This is Leigh Barker's last night at Bennetts for many many months. Leigh and Heather Stewart head to Paris to perform for 2016. They may visit later in the year…but no news just yet. 9pm show
Tonight will be another night to dance and enjoy the excitement and euphoria of hot jazz and swing, with the energy of high tempos and bright emotion. But it is also about the shared moment of a sustained note, the spaces between count, and the connections between people.
Leigh Barker has hand chosen musicians who leave each other space and time to get their jobs done........ this is exactly what I want to hear: there is nothing cool about rushing, and jazz is all about being fashionably late to a party. Then spending most of the night in the kitchen eating and telling dirty jokes..... With a healthy dose of traditional blues to spin from - a thread that charts a trajectory from the 1920s to the modern moment can be traced.
Leigh Barker - double bass and tuba Heather Stewart - violin and vocals Eamon McNelis - cornet Michael McQuaid- tenor & clarinet Jason Downes - reeds John Scurry - guitar and banjo Matt Boden - piano Sam Young - drums