Jazz: Dave Jones Quintet Play The Music Of Kenny Garrett

Dave Jones – piano, Andy Hague – trumpet, Ben Waghorn – tenor sax, Ashley John Long – bass, Ryan Thrupp – drums

We end our 22/23 season as we started it, with the Dave Jones Quintet playing the music of saxophonist Kenny Garrett. When the band performed back in September 22 it was one of their first gigs with this new venture, since when things have really taken off. In January 2023 they played a sold-out show at London’s Pizza Express Soho which was recorded as a live album and is now available on CD. Other performances have included Birmingham Jazz, Black Mountain Jazz, Narberth Jazz, North Devon Jazz, Bristol Jazz Festival and Swansea Jazz Festival, with Aberjazz Festival to come in August.

Kenny Garrett is of course one of the foremost performers in the current jazz world, but his success owes as much to his compositional skills as to his incendiary playing – “accessible, but with great jazz content” as Dave Jones has described the pieces in his gig introductions.

“The immediacy of Garrett’s writing, combined with the quality of the quintet’s performance saw the audience clamouring for more with several getting to their feet to applaud the band.” – The Jazzmann live review.

Pianist Dave Jones has released numerous critically acclaimed jazz albums, performed internationally, and has TV composition credits including ‘The Big Bang Theory’, the US Open Golf Tournament, ‘The Today Show’, and ‘Location, Location, Location’.

Saxophonist Ben Waghorn is one of Bristol’s finest players with a national reputation – he has worked in London’s West End and on many pop, TV and film recordings. He has been involved in a range of projects with Keith Tippett, including ‘Tapestry’, a piece written by Keith for two saxophone quartets and the BBC singers, the quartet ‘Work in Progress’ and The Keith Tippett Octet. He can also be heard on recordings with Geoff Eales and Dave Stapleton [Slowly Rolling Camera]. Ben has also recently performed with the BBC Big Band and played in Singapore with the London Concert Orchestra.

Trumpeter Andy Hague is well known as leader of his own quintet, Double Standards quartet and Horace Silver tribute Silverado. He also frequently appears at the club on drums.

Bassist Ashley John Long is revered for his astonishing technique, and alongside his jazz career has a growing reputation as a contemporary classical composer.

Drummer Ryan Thrupp has just recently graduated with a First from the Royal Welsh College jazz degree course and is busy this summer working with funky festival favourites Cut Capers.