PizzaExpress Live (Holborn)

PizzaExpress Live and Hampstead Jazz Club (HJC) are pleased to present after 2 sell out shows in 2018 at HJC, Spirit Fingers a contemporary jazz quartet based in Los Angeles born during the breakout of West Coast Get Down scene that birthed Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, Kendrick Lamar, Miles Mosley, and many others. Their sound combines the very best of early-’70s jazz fusion (complete with ambitious tempo shifts and key changes), hip-hop, pop, and modern funk. Spero – bandleader, pianist, and chief composer and arranger – is a formally trained musician with a degree in Music Composition and Jazz Performance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

“…Pianist Greg Spero has a way with plaintive loopingpatters..and is adeot at building solos of great melodic richness. The group really dazzles when piano, bass and guitar combine for some truly jaw-dropping unison lines.”

Mike Flynn, Jazzwise Magazine

During his school career, Spero met Herbie Hancock at the Ravinia Festival and the elder musician took him under his wing and introduced him not only to new ways of hearing and writing music in his head, but also to Nichiren Daishonin Buddhism; Spero has been a practitioner ever since. Before moving to Los Angeles, he played with drummer Makaya McCraven, saxophonist Frank Catalano, trumpeter Marquis Hill, and others on the Windy City scene. After moving to the West Coast, Spero became a touring and studio musician and the musical director for Halsey. He formed Spirit Fingers in 2015 with internationally renowned bassist Hadrien Feraud, guitarist Dario Chiazzolino and drummer Mike Mitchell.

Band Lineup

Greg Spero (MD/piano)

Dario Chiazzolino (guitar)

Max Gerl (bass)

Mike Mitchell (aka Blaque Dynamite) (drums)