PizzaExpress Live (Holborn)

The multi award-winning quartet Empirical have been one of the UK’s most exciting jazz ensembles since their formation in 2007. Featuring Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Tom Farmer (double bass), Lewis Wright (vibraphone) and Shaney Forbes (drums), Empirical’s music is “flirting with nostalgia while living on the edge of experimentation” (Jazzwise). For their London Jazz Festival performance, Empirical will preview a collection of new quartet pieces slated for release in early 2022. While written by each individual band member in virtual artistic solitary confinement during various lockdowns, the music reflects the immeasurable desire to perform and improvise together as a collective.

‘’London’s quartet Empirical delivered it all… This was the height of contemporary jazz from risk-taking players with real commitment.’’

Calgary Herald

The band’s ethos is defined by a deep commitment to risk-taking improvisation and collective music-making. In the recent past, the quartet has become known for its ‘now legendary Pop-up Jazz Lounge’ (Time Out London) - a daring exercise in audience outreach which has seen the band turn disused shops in train stations and shopping malls in London, Berlin, Birmingham and Cheltenham into jazz clubs, for a week at a time. Since 2016, the band has played to more than 10,000 appreciative commuters and shoppers, racking up over 150 live sets in the process.

For Empirical, this kind of gigging marathon is also a much-relished opportunity to develop new musical ideas during live performance and to hone the exhilarating intensity and exceptional virtuosity that Empirical’s performances have become known for.

Band Line Up

Nathaniel Facey (alto sax)

Tom Farmer (double bass)

Lewis Wright (vibraphone)

Shaney Forbes (drums)