Stacey Kent, who recently signed to Blue Note, already boasts six best-selling albums, a string of awards, including the 2006 BBC Jazz Awards "Album of the Year" for The Lyric as well as a fan base that enables her to sell out concert halls around the world. Her Blue Note debut Breakfast on the Morning Tram was released to critical acclaim last year and she is deservedly familiar with the Ronnie Scott’s stage, having sold-out her performances on several occasions in the past – a sure-fire favourite of the club. Stacey will be joined by Jim Tomlinson on sax, Graham Harvey on piano, Dave Chamberlain on bass and Matt Skelton on drums.

See Stacey in action...

Visit Stacey's website click here

A new monthly night presenting the very best of blues music!

The Blues Experience is a new band specializing in blues music from Chicago to Delta to West Coast to British, covering blues classics by the likes of Eric Clapton, BB King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Albert King, Peter Green, Howlin' Wolf, Robert Cray...and many more greats of the blues.

The band is led by the superb Tony Remy, one of the world's most exciting guitarists – inspiring, soulful and inventive on stage . Tony plays regularly with Annie Lennox, In Cognito and Craig David amongst others. Checkout his album “Jammin' At The 12 Bar Club” to hear his classic blues licks. He is joined by rising young blues, jazz and funk star, Sam Grimley who is a regular at the club and is fast making a name for himself as a brilliant keyboard player, guitarist and vocalist. Tony and Sam are joined by a variety of top guest vocalists and musicians each month – look out for some real surprises on stage! 

If  you want the very best of the Blues, this is not to be missed!

NOW FEATURING A DIFFERENT SPECIAL GUEST EVERY MONTH

BAND:
Tony Remy gtr/vcls, Sam Grimley keys/gtr/vcls, Paddy Milner keys, Nick Cohen bass, Frank Tontoh drums + special guests every month, Annabel Williams vocals

Managed by Shades of Soul http://www.shadesofsouluk.com/

Famed for their upbeat, energetic live shows, British jazz-funk stalwarts the James Taylor Quartet return to Ronnie Scott’s. Taylor’s driving Hammond organ has been leading the group for nearly twenty years, and the ‘JTQ’ show no signs of slowing down. Their relentlessly entertaining tunes take their inspiration from the rare-groove style funk and boogaloo funk of the sixties and seventies, and they are without a doubt one of the most important jazz-pop crossover bands in British musical history.

Visit the JTQ website to read more...

Pianist Cedar Walton’s professional career stretches back over fifty years, and his playing goes back further to his home in Dallas. One of the most respected players around today, he can count among his various collaborators and musical partners figures including Art Blakey (in one of the greatest line-ups of the drummer’s Jazz Messengers group, featuring Wayne Shorter, Curtis Fuller and Freddie Hubbard), Lou Donaldson, Duke Ellington, Kenny Dornham, Abbey Lincoln and John Coltrane – Walton was the original pianist on the sax giant’s seminal album Giant Steps, playing on Naima, Like Sunny and the title track, but the takes were only released in 1976 after the jazz community had come to know Tommy Flanagan’s cuts, recorded six weeks after Walton’s. Still writing, recording and touring in his seventies, Walton’s playing may have mellowed somewhat from the driving hard-bop of days past but his technique, imaginative soloing and elegant phrasing still shine through.

Lineup (unconfirmed)

...presenting the very best of UK funk!

Ronnie Scott's FUNK-AFFAIR! presents some of the finest UK funk talent around. Each month a variety of musicians and vocalists, together with a dash of hot brass, mixed with some wicked funky grooves, make up FUNK-AFFAIR!, an infectiously wicked evening. FUNK-AFFAIR! is hosted by REAL vocalist Louise Pollock with Jamiroquai's Derrick McKenzie (June only), The Cream Horns + a variety of guest vocalists and musicians and some very special guests from time to time including the superb Noel McKoy. (Lineup is subject to change each month)

 You will enjoy grooving to some of the finest musicians and vocalists that UK funk has to offer, playing many of the greatest rare groove & funk standards for you, including songs by Prince, Parliament, The Rebirth, Patrice Rushen, Don Blackman, Chaka Khan, Michael Jackson, George Duke and many more.

...if you want the very best of rare groove and funk!

Managed by Shades of Soul http://www.shadesofsouluk.com/

Ola Onabule is a fabulous communicator and a consumate artist who has built his name through his live performances and his self produced albums. He is a great role model for aspiring musicians who wish to tread their own path in the music industry especially with a new model evolving worldwide. As a vocalist, he possesses a voice that is beautifully clear and appealingly textured, almost classical. During his shows there are moments when he lets fly with a kind of yodelling ululation and a range and elasticity to match his rich tonal qualities. The influences of soul, jazz and African music come together in subtle and sophisticated melodies and time signatures. The lyrics are layered with metaphor and allegory seemlessly documenting the issues of the day with the universal subjects of love and loss.Ola began his career on the Elektra Label (Warner) but has since released six albums with the latest, THE DEVOURED MAN on his label, Rugged Ram Records which will be released to coincide with his shows in Canada this July. Ola has guested with some of America's finest soul and jazz artists including Diane Reeves, Gladys Knight, Al Jarreau, Patti Labelle, Roberta Flack, Joe Zawinul, Natalie Cole, and Roy Hargrove.




WHAT THE PAPERS ARE SAYING....

"To describe Ola Onabule as a sweet-voiced singer-songwriter from Lagos would be perfectly true, but it doesn't tell the whole story...instead he has chosen to go his own way, with original material from albums such as In Emergency Brake Silence and The Devoured Man...with a voice that is beautifully clear and appealingly textured, almost classical. There are moments when he lets fly with a kind of yodelling ululation like a more radio-friendly Leon Thomas??...with a range and smoothness that recalls singers such as Luther Vandross and more recent pretenders to the soul-pop crown, such as Frank McComb and Van Hunt."
John L Walters, The Guardian, Tuesday September 4, 2007


"The soulful singer Ola Onabule is currently on tour to promote his new album THE DEVOURED MAN. The cd sees the African born artist in a more political mood than usual, but audiences can still expect the compelling stage performance to which they are accustomed" -
ROGER TRAPP, THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY, TOP 5 SHOWS August 07


"The UK's answer to Donny Hathaway..." - THE BASEMENT, August 07


"The Devoured Man... A collection of beguilingly emotive and surprisingly politicised songs that recalls Marvin Gaye's masterpiece "What's Going On" and is a world away from the airbrushed grooves that are supposed to constitute the genre these days. What's going on indeed?" -
Rory Ford, EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS - Aug 07


"Onabule is a soul singer of the old school with a commanding presence and a grafting work ethic.? His voice has touches of super smoothies George Benson and Al Jarreau as well as the grittier Memphis style and he has a range and elasticity to match his rich tonal qualities. Onabule and his band will be a hot midnight ticket" -
ROB ADAMS, THE HERALD - August 22 2007


"His latest conscious soul outing  'The Devoured Man'... a killer voice, and three-octave range at his disposal, Ola is a class act among many lesser, certainly less intelligent, soul-jazz Joes." -
Jazzwise Magazine August 07


"... a master of his instrument, a superb storyteller, a gracious human-being" -
Robert Papaleoni, Co-Executive Producer "OLA ONABULE IN CONCERT" WCNY TV (PBS) Syracuse, NY, USA


"When so much music these days is simply lumped under the tag of urban, the modern homogenised gloop of music and style, it's a great pleasure to come across The Devoured Man. This is a proper soul album and by that I don't mean that it's retro, it has a very modern and contemporary sound, but rather that this is an album with real sound and something to say....Ola Onabule has a stunning voice of enormous range and emotional clout. He doubtless does smooth, but seems less concerned with smooching up to the laydeez and more about the human condition and its foibles. There's denial ignorance, arrogance, isolation, foolishness and of course love and redemption... " Proper Music Magazine - Oct 07

See Ola in action...

Click here to visit Ola's website...

Award winning Latin jazz pianist Alex Wilson has created a new twelve piece ‘Salsa Orchestra’ that builds on the dance club success of Alex’s third album ‘R&B Latino’ and his new Salsa CD ‘Inglaterra’ which combines hard hitting salsa, hip drum loops and powerful vocals from UK soul-diva, Aquilla Fearon and Latino vocalists Alfonso de Jesus and Elpidio Caicedo.

This is hot contemporary salsa with a drive and rhythm rarely heard in UK salsa bands.

"A taste for Cuban and other Latin strains of jazz has infected many artists of late. But few have proved so adept at it as British pianist Alex Wilson" - The Independent

"...scintillating fusion of jazz and authentic Cuban music...the results are exhilarating, with the music's infectious Latin colours and rhythms beefed up by some meaty jazz soloing" - The List

"Alex Wilson has been slaying 'em with his authentic, exciting Afro-Cuban" – Mojo

'It's tempting to wear a hat to his gigs, just to be able to throw it up in the air!' - The Guardian

See Alex & the Orchestra in action...

Click here to visit the Alex Wilson website...

The Ronnie Scott’s Big Band is comprised of some of the greatest talents on the UK jazz scene and presents THE STORY SO FAR..., featuring the music of Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Stan Kenton, The Rat Pack and Benny Goodman. This first-class big band is comprised of the cream of UK jazz talent, headed up by Pete Long, and will offer a retrospective on different aspects of jazz music.

Something of a special addition to the jazz scene, Kingston-born pianist Monty Alexander was brought up surrounded by, and playing, the traditional music of the Caribbean as well as being exposed to visiting musicians like Nat King Cole and Louis Armstrong. After moving to America in the early ‘60s, he quickly joined the jazz scene by landing gigs in New York with, amongst others, Frank Sinatra, Milt Jackson and Ray Brown, with whom he was to form a long personal and musical friendship.

He is known for his ability to play a wide variety of styles, drawing on the influences of traditional American jazz and the music of his home, describing himself as a musician “who loves it all”.

FULL BIO:

In a career spanning five decades, pianist Monty Alexander has built a reputation exploring and bridging the worlds of American jazz, popular song, and the music of his native Jamaica, finding in each a sincere spirit of musical expression. In the process, he has performed and recorded with artists from every corner of the musical universe and entertainment world: Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ray Brown, Dizzy Gillespie, Sonny Rollins, Clark Terry, Quincy Jones, Ernest Ranglin, Barbara Hendricks, Bill Cosby, Bobby McFerrin, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare, among others.

Born on D-Day (June 6, 1944) and raised in Kingston, Jamaica, he took his first piano lessons at age six, although he is largely self-taught. As a teenager, he witnessed concerts by Louis Armstrong and Nat “King” Cole at Kingston’s Carib Theater. These artists had a profound effect on Alexander’s aspirations. He formed Monty and the Cyclones in the late 1950s and also recorded on sessions with the musicians who would catapult Jamaican music to international recognition as The Skatalites (Bob Marley’s first backing band).

Alexander and his family came to the United States at the end of 1961. Less than two years later, while playing in Las Vegas with Art Mooney’s orchestra, he caught the eye of New York City club owner Jilly Rizzo and his friend, Frank Sinatra. Rizzo hired the young pianist to work in his club, Jilly’s, where he accompanied Sinatra and others. There he met Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson, who hired him and eventually introduced him to former Charlie Parker collaborator and legendary bassist Ray Brown. Alexander recorded and performed with the two jazz giants on many occasions. Jazz’s greatest luminaries welcomed Alexander to their “musical fraternity” in the mid-1960s. Among these earliest enthusiasts for his playing were none other than Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and Miles Davis.

To this day, Alexander maintains an active touring schedule, from intimate jazz clubs to concert halls and jazz festivals around the globe. His collaborations span multiple genres, styles, and generations. His projects have been as varied as assisting Natalie Cole in her tribute album to her father, Nat “King” Cole in 1991 (the resulting album, Unforgettable, won seven Grammy awards), performing George Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue” under the direction of Bobby McFerrin at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, and recording the piano track for the film score of Clint Eastwood’s Bird, a movie about the life of jazz titan Charlie Parker.

In August 2000, the Jamaican government awarded Monty Alexander the title of Commander in the Order of Distinction for outstanding services to Jamaica as a worldwide music ambassador. In Hal Leonard’s 2005 book The Fifty Greatest Jazz Piano Players of All Time, Alexander was listed among the top five Jazz pianists of all time.
With the invitation and encouragement of Wynton Marsalis, Alexander conceived and directed the acclaimed program Lords of the West Indies at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2008, broadcast nationally on BETJ. Alexander returns to Jazz at Lincoln Center in the Fall 2009 with a new program Harlem Kingston Express.

As a leader, Monty Alexander has recorded over 60 albums to date. His 1976 Montreux (Switzerland) Jazz Festival performance with drummer Jeff Hamilton and bassist John Clayton has become one of the most celebrated live recordings in contemporary jazz. His most recent albums on the Telarc label include trio sessions, such as Impressions in Blue, and the live concert recording Goin’ Yard. In the late summer of 2005, Alexander traveled to Bob Marley’s Tuff Gong Studio in Kingston, Jamaica, and teamed up with top Jamaican session players to record Concrete Jungle, a set of twelve Bob Marley compositions reinterpreted through Alexander’s jazz piano-centered arrangements. The resulting union of musical perspectives digs deep into the Marley legend and brings together the two worlds that Alexander most treasures, building the musical bridges that are the very essence of his craft. As a testament to his versatility, The Good Life, on Chesky Records is a collection of songs written and popularized by one of his all time favorite artists and good friends, Tony Bennett. His current release on Chesky is Calypso Blues, a tribute to his hero Nat Cole.