JAZZ at the ELEPHANT
The Elephant Inn • 283 Ballards Lane • London • N12 8NR
020 8343 6110 • info@justeastofjazz.com
“I love the new venue… the food is fantastic. A really exciting evening…music & atmosphere were great”
UPCOMING SHOWS
Sunday 5 February 2023
Doors open 6pm (if possible please arrive in good time to be in your seat by 7pm, and to avoid the rush on food & drink orders).
Performance times: 7–9.15pm
£17/£7
Students/unwaged: turn up on the night and pay what you can
5 February:
Jim Mullen|Zoe Francis|Ross Stanley
An all-star band comes to the Elephant in February – not only Zoe Francis’ enthralling presentation of some unusual repertoire including the songs of Blossom Dearie, but the dazzling guitar of maestro Jim Mullen AND the mutli-layered organ stylings of Ross Stanley.
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Jim is a multi-award winning musician with a unique jazz style and sound, who is regarded as the high priest of the instrument by most young jazz guitarists.
Having played with Brian Auger’s Oblivion Express, appearing on the band’s first three albums together with future Average White Band drummer Robbie MacIntosh, Mullen then joined Kokomo and later toured with the Average White Band. It was while both musicians were touring the U.S. with Average White Band that Mullen met up with tenor saxophone player Dick Morrissey, and he found considerable critical acclaim as joint leader of the pioneering British jazz funk band Morrissey-Mullen. (Locals may remember a classic series of gigs at the late-lamented Torrington pub in the 1980s.)
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London-born Zoe Francis grew up in Northern Ireland in an artistic environment – her father John and grandfather Colin Middleton MBE were celebrated artists and encouraged a lifelong love of art.
On a visit to New York while learning Tango and going to Jazz clubs, a musician introduced her to the vocal workshops of pianist Barry Harris. This was a turning point for Zoe. She discovered her love of great songs and lyrics and was encouraged to pursue singing. Alongside the weekly workshops Zoe began singing in the many jam sessions held around Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Harlem. This led to her performing in local clubs with musicians of the calibre of Harry Allen, Joe Cohn, Warren Vache, and Chris Flory.
Although she loved her time in New York, a homesick Zoe returned to the UK and moved to Bristol where she began performing with award-winning pianist David Newton. In 2013 she recorded her first album Looking For a Boy with David Newton.
with Ross Stanley: keys • Jeremy Shoham: sax • Rick Finlay: drums
Sunday 19 February 2023
Doors open 6pm (if possible please arrive in good time to be in your seat by 7pm, and to avoid the rush on food & drink orders).
Performance times: 7–9.15pm
£17/£7
Students/unwaged: turn up on the night and pay what you can
19 February:
The Toots Project:
Toots and songs
“Phil Hopkins is a veritable virtuoso on chromatic harmonica … Jeremy Shoham was absolutely superb on alto sax…” Jazz Journal
When accordionist Toots Thielemans turned his attention to the chromatic harmonica, in occupied Belgium in the 1940s, he picked a chameleon of an instrument which was to lead to a musical career without boundaries.
Was it something about this unique and rarely-heard instrument which took him into the worlds of bebop bands, electric funk, brazilian jazz and film & TV scores? Or was it the highly-personal voice of this soft-spoken North European gentleman which endeared him to the vanguard of American musicians and composers, from Charlie Parker to Quincy Jones, Benny Goodman to Jaco Pastorius?
With a setlist encompassing the music of Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Evans and John Barry, in a concert programme endorsed by Thielemans himself shortly before his death in 2016, harmonica maestro Phil Hopkins joins some of the UK’s most inventive jazz musicians to explore the eclectic repertoire of Toots.
The broad range of material acts as a springboard for this talented band’s extraordinary gift for improvisation.
with Phil Hopkins: chromatic harmonica • Liam Dunachie: keys • Jeremy Shoham: sax • Rick Finlay: drums • Phil Scragg: bass
CONTACT US
ADDRESS
The Elephant Inn, 283 Ballards Lane, North Finchley, London N12 8NR • UK