he has pieces published by Saxtet Publications; some are included on both the ABRSM and Trinity College exams syllabuses.

In smaller groups he has played with Gary Husband’s ‘Drive’, Django Bates’ Human Chain, NYC performance artist/violinist Laurie Anderson and pianist/singer-songwriter Steve Nieve, The Smith Quartet, Kirk Lightsey, Norma Winstone, Jason Palmer’s Quartet featuring Jeff Ballard. He is a member of Oren Marshall’s ‘Charming Transport Band’ featuring musicians from Ghana and Nigeria. Julian has also performed with vocalists Cleo Laine, Beverley Knight, Joe Lee Wilson, Liane Carroll, Eddi Reader, Charlene Spiteri, Jacqueline Dankworth, Lizz Wright, Juliet Roberts, Keziah Jones, Terri Walker, Christine Tobin and punk rock legend Steve Ignorant (formerly of Crass).

In the mid-nineties Mark toured and recorded with Django Bates’ Delightful Precipice, performing at many international festivals and also recording a great deal with jazz, folk and pop artists June Tabor, Stereolab, Jah Wobble, Robert Wyatt, Prefab Sprout, Don Um Romao, Thomas Dolby, Anja Garbarek and on Radiohead’s Kid A album. Mark received the Peter Whittingham Award in 1997 to record his semi-orchestral 11-piece group the Scratch Band. This formed the basis of his album Through Rose-Coloured Glasses, which was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and voted by Time Out as one of the top ten albums of 1998. A commission in 2001 from the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival led to a suite of pieces inspired by dance forms, which formed the basis for the Scratch Band’s second album, Imaginary Dances. With the help of a major touring grant from Arts Council England, the Scratch Band undertook a ten-date nationwide tour.

In 2003 Mark joined Seb Rochford’s Polar Bear and has toured throughout Europe and recorded four CDs with the group, including the 2005 Mercury-nominated Held On The Tips Of Fingers and the recent 2010, critically acclaimed Peepers on the Leaf label. In 2005 Mark released his critically acclaimed multi-tracked saxophone and clarinet album Moving Air (basho records) and in 2007 was featured soloist (along with John Pattitucci and Gwilym Simcock) in Mark Anthony Turnage’s About Water which was premiered on the Southbank with the London Sinfonia in June 2007. 2009 saw the release of Mark’s stunning album In Deep on the Edition record label, Jazzwise described the album as “one of the most glorious bits of writing and playing you’ll hear this year”. In 2010 Mark released his first big band album Days Like These recorded with the Hamburg-based NDR Big Band. This year also saw Mark as a featured soloist in Mark Anthony Turnage’s Anna Nicole opera. Also this same year Mark was awarded the All-Party Parliamentary Jazz Musician Of The Year 2010, primarily for his In Deep album, but also in recognition of his varied work with other groups on the UK scene. Mark has also been nominated for the Paul Hamlyn award for composition 2012. Mark is currently performing a busy schedule with experimental jazz group Polar Bear and will shortly be releasing (on his own Subtone label) a new CD featuring deconstructions of Duke Ellington compositions. Entitled Ellington In Anticipation the CD was released in February 2013, followed by a major UK tour.

In 1988, he left the group to develop his own projects, which have been many and diverse, and establish himself as a composer and improviser. Martin is as comfortable playing personal interpretations of the music of Charlie Parker with his quartet, free improvising with drummer Mark Sanders, playing standard ballads in duet with Ethan Iverson and Indian music with Dharambir Singh and Sarvar Sabri. He has recorded 18 cds under his own name of diverse projects including the internationally acclaimed ECM release Change Of Heart with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson and Mick Hutton.

He started his own record label Pumpkin in 2007 and has released 7 cds so far. SPARK is a duo with drummer/percussionist Mark Sanders, TWO NOT ONE a duo with guitarist Colin Oxley. Two albums with Barry Green, Dave Green and Jeff Williams entitled GENERATIONS and LIVE AT RIVERHOUSE. ALWAYS A FIRST TIME featuring Mike Outram and Jeff Williams in 2013 and in 2014 SOUND CLOUDS with improvising classical pianist Douglas Finch and THE QUIET MIND with Mark Sanders and Oren Marshall.

Martin has also performed with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson, Loose Tubes, Stan Tracey, Bhavani Shankar, Billy Jenkins, Django Bates, Bob Wilber, Conrad Herwig, Don Weller, Ronan Guilfoyle, Alison Bentley, The Style Council, Ann Pigalle, Kadam, saxophonist John Williams, Airto Moreira and Flora Purim, Jim Mullen, Dave Cliff, Julian Arguelles, Ephie Resnick and the Royal Shakespeare Company among others.

He is lead alto saxophonist in the London Jazz Orchestra conducted by Scott Stroman and has recently formed a project to study and learn all the compositions of Thelonious Monk with pianist/ composer/valve trombonist Hans Koller. His main creative outlet is a trio with guitarist Mike Outram and US drummer Jeff Williams performing original music.

Martin is a committed jazz educator and in addition to Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance he teaches at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Youth Jazz Collective Summer School. He was external examiner at Birmingham Conservatoire for several years and also taught at Middlesex University and is guest tutor and examiner at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

He is also involved in a British Jazz Oral History project of his own and has interviewed a number of important musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Geoff Simkins, Dave Cliff, Pete Saberton and many others. These interviews can be read on his website at www.martinspeake.com

He has a BSc in Nutritional Medicine and has his own practice for clients who want to improve their health through diet and lifestyle changes.

Riepler is also known for his work with French saxophone star Julien Lourau (Electric Biddle) and since late 2015 member of US-drummer Jeff Williams’ band. He holds teaching positions at Trinity Laban and Middlesex University (London).

Riepler’s writing and playing are refreshingly cliché free and “The Brave” represents a highly promising début . The Jazz Mann 

“… music making and improvisation at the highest level” Jürgen Spiess, Reutlinger Nachrichten

“London continues to be a magnet for foreign jazz musicians, and one of the best is Austrian guitarist Hannes Riepler” The Daily Telegraph

After receiving a place at London’s Royal Academy of Music, Orlando decided to give up cricket and pursue his love of music. While based in London, he quickly established himself as one of the UK’s most prominent bass players touring and recording with Jason Rebello, Julian Joseph, Iain Ballamy, Tommy Smith, Jean Toussaint, and Guy Barker to name a few.

Orlando moved to the United States in 2003 and became one of the most in demand bass players on the New York jazz scene, playing and recording with Ari Hoenig, Branford Marsalis, Jimmy Cobb, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Seamus Blake, David Sanchez, Joey Calderazzo, Antonio Sanchez, Wayne Krantz, Kurt Rosenwinkel and Leslie Odom Jr.

Orlando has also released numerous albums as a leader, including the critically acclaimed OWL trio (with long-time associates Will Vinson and Lage Lund) and Romantic Funk, a pastiche of classic fusion sounds inspired by the band Weather Report.

More recently Orlando is working on a co-led trio with Mark Turner and Jeff “Tain” Watts.

As a sideman, he has performed with many leading jazz musicians from across the UK, and the world. Gourlay has held the acoustic bass chair with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, under the direction of Tommy Smith, since 2006. He has also featured prominently with Tommy Smith’s own quartet.

Since 2018 Calum has been a professor of Jazz Bass at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. He has also taught one to one at the Royal Academy of Music and presented his own big band music with The Guildhall Big Band.

His debut album ‘Live at The Ridgeway’ (2015) received rave reviews from the UK jazz press, not least because of its confident format – a solo, live recording in front of an intimate audience.

In 2019 Calum released his first quartet album ‘New Ears’ on Ubuntu records. In 2020 the album was nominated for both a Scottish Jazz Award and an Ivor Novello Composer Award.

Since arriving in England in 1997, Omar has maintained an international profile, playing all over Europe, the USA and Africa, playing with such musicians as Tito Puente, Kirsty MacColl, Jools Holland and Courtney Pine. Omar has appeared on the BBC and several ITV channels, various radio shows as well as at venues the length and breadth of Britain: from Aberdeen to the Isle of Wight, Newcastle to the Eden Project, Belfast to Cork including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, The Jazz Cafe, Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Royal Festival Hall.

Omar teaches jazz violin at Leeds College of Music, Cuban music at various places including LCM, and Trinity College of Music, London. He continues to teach in Havana, and maintains a close relationship with the Cuba Solidarity Campaign.

He’s an original founder member of the Jazz Warriors, and now Co-Director of Warriors International. Most recently, for his services to music Cleveland has been appointed an MBE.

He has also received multiple prestigious awards and nominations, including Jazz Vocalist of the Year at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2017 (Winner), Best Jazz Act at the MOBO Awards 2017 (Nominee), Best Vocalist at the London Jazz Awards 2010 (Winner), and Best Vocalist at the Guardian Jazz Awards (Winner) for three consecutive years.

As well as her own band Andrea often tours with ‘Jazz Extempore’ a European quartet which combines the jazz idiom with the folk influences of Eastern Europe. Recent tours have included performances in Italy, Croatia, Bosnia- Herzogovina and Bulgaria. Andrea performed in China at the prestigious 3rd Maritime Silk Road Art Festival 2017 with Croatian guitar virtuoso Elvis Stanic – the only UK musician to perform at the festival.

A prolific composer, she has been commissioned by the Arts Council, the BBC, Jazz Umbrella, the Peter Whittingham Trust, Teignmouth Jazz Festival and completed a setting of the poetry of A.E Housman for the Ludlow festival, released on the CD New Perspectives. Other projects include The Leasowes Bank festival;  ‘Women in Jazz project’ held at the ‘Hideaway Jazz Club’ during the London Jazz Festival; Scoring the Chet Baker “Speedball” musical and co-composing a new musical “The Austerity Playbook” plus and a funded residency at Lyth Arts Centre, Wick, Scotland. The BBC recently recorded Andrea for a live album with South African trumpet virtuoso Claude Deppa at the Ipswich Jazz Festival.

Andrea is also a well known and respected jazz educator holding a senior lecturer post and professorship at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of music and dance (jazz). She is musical director and founder of the highly successful ‘Dordogne International Jazz Summer School’ and was a judge on the ‘Nottingham International jazz piano competition’ and the University of South Africa International Piano competition in Pretoria. Andrea is currently part of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra Ambassadors jazz education project presenting workshops in schools nationwide. She instigated a Young Women’s jazz education taster day at Trinity following research project and feature article in Music Teacher magazine. Andrea has taught jazz and jazz piano at Pimlico Academy for twenty eight years – formerly the prestigious Pimlico Special Music Course – alumni including Antonio Pappanno (Royal Opera House), Django Bates, Andrew McCormack, Artie Zeitz, David Okumu etc. Andrea has published “A-Rhythm-A-Tik” a compendium of multi-level original jazz pieces for adult learners and teenagers; accompanied by a series of online video lessons.

Andrea Vicari presents a weekly show on JazzLondonRadio.com called “JazzDoodles” where she has interviewed many legends of jazz such as John Taylor; Peter Erskine; Hiromi; JohnAbercrombie; Omar Puente; Bill Stewart; Jonathan Kreisberg; Marc Copland; Antonio Serrano etc.

In 1997 he joined the Bobby Wellins Quartet, the rhythm section of which continues today as the Liam Noble Trio, recently documented on the 2009 CD “BRUBECK”, gaining an almost unprecedented 5 star review in The Guardian.

In 2001, “In The Meantime”, released on Basho Records, explored longer compositional forms and unorthodox improvisational structures, and April 2002 saw a commission from Birmingham Jazz resulting in a song cycle based on Japanese Death Poetry. Noble plays keyboards and samples throughout, marking a new foray into electronica inspired by artists such as Aphex Twin and Arto Lindsay.

In 2004, following a Cheltenham Festival gig the previous year, Liam recorded the acclaimed “Romance Among The Fishes” on Basho Records with guitarist Phil Robson and the New York rhythm section of Drew Gress and Tom Rainey on bass and drums respectively.

Liam’s working relationship has continued with Tom Rainey in the free improv trio, “Sleepthief” with Ingrid Laubrock, with an album released in September 2008, and a second, “The Madness Of Crowds” in 2011. Other frequent collaborators have included Christine Tobin, Paul Clarvis and Julian Siegel. His growing reputation as a free improviser has also resulted in recent performances with Mary Halverson, Marc Ducret, Mat Maneri, Evan Parker, Okkyung Lee and Peter Evans.

In June 2011 he was featured on a recording by Zhenya Strigalev with Larry Grenadier, Tim LeFebvre and Eric Harland. “Brother Face”, an expanded version of his trio with Chris Batchelor and Shabaka Hutchings, looks to expand short form composition into longer arcs. As a kind of summation of the diverse areas in which he works combined with a compositional eye for structure, this new group was highly praised at its premiere performance at the Cheltenham Jazz festival in 2012.

A solo CD, “A Room Somewhere”, released in 2015 on Basho Records, features an eclectic mix of improvisations, as well as versions of music by, amongst others, Edward Elgar, Joe Zawinul, Gillian Welch, Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Liam has also played duo gigs with Dave Liebman and Tim Berne, two highly contrasting giants of jazz who exemplify the chameleon-like tendencies of his collaborations.

Liam holds posts as Lecturer in Jazz at Birmingham Conservatoire and 
Trinity Laban. He has published 4 volumes of transcriptions of the Bill Evans Trio, and a book of original compositions “Jazz Piano; An In Depth Look at the Styles of the Masters”, both published by Hal Leonard.

Kit performs solo pipe organ and solo piano concerts – and also plays in collaborations with saxophonist Tom Challenger, cellist Lucy Railton, composer Shiva Feshareki and with the band ‘ENEMY’. He is also currently working with violinist Aidan O’Rourke, composer Max de Wardener and in an organ trio with Reinier Baas and Jonas Burgwinkel. He also teaches at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where he himself studied and now holds a Fellowship.

“An exceptional soloist” – Wormser Zeitung
“It testifies to his world-class stature” – The Guardian
“One of the finest pianists of his generation” – Jazzwise
“Considerable chops and flowing imagination” – Downbeat

Bruno is a frequent host of the Ronnie Scott’s Late Late show, and has performed in venues and festivals including Southbank Centre, the Shanghai World Music Festival, the London Jazz Festival, Malta International Arts Festival, the Rest Is Noise Festival, Cadogan Hall, and the Royal Albert Hall. He has had his music played on BBC Radio 3, Jazz LineUp, Late Junction, BBC6 Music, BBC Scotland, in Austria, Canada, and the USA, as well as giving live broadcasts and interviews for the BBC and Rai 3 Italy.

He was taught by the late John Taylor and Pete Saberton, and has just been awarded an AHRC-funded practice-based PhD from the Royal Northern College of Music with the title ‘Counterpoint in jazz piano with specific relation to the solo work of Fred Hersch‘. As part of his research, he received funding to travel to New York City to interview and work with Hersch in 2016.

As a composer, Bruno has written for groups ranging from sextet to two pianos and percussion (for a project with Pete Saberton), and from big band to classical string ensemble (for a commission in 2017 from the Camerata Alma Viva). In 2009, Bruno was nominated for the Paul Hamlyn Composers Award.

He recently held the piano chair for two performances of Bernstein’s Wonderful Town at the Barbican Centre with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle.

Bruno has a longstanding musical partnership with the outstanding Palestinian singer, composer and broadcaster Reem Kelani.

A few years after the recording of his first solo album ‘One Step Closer’ Asaf relocated to the Netherlands, France and finally settled in London around 1999 where he soon became one of the most active Jazz drummers around. During that time Asaf became a founder member of Gilad Atzmon’s ‘Orient House’ Ensemble and started his long time collaboration with renown saxophonist Tim Garland and pianist Gwilym Simcock. Asaf has been leading his own bands and projects such as ‘Asaf Sirkis & the Inner Noise’ – a band of an unusual line up of church organ, guitar anddrum as well as the Asaf Sirkis Trio. He has been extensively playing worldwide and has recorded over 100 albums as a sideman and as a leader. Asaf have been playing with many other renown jazz and world artists such as: Dave Holland, Jacob Collier, Tim Garland, Gwilym Simcock, Larry Coryell, Jeff Berlin, John Abercrombie, Bob Sheppard, Norman Watt-Roy (off the Blockheads), Wilco Johnson, Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Natacha Atlas, Dave Liebman, David Binney, Gary Husband, pianist John Taylor, Norma Winstone, Kenny Wheeler, Andy Sheppard and many more. 

“Since arriving in London from Israel at the end of the end of the ‘90s, Asaf Sirkis has earned a reputation as one of the world’s premier drummers”

— Ian Patterson, All About Jazz

Barak has also founded a number of different projects, each with unique stylistic and world influences. These include the Afro-rhythmic groupTimeline, the Cuban batá-fusion of Méta Méta, and the integrated dance performance of Synergy and Roots of Unity. Barak is also the founder of F-IRE (Fellowship for Integrated Rhythmic Expression); part record label and part educational initiative, encompassing a wide variety of genres within and beyond the scope of jazz. F-IRE was awarded the 2004 BBC Jazz Award for Innovation, and all of the musicians nominated in the ‘Rising Stars’ category were members of F-IRE.

Barak is also a regular teacher at the Royal Academy of Music and City University.

Qualifications and Educational Background

MA, GRSM, LRAM, ARAM

In 2002, he formed the band Grooveyard with saxophonist Alex Garnett which released a critically acclaimed CD “PUT THE CAT OUT” which went on to win the Best European Jazz Group award in the 2003 Granada Jazz Festival. Grooveyard completed a successful Jazz Services tour of the UK in 2005. Their 2012 album “THE STRUT” is the ‘sequel’ to PUT THE CAT OUT and has been released on the fabulous independent jazz label Whirlwind Recordings, “THE STRUT” was named Jazz Album of the Year” in MOJO magazine!

He also founded his own septet which released the album “NO MESSIN” in 2009 and went on to win best album in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards that year. This band features Robbie Robson (trumpet), Steve Kaldestad (sax), Trevor Mires (trombone/euphonium), Robin Aspland – (piano) Matt Miles (bass) and Matt Home (drums).

He has formed his own big band, a fruition of all Gareth’s musical interests – combining his cinematic influences of greats such as Jerry Fielding, Lalo Schifrin and Bernard Herrmann with the soul jazz and unrestrained improvisatory nature of Grooveyard and the intricate through-composed nature of his septet writing. Making their debut in the 2008 London Jazz Festival and influenced by, amongst others, Gil Evans, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler, Jim McNeely, Thad Jones, Basie, Mingus and many more,the band blends heavy grooves and luscious orchestrations to spectacular effect. The band play almost exclusively Gareth’s compositions and arrangements. Watch this space for an album of this band some time in the near future!