Features Roger Beaujolais on vibraphone, Robin Aspland on piano, Simon Thorpe on double bass & Milo Fell on drums.
Roger started playing vibraphone aged 24 & first played in public aged 28. He is completely self-taught. Aged 30 he turned professional & became the first person to be able to make a living from solely playing vibraphone in the UK.
He originally gained recognition with 80’s jump jive favourites The Chevalier Brothers (also featuring Ray Gelato) whose musicianship & anarchic brand of humour took them all over the world. Ignored by the jazz scene in the UK they played at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival & jazz festivals in Belgium, France, Italy, Finland & Norway. They also played on numerous TV & radio shows in the UK (including “The Old Grey Whistle Test”) & many others around the world in Japan, Switzerland, Denmark & France.
After a brief spell with chart topping Fairground Attraction in 1989, Roger formed latin-jazz outfit the Beaujolais Band who released 2 top selling albums on Acid Jazz Records. These were outsold by his jazz/funk/soul albums as Vibraphonic released on Acid Jazz again. Vibraphonic were then signed to Disney’s Hollywood Records in USA for 2 more albums before Roger concentrated on writing & performing acoustically with his Quintet/Quartet.
Roger has worked as a sideman in many projects & has played alongside many of the top jazz musicians in the UK including Pete King, Jim Mullen, Denys Baptiste, Cameron Pierre, Tony Remy, Jason Yarde, Mark Lockheart, Gwilym Simcock, John Etheridge, Alan Barnes, Tony Kofi, Tommaso Starace, Dick Pearce, Ed Jones, Simon Spillett, Seb Rochford, Pete Long, Gilad Atzmon, Trevor Tomkins, Simon Allen, Mornington Lockett, Theo Travis, Zoe Rahman, Brandon Allen, Alex Garnett, Jay Phelps & many more. He also played with Slim Gaillard in the 1980’s.
Roger has so far released 23 albums & he is also a prolific writer with over 250 tunes recorded & released over the years.
He has played on numerous pop sessions including with Robert Plant, Morrissey, Kirsty MacColl, Roni Size, Paul Weller, Guy Chambers, Fairground Attraction, Alexander O’Neal, Omara Portuondo, Tony Allen, 4 Hero, Ed Motta, Brian Kennedy, Duffy, Rumer, Mary Coughlan, Graham Coxon, Shola Ama & Alison Limerick.
Roger has been involved with the reformed Fairground Attraction in 2024 & toured Japan with them in June/July 2024 & was part of their 14 date UK tour in autumn 2024. He is also featured on their new album which was released on September 27th 2024.
Join Brazilian singer Luna Cohen and her band on a joyful and powerful journey where colourful grooves of Afro-Brazilian influences celebrate the diversity of Brazilian culture.
On stage, Cohen really comes out swinging, reanimating old songs with new energy and delighting the audience with her original music. This is samba and bossa nova at their best, spiked with jazz and delivered with zeal.
Her band, among the best in the UK’s Anglo-Brazilian scene, underscores captivating melodies in smooth phrasing, combining deft musicianship with danceable rhythms. If you've not felt that exhilarating mix of emotions in a while, maybe it's time you give yourself up to the music?
Hailing from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, Luna Cohen’s music represents and reflects the rich diversity of Brazilian culture. Over the past two decades, the London-based vocalist, described as “one of the most interesting singers and composers among the rising stars of MPB - música popular brasileira" (Time Out Barcelona), has perfected her craft and earned a spot in the foreground of the jazz scene.
Luna Cohen (vocals), Sam Watts (piano), Matheus Nova (bass) and Marcinho Pereira (drums).
Revisiting the famous album when John Coltrane teamed up with vocalist Johnny Hartman to explore their favourite romantic standards, tenor sax boss Denys Baptiste is joined by the extraordinary vocalist Marvin Muoneke and a top-flight rhythm section of Gary Crosby (bass), Alex Webb (piano) and Noah Ojumu (drums).
As well as the songs from the 1963 Impulse album, the group explores other standards that Coltrane liked to play, including All Or Nothing At All, Out Of This World, Say It Again and a vocal version of Moment's Notice. The original album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2013, 50 years after its release.
Alex Webb (piano), Marvin Muoneke (vocals), Denys Baptiste (tenor sax), Gary Crosby (double bass), Noah Ojumu (drums).
Talkline is a band born out of a decade long friendship between co-leaders Amy Hollingsworth and Will Hobson. These years of shared experiences have resulted in a sound that blurs the lines between jazz, singer-songwriter and minimalism, with a resulting output of music that is both detailed and accessible in equal parts.
In November 2023, the band were given the opportunity to record their original music at Abbey Road Studios, and these tracks have since received support from both local and international radio stations, including BBC Introducing Essex and Cambridgeshire, WDVR (New Jersey/East Pennsylvania) and SWR2 in Germany..
This performance at the Crypt marks Talkline’s last gig before beginning the process of recording their second EP, so expect plenty of new unreleased music, alongside tracks from their current discography, and reinterpretations of their favourite songs by other artists.
Hollingsworth and Hobson’s writing process usually stems from improvisation, and the pair love to bring audiences into this process. This has led to a staple of their shows, where with each performance, the band will improvise a totally new original song.
Talkline features - Amy Hollingsworth (Vocals and Vibraphone), Will Hobson (Piano), Rory Hudson (Double Bass), Anmol Mohara (Drum Kit) and Harry Mercer (Guitars).
