Jazz: Gaz Hughes Trio – Nuclear Bebopalypse

Gaz Hughes is a renowned jazz drummer and band leader, who first gained wide public attention as the original drummer in the Matthew Halsall Band. He has played a significant role in the early recordings of the Gondwana label and has been a highlight on the album “On The Go”, which won the Best Jazz Album of the Year at the Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards in 2012, and was nominated for the Best Jazz Album MOBO Awards in 2011.

Following on from a highly successful 2023 tour, the trio is now promoting a new album, Nuclear Bebopalypse, just released in Feb 2024. As can be seen from the extensive number of bookings on their tour poster, this band’s hard-swinging style has proved incredibly popular and they are very much on the rise.

The album features eight original compositions paying homage to jazz legends, blending heritage with a modern twist for a captivating soundscape that strikes the perfect balance between tradition and innovation. Each of the eight tunes draws their influence from the history of the music, yet at no point do they ever sound derivative. There are echoes of pianists Horace Silver and Bud Powell with a touch of Ellington too, but these are no more than reference points as the compositions all stand on their own merits.

“They rarely deliver anything less than excellence and today topped just about everything that had preceded it.” – Bebop Spoken Here