The John Law Re-Creations Quartet John Law, a prize-winning classical prodigy on piano, turned away from classical piano studies to pursue jazz and improvised music when he was 23 and has been involved in, and acclaimed for, a wide variety of contemporary jazz and classical projects: from solo piano concerts and albums, through trio and quartet tours and recordings, right through to large scale works for his semi-classical ensemble Cornucopia. He has played at over fifty festivals worldwide including North Sea Jazz Festival (Rotterdam), Delhi International Jazz Festival and London Jazz Festival at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, and in clubs and concert halls all over the UK, mainland Europe, North America and beyond, working with musicians as diverse as Gwilym Simcock, Andy Sheppard, Jason Rebello, Tim Garland and Evan Parker. He has recorded over forty albums. John’s main projects currently are his acclaimed quartet Congregation, featuring Mercury Prize nominee James Mainwaring and playing John’s original music, bringing together acoustic and electronic music. His all-acoustic quartet Re-Creations, featuring Parliamentary Jazz Award winner Sam Crockatt, playing versions of tunes from jazz/pop/classical and Renaissance, an ambient, electronic key- boards project with saxophonist Jon Lloyd and visual artist Patrick Dunn, playing improvised mu-sic over samples created out of sacred vocal music from the 15th and 16th centuries.

More about John Law at http://johnlaw.org.uk/

Hailing from a musical family, Sam Crockatt first picked up a clarinet as a child growing up in Norwich to accompany his pianist father. After later switching to the saxophone, the young Sam relocated to London in 2000 where he embarked on a programme of study that included a founda-tion course in music at Brunel University under teacher Tim Whitehead. Sam followed this with a degree at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music where his developing musical career was en-couraged by tutors such as Martin Speake, Julian Argüelles, Julian Siegel and Tim Garland. While in London, Sam began to play regularly and his association with musicians Gwilym Simcock, Oli Hayhurst and Ben Reynolds led to debut recording Howeird winning a Parliamentary Jazz Award later that year. Flood Tide followed commended by The Guardian for it’s “Haunting lyricism”. In 2011 Sam and his young family moved to Mells in Somerset, the peal of the bells in his new home village inspiring the title track of Mells Bells. Critical acclaim for his third release (and first on Whirlwind Recordings) Mells Bells has further enhanced his reputation as a composer and leader and the album has drawn praise from such eminent publications as The Guardian, Jazzwise Magazine, The Telegraph and The Financial Times. Sam divides his time between spending time with his family (to relax, he likes to bake bread with his two young children), teaching and maintaining his busy performing schedule. On the bass we have Henrik Jensen, who came to London from Denmark in 1997 to study electric bass at The Musicians Institute. He later transitioned to the double bass and studied at the Royal Academy of Music on the Under-Graduate Jazz course. Henrik Jensen has worked all over world from the Blue Note in Tokyo to concert halls in Moscow while still keeping busy on the London jazz scene. We have had the pleasure of listening to Henrik twice last year first with Andy Hague in January and then with David Newton in April.

More about Alex Goodyear at https://www.alexgoodyear.co.uk/

Alex Goodyear is a Cardiff based Drummer, Bandleader and Composer. Since graduating from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in 2019, he has become a regular of the UK Jazz scene, working with artists including John Law, Simon Spillett, Iain Ballamy, Sam Crockatt, Alex Merritt, Steve Fishwick, Greg Abate, Jake McMurchie, Denny Ilett, Alan Barnes, Huw Warren, Rebecca Nash, Libor Smoldas, Nick Malcolm, and Henrik Jensen. Alex’s current projects include: • John Law’s “Re-Creations” Quartet • “Yetii”, a Classical-Jazz fused project co-led by Alex Veitch and Ashley John Long • “Energizer” Trio, co-led by Alex Merritt on sax and Ashley John Long on bass. • “Bluprint”, a funk trio led by Daniel Newberry, featuring Guy Shotton on Organ. Other regular collaborators include Dave Jones, Jonny Bruce, Dave Cottle, Greg Sterland, Craig Crofton, Victoria Klewin, Adam Stokes, Jack Mac, Gareth Roberts, Nick Kacal, Guy Shotton and Sarah Meek.

For John Law Video’s https://www.youtube.com/@johnlaw7017/featured

More about Henrik Jenson at https://www.henrik-jensen.com

The Edgar Macias/Tom Hill Latin Jazz Quintet A combination of sheer ability and the allure of Latin Jazz have established pianist Edgar Macías as an indispensable part of the Birmingham jazz scene. Born in Caracas, Venezuela, Edgar is classically trained, and has performed jazz, classical, salsa and pop music. Among his credits is the Venezuela Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Aldemaro Romero. Since arriving in the Midlands he has performed with many leading lights of the international jazz scene, including Andy Hamilton, Sonny Bradshaw, Jean Toussaint, Scott Hamilton, Wynton Marsalis and Don Weller. His own Latin Jazz Quintet combines different styles, from mainstream jazz to funk, all with a Latin flavour. Featuring Chris Bowden on alto saxophone, Tom Clarke-Hill on bass, Miles Levin on drums, and Richard Sealey on Percussion. Tom Hill aka Tom Clarke-Hill upright and electric bass player from California now in the UK! Studied double bass with Tiny Martin of the Boston Symphony, attended Berklee School of Music in Boston and launched into a pro career playing in Les Browns Band of Renown, and backing jazz greats like Art Farmer, Bobby Shew, Mel Torme, Tal Farlow and many more. Tom Hill moved to the UK from Los Angeles in 1993 and has established himself as a major figure on the Midlands music scene. He’s based in Droitwich but does much of his playing in Birmingham. Hill is a superb double bassist with a big, meaty tone and is also a fluent and dexterous soloist. Chris Bowden is a British alto saxophonist, composer and arranger. Originally from Birmingham, UK, he began his professional career with The K-Creative in the early 1990's acid- jazz boom, and also worked with Palm Skin Productions, Jessica Lauren, and Jhelisa. He working across a variety of genres from acoustic jazz to hip hop and drum and bass. As well as his solo releases he has contributed to music by 4 Hero, The Herbaliser, and The Heritage Orchestra among others.

The Greg Abate Quartet We are pleased to welcome legendary US saxophonist, Greg Abate who is again visiting Cheltenham Jazz as part of his current UK tour. Greg is based in the USA, a musician of brilliant international standing and without a doubt, amongst the finest jazz players of his generation. After studying at the Berklee College of Music Greg joined the Ray Charles band, and later the renowned Artie Shaw Orchestra. Since then, Greg has had an outstanding career as a band leader in his own right. His recent album is Magic Dance featuring the incredible pianist, Kenny Barron. As well as his touring work, Greg is also a composer, arranger, a Grammy-nominated recording artist and educator of some considerable note, serving as an adjunct professor of Jazz Studies at Rhode Island College. His fluent and muscular playing is best described as “post hard bop”, encompassing a classic approach to the material in the style of Charlie Parker, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderley and Phil Woods. “One of the most exciting players around today” The Jazz Messenger “Greg Abate is one of the most appealing saxophonists on the scene today … the result is that he plays music with sweetness and daring.” New Jazz Recordings

More about Greg Abate at https://www.gregabate.com

Accompanying Greg tonight on pianoforte, we are pleased to welcome back David Newton. David regularly plays at Cheltenham Jazz and in April last year he performed two superb sets of jazz, with piano, bass and saxophone trio. David Newton was made a Fellow of Leeds College of Music in 2003 and in 2019, was voted ‘Best Jazz Pianist for the sixteenth time by the Jazz audience of the UK in the British Jazz Awards!

More about David Newton at https://davidnewtonjazzpiano.com

On the bass we have Henrik Jensen, who came to London from Denmark in 1997 to study electric bass at The Musicians Institute. He later transitioned to the double bass and studied at the Royal Academy of Music on the Under-Graduate Jazz course. Henrik Jensen has worked all over world from the Blue Note in Tokyo to concert halls in Moscow while still keeping busy on the London jazz scene. We have had the pleasure of listening to Henrik twice last year first with Andy Hague in January and then with David Newton in April.

More about Henrik Jenson at https://www.henrik-jensen.com

Our drummer for tonight is Tony Mann, He has had tremendous experience playing in the UK and Europe. He became a professional drummer in 1960 and at 18 worked in London with Peter King and Tubby Hayes. In the 60s and 70s playing and recording in various bands including Humphrey Lyttelton, Kathy Stobart, Chet Baker, Tal Farlow, Dexter Gordon, Jonny Griffin, Art Farmer, Al Grey, Herb Ellis and Barney Kessell. More recently Tony has performed at Ronnie Scotts, the Cockpit Theatre and at Jazz Cafe London. Since 2019 Tony has played in Cheltenham, including a Tribute to Chet Baker with Quentin Collins in January 2022. To see Tony playing with Barney Kessel on French TV go to

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvM5KNgrvR4

To see Tony playing at the Nice Jazz Festival go to

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05JQFj6J_jY and

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVflUeOjtNg