Louise Dodds & Elchin Shirinov

Album Launch

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Last Show: Tuesday 23 rd May 2023

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

PizzaExpress Live plays host to the launch of a new album by Scottish jazz vocalist Louise Dodds and jazz pianist, composer and arranger Elchin Shirinov. Two Hours After Midnight is a moving collection of 8 traditional Scottish folk songs which have been rearranged by Elchin, drawing influence from greats such as Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau, classical composers such as Ravel and Debussy, and the traditional folk music of Azerbaijan. For the second set, they will be joined by renowned jazz musicians Max Luthert (double bass) and Dave Hamblett (drums) to perform some new original material, written by Louise and arranged by Elchin.

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"The pianist is Elchin Shirinov, the thoughtful but forceful Azerbaijani musician who played on both Two Roses and Arvoles...Cohen's vivacious bass improv and Shirinov's contrastingly imperturbable lyricism glow through this fine set - and if the new tunes add few surprises to the leader's signature songbook, the playing is incandescent.”

John Fordham, The Guardian

Louise Dodds

Nominated for Best Vocalist at the Scottish Jazz Awards in 2022, vocalist and songwriter Louise Dodds released her self-penned album The Story Needs an Ending in 2022, subsequently touring the album around England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, although it’s reach was global, becoming album of the week in the UK, Central America and Asia, and selected as one of three notable jazz releases of 2022 by The Scotsman.

Prior to this, 2020 saw Louise having the incredible honour of opening for Norma Winstone MBE. Louise's career has also seen her performing at London Jazz Festival, Ronnie Scotts, PizzaExpress, Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival and Glasgow Jazz Festival as well as in Europe and the Middle East.

"A magical charm" Patrick Hadfield, London Jazz News

"Depth and warmth in spadefuls" Linley Hamilton, BBC Radio Ulster

Elchin Shirinov

Elchin Shirinov is a jazz pianist, composer and arranger, originally from Azerbaijan. Most recently he was included in All About Jazz's December 2022 poll of the top 200 favourite living pianists in the world.

From 2018 to Oct 2022 he was a member of the famous jazz double bassist Avishai Cohen's trio, during which time he recorded 3 albums as part of the trio and toured internationally at festivals and venues such as Blue Note New York jazz club, Ronnie Scott’s jazz club, Blue Note Tokyo jazz club, Tokyo Jazz festival, Jazz a Vienne, Jazz in Marciac, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Berlin Philharmonie concert hall, Paris Jazz festival. The most recent album Shifting Sands was chosen as Album of the Month in The Guardian newspaper.

Band Line Up

Louise Dodds (vocals)

Elchin Shirinov (piano)

Max Luthert (double bass)

Dave Hamblett (drums)