Rock Riffs Guitar Workshop

Music Workshop

Find out how to wield your axe like the best stadium-fillers.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama & Paula Gardiner Trio

Double Bill

Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (duration 45 mins)

Milestones: Tribute to Miles Davis

An exciting show celebrating the music of Miles Davis, including a reprise of the landmark Kind of Blue album. The performance pays due respect to the original while allowing the musicians to express themselves. 

The Gentle Good

Something of a folk genius, Cardiff-based Gareth Bonello has a penchant for reworking traditional songs as well as writing new ones. Bonello has a gentle yet confident finger-picking guitar style influenced by the likes of Nick Drake and Bert Jansch, and he also plays cello, piano, mandolin and banjo. His songwriting is laced with traditional Welsh melodies and words. His albums Tethered for the Storm and While You Slept I Went Out Walking have seen comparisons with the music of Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, John Martyn and Donovan.

Bass and ‘Boss’

Music Workshop

How to use effects, flanging the fretless and tuning trickery with guest bassist Pedro Kirk.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Sax Appeal

Celebrating thirty years as leader of Sax Appeal, composer/arranger Derek Nash (star saxophonist with the Jools Holland Rhythm & Blues Orchestra) has always showcased the very finest UK sax players and the current band is no exception. Adding a smart funky rhythm section and a clutch of winning arrangements, this eight-piece jazz ensemble mix driving swing, haunting ballads and danceable Latin/funk to create a unique sound that has won several British Jazz Awards.

Courtney Pine & Zoe Rahman

Double Bill

Zoe Rahman

Sponsored by Bureau Export and supported by Spedidam, Adami and Institut Français

Chris Jagger’s ATCHA

Chris Jagger and his band’s post-modern style of Louisiana Cajun/Zydeco/Swamp Rock never ceases to entertain with its adept musicality and wit. The band’s energetic, catchy and uplifting numbers are Chris’s original compositions, featuring brilliant and well-crafted lyrics, flowing freely from this charismatic and flamboyant vocalist who moves about on and off the stage with his washboard, guitar, harmonica and tambourine. 

Tim Kliphuis Quintet featuring Dave Newton

Acoustic Voyage

Outstanding violinist Tim Kliphuis and the Scots and Maltese members of his Quintet deliver a brilliant set of acoustic music from all parts of the world: an inspired mix of jazz, folk, classical, Latin and world music, with hints of Stéphane Grappelli. The Quintet premiered at Glasgow Jazz Festival 2010, and their energy, instrumental mastery and telepathic interplay have received glowing reviews.

Guitar Effects Workshop

Music Workshop

Learn looping, tips and techniques to take your guitar-playing to the next level.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

‘Me Analogue, You Digital, Let’s Make Beautiful Sounds Together’

Music Workshop

Exploring the creative possibilities of Live Digital mixing, recording and effects with Roland Systems Group. 

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Kevin Brady Trio featuring Bill Carrothers

The Kevin Brady Trio is led by Irish drummer and composer Kevin Brady, featuring fellow Dubliner Dave Redmond on bass and the sensational American pianist Bill Carrothers, who is rightly regarded by his peers as one of the great jazz pianists of his generation. A rare opportunity to see one of the finest contemporary post-bop piano trios, where Ireland’s leading talents meet one of the USA’s great modern jazz musicians. 

Elan Mehler Trio

New Yorker Elan Mehler, pianist and star discovery of Radio 1 veteran Gilles Peterson, has released three albums on the Brownswood label; his latest, a co-led project with singer-songwriter Adam McBride-Smith titled Half Seas Over, is receiving four-star reviews and being hailed as an 'immediate contemporary classic'. 

Norma Winstone, Klaus Gesing, Glauco Venier

The Grammy-nominated trio of singer Norma Winstone MBE, Italian pianist Glauco Venier and German reeds player Klaus Gesing present music from their highly-acclaimed ECM album Stories Yet To Tell, described by critics as ‘sublime’ and ‘exceptional’. Norma Winstone occupies a special place among Europe’s jazz voices – ethereal yet rich, she suffuses folk and classical sensibilities into her rarefied, glacially beautiful music. The ECM album Distances received four and a half stars in Downbeat, winning an Academie Du Jazz prize as Best Jazz Vocal CD and a Grammy nomination. 

Christian Prommer

Drumlesson

Munich-born drummer Christian Prommer is one of the finest producers in Germany who has always taken a jazz approach to music – open-minded, progressive, chic and atmospheric. Prommer’s critically acclaimed project Drumlesson started with the idea to record an acoustic version of the Derrick May classic Strings of Life, fusing his jazz roots with his love of electronica. This rare UK live performance will be an amazing on-stage collaboration melting electronics with the brilliance of live jazz. 

Allen Toussaint

The legendary New Orleans pianist, songwriter and producer. Grammy Nominee in 2010 for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for The Bright Mississippi, Toussaint brings his easy-going charm and humour to Brecon Jazz, along with seductive, percolating rhythms indigenous to New Orleans.