The Stuart McCallum Trio – a group of Northern musicians with extensive performance and recording pedigrees – is bringing jazz-with-a-difference to The Keys in Huddersfield on Saturday, May 7.
Event organiser and local musician Ben Crosland says it will be “an exciting gig”.
He explained: “I’m delighted to have the trio. They are all accomplished musicians and while not as well known in jazz they are artistically fantastic. They are going to bring something completely different to the venue.”
The trio is headed by versatile Manchester-based guitarist Stuart, whose musical CV includes scoring music for Northern Ballet; performing and writing critically-acclaimed albums with the long-established Cinematic Orchestra and contributing to the award-winning Disney nature documentary soundtrack The Crimson Wing.
He describes his music as ‘alternative jazz’ and says it embraces simple, memorable melodies, bass lines and drum beats with electronica and improvisation.
A former member of Ben Crosland’s jazz quartet, Stuart is known for his cross-genre approach to music. He has just been signed up by Peter Gabriel’s label Real World.
As Ben says: “Stu is so multi-layered and his music crosses all sorts of boundaries. He’s one of the big guns; a wonderful musician.”
Also in the trio are Manchester-based singer and pianist John Ellis, who has featured on albums by Lily Allen, Tom Jones and John Squire of Stone Roses fame. He is a founder member of the Cinematic Orchestra, a jazz and electronic music group founded in 1999 and whose compositions have been widely used in film and television.
Drummer Luke Flowers, a pop music lecturer at Leeds College of Music and professional musician, makes up the trio. He has also recorded with the Cinematic Orchestra and can lay claim to having appeared in The Royal Albert Hall and Sydney Opera House as well as the main stage at Glastonbury.
The trio is the latest in the Jazz at the Keys line-up, a new venture between Ben and the restaurant that aims to bring top class musicians to Huddersfield.
Tickets for the event, which starts at 8pm are £7 and £10 from jazzatthekeys.com or the venue.
