GREAT JAZZ IN THE HEART OF EAST SUSSEX!

Another one-off concert featuring some of the finest jazz musicians in Britain.

Friday 12th April 2024

Martin Litton
Martin Litton toured with Kenny Ball from 1983 to 1984 on his tour of the Middle East and tour of Russia and has recorded with Humphrey Lyttelton. Litton’s fluency of style(s) and the historical context he brings to his jazz piano has taken him around the world, playing with and respected by many of the great names in jazz, past and present. His keyboard skills have been honed by his attention to detail and personal discipline both in terms of musicianship as well as knowledge of the development of jazz piano.

Trevor Whiting
After initially learning tenor horn in the school brass band at the age of eleven, Trevor heard recordings of New Orleans clarinettist Sidney Bechet and immediately decided to switch instrument. This was the beginning of a lifelong passion for jazz in its various forms. Trevor taught himself the rudiments of clarinet and saxophone, and by his late teens was beginning to do gigs with various traditional and mainstream bands around the London Jazz Circuit. By the mid-eighties he had formed his own group the “Swingtet” which featured notable musicians such as trumpeter Ray Crane, pianist Martin Litton, guitarist Paul Sealey and drummer John Armatage. The Swingtet was regularly featured in the BBC’s Jazz Club broadcasts. During the early eighties he worked on several occasions with the late Ken Colyer. Since the eighties, Trevor has often enjoyed working and recording with visiting Americans including Al Casey, Art Hodes, Scott Hamilton, Marty Gross and many others, in between a busy freelance schedule. In recent years he has appeared live and on recordings with new vocal star, Clare Teal. In January 2003 he toured Germany and Holland with the Big Chris Barber Band and subsequently joined the band on a permanent basis. In July 2004 he came off the road to resume his career as a freelance soloist and side man.

Enrico Tomasso
It is said that Enrico started playing the trumpet at age five after listening to Louis Armstrong play Basin Street Blues. His father, a well-known clarinettist in England, took him to meet many of the American jazz greats when they visited — including Benny Goodman, Roy Eldridge, Oscar Peterson, Buddy Rich, and Dizzy Gillespie. The most important meeting of all was with Louis Armstrong, for whom he played at age 7 during Louis’ last visits to England in 1968 and 1969. This led to friendship which lasted for the remainder of Louis’ life. His musical education was fostered by his father, who would transcribe great trumpeters’ solos, would take him to live gigs, and would provide excellent trumpet teachers for him. Enrico later went on to study at the Leeds College of Music, and then spent many years working in bands including twelve years with the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, then a long stint with Ray Gelato, and with visiting American players. Among those he has played with are Scott Hamilton, Ken Peplowski, Bucky Pizzarelli, John Dankworth, and Tommy Whittle and the Piazza All Stars. His first recording as a sideman was in 1984, and today he is considered one of the top jazz trumpeters and has won best trumpet category in the British Jazz Awards on multiple occasions.

‘Spats’ Langham
Thomas ‘Spats’ Langham is a guitarist, banjo player and vocalist whose specialism is the music of the 1920s/1930s/1940s. He was inspired at the age of 10 by the music of The Temperance Seven (with whom he has since played). His idols are Ukelele Ike, Eddie Lang Harry Reser and vocalists like Al Bowlly.

Richard Pite
Richard Pite is a British professional musician (drums, double bass, bass ukulele, tuba and sousaphone) and jazz historian specialising in the jazz of the early 20th Century. He is founder of two music companies – PartyJazz and The Jazz Repertory Company and is also the Director of Music for Boisdale which presents jazz and other live music on a nightly basis at its four London venues. For many years he specialised in 1920s music and the drum techniques and visual tricks of the era’s jazz drummers and over the last 12 years has worked together with musical partner Pete Long, to preserve jazz history through live performance. Together they have recreated historic moments from jazz in association with The National Jazz Archive. For the 100th Anniversary of Gene Krupa’s birth in 2009, Pite staged the only UK concert celebrating the life and work of the artist who was one of the most important and flamboyant drummers in jazz history.

Janice Day
Janice Day graduated from Birmingham University in the late 1970s with a degree in English. Finding this no use whatsoever she became a danceband singer by night and temp secretary by day. Original singer with both the Piccadilly Dance Orchestra and Keith Nicholl’s Cotton Club Orchestra, she has appeared at the Royal Festival Hall, the Queen Elizabeth Hall, the Purcell Room, Proms in the Park, Pizza on the Park and the Wigmore Hall for Radio Three.

Malcolm Sked
Malcolm Sked  is a multi instrumerntalist playing double bass and sousaphone among other. MORE TO COME