TIME: 8.00 – 11.00PM

TICKETS: £13

PERSONNEL

Richard Fairhurst – piano
Dave Whitford – bass
Tim Giles – drums

“Award winning pianist Richard Fairhurst, is a powerful keyboard virtuoso capable of both meditation and funkiness, but he is as sophisticated a composer as he is a player. He is one of the UK’s most inventive pianists.” The Guardian
Steinway artist and BBC Jazz Award winner Richard Fairhurst is one of the UK’s leading jazz pianists and composers. He released his first album to critical acclaim when just 19 and has worked with many of the top names in jazz today.

Inside Out is Richard Fairhurst’s latest recording with his longstanding trio featuring Dave Whitford on double bass and Tim Giles on drums. “The album is the culmination of how the music and the trio have evolved together,” says Fairhurst. “I’ve always been drawn to the sonic blend and warmth of the acoustic piano trio and the many possibilities for exploration it creates.”

The recording presents a collection of Fairhurst’s original compositions alongside two covers by one of his favourite composers, the great Carla Bley. “The concept behind this record was to bring together my own compositional style and explore the world of free improvisation that I have become increasingly drawn to,” explains Fairhurst. “There are structured composed pieces with intricate harmonies, melodies and rhythmic complexities, with each track reflecting unique facets of my musical journey. Inside Out represents where I stand creatively as a pianist and composer to date.”

“When we play as a trio there is always a sense of exploration and freedom within the music and this feeling is what makes this band, and this record, a special one for me.”

Richard released three albums as leader of the band The Hungry Ants which also featured renowned saxophonist Iain Ballamy. He received a scholarship to study jazz and improvised music at the New School University in Manhattan, New York. He has been a Steinway  International Artist since 1998 and at the age of 20 he reached the final of the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Solo Piano Competition.
Richard was commissioned to write music for a new sextet at the Cheltenham International Jazz Festival This music was released on his fourth album as leader ‘Standing Tall’ which won the prodigious BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work.
He has released three highly acclaimed duet albums with Berlin based Trumpet player Tom Arthurs, Mesmer, Postcards From Pushkin and One Year. The duo went from strength to strength with a BBC commission for the City of London Festival and a performance at the BBC Proms in 2009. They also performed at Ronnie Scott’s for Jazz on 3‘s programme celebrating the best of Jazz in Britain.
His first piano trio recording Triptych featuring Danish bass player Jasper Hoiby and New York drummer Chris Vatalaro was released in 2010.
Richard performed in a two-piano setting with the late, great John Taylor at the Steinway 2 Pianos Festival/PizzaExpress Jazz Club several times as well as John Taylor’s 70th birthday concert, broadcast live on Radio 3’s Jazz Line- Up programme. They released their album Duets on Basho Records in 2015.

‘Award winning pianist Richard Fairhurst, is a powerful keyboard virtuoso capable of both meditation and funkiness, but he is as sophisticated a composer as he is a player. He is one of the UK’s most inventive pianists’ – The Guardian

‘Fairhurst’s piano playing is always luminous and lyrical’ – The Times

‘In Fairhurst’s originals there is an attention to detail and thematic elegance that slots him neatly into the lineage of Brad Mehldau, Keith Jarrett, Chick Corea et al’ – BBC Music

Dave Whitford has become one of London’s most in-demand side-men and can frequently be heard in the capital’s top venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, The Vortex, The 606 and The Jazz Caf​é. He has also toured extensively nationally and internationally appearing at the Xerox Rochester international Jazz festival, Abu Dhabi Jazz festival, The Brecon Jazz festival, San Sebastian Jazz festival and Love Supreme festival.

Dave was the late great saxophonist Bobby Wellins’ bassist for many years . He plays in the Julian Siegel Quartet , Liam Noble’s Trio , Claire Martin , Ray Gelato , Marc Copland , Bill Frisell and many more.

Tim Giles is a jazz drummer who won the Daily Telegraph Young Composer of the Year Award in 1992 at the age of 12 and has gone on to perform with a variety of jazz musicians.  Whilst still in his teens, Tim was performing internationally at events such as the Copenhagen Jazz Festival, and St Louis Jazz Festival, Senegal (providing support for the late Joe Zawinul). After several years of successful freelancing, playing with the likes of Stan Sulzmann, Kenny Wheeler and Julian Arguelles Tim moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Since then he has played in numerous bands including Fraud , Lamdin’s Nostalgia 77, James Allsopp’s The Golden Age of Steam, Stan Sulzmann’s Neon Quartet and Neon Orchestra, Iain Ballamy, Tori Freestone ,  Ed Jones, Matt Bourne, Sara Mitra, Jamie Cullum, also co-leading Leverton Fox and The Twelves.