Hello everyone – it’s another exciting month at the Parakeet, including a bonus two-gig week during the EFG London Jazz Festival. We are expecting these gigs to be busy, so please do get your tickets in advance at the links below. Any help you can give us to get the word out is greatly appreciated, so please follow us and tag us on social media, tell your friends, and bring some people along with you! Hope to see you all very soon.
Monday 6th November – Nell Greco
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/597155/
Nell Greco – Voice
Maria Chiara Argirò – Keys
Pedro Velasco – Guitar
Ruth Goller – Bass
Yusuf Ahmed – Drums
Nell is a London-based vocalist and songwriter with a deep curiosity for story-telling and improvised voice work. Having spent her formative training years performing a classic standards repertoire around UK music venues and jazz clubs, she’s most recently branched out into songwriting, collaborative vocal improvisation and exploring the potential and versatility of the voice.
As well as her original music project, Nell currently performs with Ruth Goller’s Skylla, and writes and performs as one half of Akimbo – a project she and guitarist Pedro Velasco started to explore the boundaries of their instruments, in duo. Inspired by players like Lionel Loeke and Gretchen Parlato, they look to play with the “limitations” and possibilities of music given the size of the ensemble. They’re currently producing their first album of originals, due out in 2024.
During 2021s lockdown, Nell was a member of This Is Our Music alongside Kit Downes, Chris Montague, Ruth Goller, Pedro Velasco and Thea Spiers. The collective’s aim was to continue performing their original material live despite the limitations of the time, and these broadcast performances fuelled her desire to write more. The result was a menagerie of stories, rich in imagery but open to interpretation from the listener.
The songs come to life thanks to the incredible group of intuitive and versatile players who join her in performance. Each player brings their distinct voice to create soundscapes that reflect the meaning and enhance the music. Genre doesn’t really apply at this point – yes they’re all established in the world of jazz, but each is listening, improvising and responding to the other, bringing this element of jazz tradition into a new realm of hard-to-pin-down music.
In 2022 she recorded the material at Eastcote Studios and the record, ‘Inanima’, will be released on Clonmell Jazz Social on 3rd November, 2023.
Monday 13th Novmeber – Tori Freestone Trio (EFG London Jazz Festival)
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/594323
Tori Freestone – Tenor Saxophone
Dave Manington – Bass
Tim Giles – Drums
Tori Freestone has been creating a stir in the UK and abroad in recent years winning prestigious awards including the Ivor Novello for jazz composition and receiving rave reviews including Guardian Jazz album of the month for her ‘El Mar de Nubes’ 2019 trio release. Her unique writing style is not only steeped in the jazz tradition but reflects her roots in folk music and is also influenced by Latin and Brazilian music spending much of her youth and adult life in the Canary Islands where she now does much of her composing. Tori plays these compositions with the melodic yet robust approach that she has become so well know for and the trio, with her long time colleagues Tim Giles (drums) and Dave Manington (bass), themselves much in demand on the London jazz scene, has an incredible rapport and interaction that gives audiences a buzz and sense of excitement in a live setting. The music from her recent release and fresh compositions composed during the lockdown brings the level of interaction from the 3 musicians to new heights.
“Freestone has caused a stir far beyond the UK… an impressive original and formidable trio” Leibnitz Jazz Festival, Austria review
“She’s got a real burn to her playing ..with weaving lines and constant listening, supporting and interacting from the bass and drums…my ears never get tired”, Ingrid Jensen’ ‘Artist Choice’ Jazz Times, USA – top 10 UK artists article
“Freestone has clearly listened widely, but her musicality and broad experiences have stirred all that input into an imposingly original sound”. John Fordham, The Guardian **** review, UK
Wednesday 15th November – Joe Webb Trio (EFG London Jazz Festival)
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/594320
Joe Webb – Piano
Will Sach – Bass
Sam Jesson – Drums
Joe Webb, described as one of the UK’s most captivating young pianists, is excited to present an evening of brand new music with his trio. With a performance CV that includes collaborations with renowned artists such as Wynton Marsalis and Jamie Cullum, Joe is now taking his own music on the road.
Inspired by performances together serving as the house band at a prominent London venue for over two years, Joe began composing music specifically tailored to double bassist Will Sach and drummer Sam Jesson.
Webb’s ability to seamlessly intertwine the raw energy of 90’s guitar bands, his love for football, and his deep-rooted connection to the Jazz piano tradition, will no doubt captivate audiences and create an excitement from global audiences. Notably, Joe has recently inked a record deal with the esteemed jazz record label “Edition Records,” an exciting development that will see him release new music alongside his trio in 2024.
“There are few people more joyous to listen to at the piano than Joe Webb”
– Jamie Cullum
“He can swing and is melodic and he lets the ideas unfold without the arbitrary stuff”
– Brad Mehldau
“Joe is a great young pianist. Go check him out, he’s very talented”
– Jason Rebello
Monday 20th November – QOW Trio
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/597157/
Riley Stone-Lonergan – Tenor Saxophone
Eddie Myer – Bass
Spike Wells – Drums
QOW TRIO is a unique multi-generational jazz band featuring award-winning young firebrand saxophonist Riley Stone Lonergan, British Jazz legend Spike Wells (Tubby Hayes, Bobby Wellins) on drums, and multi-genre bassist and bandleader Eddie Myer. The trio initially got together through their mutual love of Sonny Rollins’ classic piano-less trios of the 1950s but soon found themselves expanding their repertoire to explore the rich and varied territory laid out by the great tradition of big-toned tenor players over the generations.
Their debut album was released on Ubuntu Music to excellent reviews in national press and has been played on JazzFm and BBC Radio 3, and extensively playlisted on Spotify. They’ve played sell-out shows at PIzza Express Soho, The Vortex, The 606 Club, Love Supreme Festival, Swanage Jazz Festival, Rye Jazz Festival, The Brighton Jazz Festival, and taken a tour of Ireland, alongside numerous club dates, and they have begun 2023 with headline billing at the famous Jazz In The Round in the Marylebone Cockpit Theatre. Now they’re back with a whole new set of material for their upcoming second release! Expect exciting, dynamic modern jazz played with a ton of swing and plenty of soul.
Monday 27th November – Aidan Pope Trio
https://www.wegottickets.com/event/597159
Aidan Pope – Guitar
James Owston – Bass
Matthew Holmes – Drums
Award winning guitarist, Aidan Pope brings his trio featuring Matthew Holmes’ (Tony Kofi, Orphy Robinson) on drums and UK double bass staple James Owston to the Parakeet. This set will feature a mixture of originals, reworks and favourite tunes from Aidan’s recent album ‘Standard State’, as well as some brand new pieces.
Red Rock:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YHe0I21GqA
I Love You:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK9AWhtcvk4
Jazz in Kentish Town 