Creative ‘Cakewalk’ Sequencing

Music Workshop

Get to grips with drum loops, editing and using software instruments.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Emily Wright Project

A fast-rising star on the jazz scene, vocalist Emily Wright studied jazz performance at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama with Paula Gardiner, Nia Lynn, Huw Warren and Keith Tippett, and has since performed at the Glastonbury Festival Jazz Lounge, London's Spice of Life and the City Pipe, the Bebop Club, Colston Hall and Wales Millennium Centre. She leads Moonlight Saving Time, playing arrangements of standards as well as contemporary compositions, featuring Nick Malcolm (trumpet) and Jon Hyde (guitar). 

Aquarium

The self-titled debut release from London jazz ensemble Aquarium, led by pianist and composer Sam Leak, has been described in Jazzwise Magazine as ‘a mature and often sumptuous statement of intent’, and by internationally-renowned pianist John Taylor as featuring ‘a set of absorbing compositions from Sam Leak. Excellent playing and interaction in the band – with intelligent use of space, colour and dynamics. A fine achievement.’ 

Keith Waithe’s Macusi Players

Essequibo Music Artists come from a wide range of backgrounds, combining the influence of multicultural Britain with the Caribbean, Ghana, South America and Asia. Band leader Keith Waithe brings a collage of soulful jazz and Caribbean folk pieces infused with Waithe’s uplifting flute melodies along with Helen McDonald’s stunning vocals to Brecon. 

Creative ‘Cakewalk’ Audio Recording

Music Workshop

Sound like the stars; how to make the most of your vocal and instrumental skills. Learn how to turn your bedroom into a studio. Whether your thing is vocals or instrumental, put down a track in this hands-on session.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Tommaso Starace

Following a sold-out performance at the Blue Note, Milano alto saxophonist Tommaso Starace visits Brecon Jazz with an exciting new line-up, promoting his latest album Tommaso Starace Quartet – Blood & Champagne. Inspired by musicians such as Maurice Ravel and Cannonball Adderley to Ennio Morricone, Joshua Redman and Stevie Wonder, Starace is always exploring and pushing the boundaries of his own writing, trying to create different moods by combining traditional and more contemporary harmony and focusing on a strong use of melody and groove with the additional use of odd time signatures. 

Electric Drumming and Percussion Workshop

Music Workshop

Join this session and start your journey to become a world-class drum-hero. Discover the power of percussion with HandSonic.

Sponsored by Cool Fossil Music, Roland and Roland Systems Group

Nostalgia 77 featuring Josa Peit

Nostalgia 77, aka Ben Lamdin, first burst onto the scene with his heavy, new funk-based sound in 2002. Lamdin’s gifted writing talent and dedication to his music contributed towards him winning Jazz Album of the Year at the Gilles Peterson BBC Worldwide Awards in 2006. 

Led Bib

One of the original torch-bearers for the revitalized young British jazz scene, Led Bib released their fifth album in February this year. Nominated for the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize and described as a modern classic by the press (‘a hands-down triumph’, The Independent), this five-piece pride themselves on side-stepping convention with incendiary results, tearing apart the jazz world with their avant-jazz-euphoric-rock explosions of improvisation. 

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

The BBC Big Band Special featuring Maceo Parker

Maceo Parker is a funk/jazz titan. His name is synonymous with funk music, his pedigree impeccable. His body of work is as important to the genre as those belonging to James Brown, George Clinton and Bootsy Collins, all of whom have collaborated with Parker. Quite simply, there is no better living showman than Maceo, and he’s regarded as one of the all-time great saxophonists. Maceo’s last album, the critically acclaimed Roots and Grooves, is a Big Band outing, paying tribute to Ray Charles and showcasing Maceo’s own music Big Band style. In an exclusive collaboration with The BBC Big Band, bringing this music to a one-off show at Brecon Jazz, you can expect a funky good time!

Matthew Halsall Gondwana Orchestra

Matthew’s latest album On The Go (Gondwana Records) demonstrates his love affair with jazz of the late ’50s and early ’60s, drawing on the evocative sounds of Miles Davis’ legendary soundtrack to the Louis Malle film Lift To The Scaffold and the soulful hard bop recordings of Art Blakey and Max Roach. But while imbued with a sense of history, the young trumpeter and DJ’s music nevertheless brings a contemporary bounce to his repertoire. 

Michael Janisch Quintet

Purpose Built

Purpose Built is a dynamic and ambitious debut, showcasing music that cuts from a wide swathe of the broad stylistic continuum of jazz history, and representing the diverse range of the bassist’s musical influences outside the improvised realm, exhibiting a fresh take on the current trends in modern jazz with a strong focus on melody. Janisch has called on some of the jazz world’s most prominent younger generation musicians, from his native US and the UK, to bring his music to life. 

Robert Glasper Experiment

Signed to Blue Note, Robert Glasper has made waves throughout the music world as leader of both the acoustic Robert Glasper Trio and the electric, hip-hop-oriented Robert Glasper Experiment. Crossing music boundaries comes naturally to him, and he regularly works alongside hip-hop artists such as Q-Tip, Mos Def and The Roots. The Houston native further develops all these elements and pulls them together in a new synthesis, continuing his ascent to the top ranks of modern jazz artistry. 

Stonephace Stabbins

Inspired by the Spiritual/Soul Jazz movement and in particular by Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders’ collaborations, Larry Stabbins’ new project features Mercury-nominated pianist Zoe Rahman and Crispin ‘Spry’ Robinson from ’90s jazz/rap band Galliano. This is essentially the acoustic rhythm section from Jerry Dammers’ Spatial AKA Orchestra, so expect a synthesis of exploratory jazz with groove, loads of percussion and eastern modes along with ‘transcendental euphoria’. 

Sponsored by Bureau Export

Art Themen & John Etheridge Quartet

A consummate performer and one of the UK’s top jazz saxophonists, Art Themen plays in large and small venues throughout the UK and worldwide, and is a regular feature at many top jazz festivals. Themen is a player who is known for his originality and individual style. In this unique and special combination, Art is joined by John Etheridge on guitar, Paul Morgan on bass and Tristam Maillot on piano.