Music: Denny Ilett All-Stars

Guitarist Denny Ilett is well-known as the founder of the Bristol Jazz & Blues Festival and is one of the few musicians around who can play convincingly in almost any style.

He can be found performing in groups ranging from Gypsy Jazz through to Frank Sinatra and Led Zeppelin tributes, and along the way has worked extensively with New Orleans vocalist Lillian Boutté and king of funk Pee Wee Ellis. His brilliant Jimi Hendrix project the Electric Lady Big Band has released two albums and played several times at Ronnie Scott’s, alongside appearances at festivals such as Cheltenham and Swansea. Now based in Henley, Denny has more recently been working with one of the great stars of UK jazz, veteran saxophonist Art Themen.

For tonight’s show Denny has put together an incredibly strong line-up. Dave Newton has been voted Best Pianist in the British Jazz Awards no less than ten times, and has long associations with some of the UK’s top instrumentalists such as Don Weller and Alan Barnes. His exquisite touch has made him accompanist of choice for vocalists such as Claire Martin and Stacey Kent.

On bass is Andy Crowdy, another of Denny’s long time associates probably best known around Bristol for his appearances with Moscow Drug Club, although he his a versatile musician comfortable in many styles. Andy brings an incredible sense of rhythm and drive to any rhythm section, with a lyrical musicality which comes to the fore in his solos where his formidable technique combined with a wry sense of humour always keeps audiences entertained. He is also Course Director of the Henley Jazz Workshops.

It’s also great to welcome to the club for the first-time drummer Sebastiaan De Krom. Originally from Holland, he was awarded a scholarship and moved to Boston to study music in the USA for five years.  Seb graduated cum laude with a dual degree from Berklee and went on to study for a Masters Degree at New England Conservatory. In 1995 he won the prestigious Buddy Rich Award and from 1997/9 was the drummer for the renowned Thelonious Monk Institute Jazz Performance programme.  He has performed with artists such as Herbie Hancock and John Scofield, and from 2001 to 2008 played drums in Jamie Cullum’s regular touring and recording rhythm section, appearing on Jamie’s albums Pointless Nostalgic, Twenty Something and Catching Tales. Currently Seb is the drummer of choice for a wide variety of top UK jazz musicians and groups – he is also a drum tutor at the British & Irish Modern Music Institute (BIMM) London.  He was appointed MD of NYJO’s Academy Big Band in February 2015.