Jones has long been a fan of the music of the great saxophonist/composer Kenny Garrett, particularly since hearing him on his late 1990s ‘Songbook’ album, and live in London, initially here at PizzaExpress (Soho) and later at Ronnie Scott’s. That album featured Kenny Kirkland on piano (Dave’s favourite pianist), and so began the process of discovering Garrett’s other music, both older and newer.
Now in 2022, it turns out that Andy Hague (drummer in Dave’s Quartet – they were here in Feb 2020) has a great set of charts for a wide selection of Garrett’s tunes, including November 15 and Brother Hubbard from ‘Songbook’, and some favourite tunes from 5 other albums including Boogety Boogety, Chief Blackwater, Native Tongue, Philly, Happy People and of course A Hole in One.
Jones is utilising the versatile Hague’s horn-playing skills this time around, following his great playing on the ‘Crime Scenes and Subterfuge’ production music album (2020) and gigs to promote Jones’ ‘Unfinished Sentences’ album (from 2021). Add the impressive Ben Waghorn (tenor sax), the virtuosic Ashley John Long (bass), and exciting young drummer Ryan Thrupp to complete the Quintet, and their collective skills, experience and credits make this a project to watch out for…
Ben Waghorn (saxes and flutes for NYJO, Tommy Chase, Slowly Rolling Camera, Keith Tippett, Goldfrapp, Kasabian and Portishead), Ashley John Long (bass for John Law, Brandon Allen, Geoff Eales, Alan Barnes, Scott Hamilton, and London Philharmonic Orchestra), Andy Hague (trumpeter for Portishead and his own bands, Be-Bop Club in Bristol regular, and composer/arranger), Ryan Thrupp (drums – a recent first class honours graduate of the RWCMD in Cardiff - one of Bristol’s emerging talents in jazz and other projects across various genres), and pianist Dave Jones has released numerous critically acclaimed 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’.
