Heads Up

Ashaine White + Tjoe & NTBM

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Last Show: Tuesday 12 th April 2022

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

Heads Up is back tonight with two exciting new artists - Ashaine White who has been breaking down genre barriers with a series of brilliant singles in 2021, her debut EP Fairytales, and an original international jazz collective Tjoe & NTBM led by Tjoe Man Cheung, a Hong Kong native guitarist and composer now based in London.

Ashaine White

Talented North London songwriter Ashaine White has been breaking down genre barriers with a series of brilliant singles in 2021. She's now ready to let the world hear her debut EP Fairytales - a story of striving for authenticity in her home city.

Inspired by the likes of Ella Fitzgerald, Erykah Badu, Lianne La Havas, D’angelo, Radiohead and Nirvana, just to name a few, Ashaine describes herself as a "grunge-soul" artist, taking the fundamental approaches to jazz singing whilst adding her own unique modern spin. Taking pride in her Caribbean heritage - and being a black girl in music - is something that Ashaine holds dearly. "There are so many black artists that have paved the way and inspired me to pursue the career of being a musician in every genre," she explains. "I feel like at the moment, especially in the UK, Black music has become a selection of a few 'Urban' genres, and as a black singer in the UK it's expected that you are to make music that falls into these categories."

Ashaine wants to break out of these boxes built for her. Having been singing since the age of seven as a way to express herself, songwriting came to her later once she had absorbed the worlds of jazz, soul, grunge and R&B through CDs, MP3s and eventually streaming. These genres influenced Ashaine's writing and gave her the confidence to make her own music. Following her sold out EP launch, Ashaine is back at Pizza Express’ Soho’s series for Rising Talent, Heads Up.

Tjoe & NTBM #mixtape session 

Since 2021 Tjoe bought his project from Hong Kong to London, NTBM (Not-To-Be-Missed) is an original international jazz collective led by Tjoe Man Cheung, a Hong Kong native guitarist and composer now based London 

Tjoe unites Eastern and Western musicians on the stage to facilitate cultural exchange. The fusion of cultures result in interesting improvisation and experimental music conversation on the stage, with heavy influence by Jimi Hendrix, RH factor, Herbie Hancock and headhunters just named a few 

NTBM has initiated a couple of surprising line-ups and performed in gigs from the likes of Sofar Sounds London and Jazz In The Present Tense. With its growing recognition, NTBM has made its way to Hong Kong and China in Autumn 2016.

In 2017, NTBM has globally released their debut LP and orange in September 2017. The launch party was held in Shouson Theatre, Hong Kong Arts Centre.

The release was followed by a series of tours in Osaka, Kanazawa, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing and Kuala Lumpur. 

In 2019 Nov 2nd Album #mixtape released in Hong Kong and followed the lockdown session without tour.