Jeff Williams (USA) - drums
Declan Forde (UK) - Piano
James Banner (UK) - Bass
+ SPECIAL GUESTS!
A rare appearance in Berlin from legendary American drummer Jeff Williams. For the last forty years Williams has been an integral part of the American and European Jazz scene. He’ll be joined by two of Berlin’s most individual and versatile musicians Declan Forde (piano) and James Banner (bass). Along with original compositions the group will perform music from the pen of Herbie Nichols in celebration of his centenary.
Jeff Williams
Born in Mount Vernon, Ohio, Jeff began his professional jazz drumming career in New York in 1971. By '72 he was playing with Stan Getz, followed by Dave Liebman and Lookout Farm through 1976. His other associations include Joe Lovano, Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, Bill McHenry, Ethan Iverson, Tony Malaby, Leo Genovese and a host of others. Since making a second home in London some years ago Jeff has performed with Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Martin Speake, Nikki Illes, Olie Brice. Having benefitted from much experience, and extensive study with the great Alan Dawson, Jeff has given jazz drumming instruction at a number of universities and currently teaches at the world renowned Royal Academy of Music in London.
"Jeff Williams is the kind of drummer whose solo statements are so structurally clear and meticulous you can hear the melody in them. Driving a band, some jazz drummers lay back and swing on the ride cymbal. Jeff Williams gets that same swinging relaxation while darting all over the drum set, pushing and prodding. " -Kevin Whitehead Fresh Air
James Banner
James Banner was born in Dudley, England and is now based in Berlin and the UK, working around Europe as a musician, composer and educator. His main project James Banner’s USINE has been described as “revelling in both avant-garde and swing”, “unobvious and unpredictable” as well as “intense and dramatic… gentle and beautiful… full of drama”, and has received support from both the Berlin State and Initiative Musik. As a composer he received the prestigious Elsa Neumann Stipendium in 2018 from the Berlin University of the Arts/HfM Hanns Eisler, supporting the ambitious project Voices of Berlin, interviewing residents of Berlin and reflecting their stories through music for improvising choir and ensemble. James has been featured in portraits by Der Tagesspiegel and Deutschlandfunk Kultur, and was recently selected to be a part of Making Music’s Adopt A Composer scheme, composing the collaborative piece Concertino For Concert Band with premiere performances in late 2019 and a BBC Radio 3 broadcast in 2020. James is a Lecturer at Leeds College of Music, composer in residence for Make The Paint Dance, and workshop leader for Jazzlines at Symphony Hall Birmingham, and active as a co-leader and sideman in projects in the jazz and improvised music scenes of Berlin, also regularly being selected to take part in collaborative projects further afield such as Fish and Chips at Leipziger Jazztage 2018 and Jazz Alloy at the Vortex, London.
,,A unique and surprising voice on his instrument… A gifted young composer…” - Greg Cohen
„Idiosyncratic, „oblique, intense and humorous” - Nicky Pawlow [Tagesspiegel Berlin]
“Not everyone wants to pick a side… James Banner… revels in both the avant-garde and the swing… a musical balancing act” – Martin Böttcher [Deutschlandfunk Kultur]
Declan Forde
Declan Forde is a pianist originally from Glasgow, Scotland, and based in Berlin since 2014. Forde is mainly active playing freely improvised music and traditional / Early Jazz. He has performed with Greg Cohen, John Hollenbeck, Tobias Delius, Max Andrzejewski, Cansu Tanrikulu, Rudi Mahal, Jan Roder, Michael Griener, James Banner and Fabiana Striffler. Since 2016 Forde has been playing in the project 'Unknown Ellington' and exploring the less played repertoire from the Ellington / Strayhorn songbook with bassist Greg Cohen (Ornette Coleman, John Zorn, Woody Allen, etc.). The duo performed at the Glasgow International Jazz Festival in 2017 and continues to perform frequently in Berlin. Forde is a member of James Banners USINE, which released the album "USINE" on Jazzhaus Records in 2018. The group also toured Germany and Britain in February / March 2018. Beyond the world of jazz and improvised music, Forde has performed, toured and recorded for over ten years with the Scottish singer and artist Rachel Sermanni.
Location:
Zig Zag Jazz Club GmbH
Hauptstr. 89, 12159 Berlin
Beginn 21:15 Uhr( Einlass 20:00 Uhr)
Eintritt frei – Beitrag erwünscht
EINTRITT
Einer der Gründe, die den Zig Zag Jazzclub so einzigartig machen, ist, dass er der erste und einzige Jazzclub der Welt ist, dem es gelingt nur durch freiwilligem Eintritt/Crowdfunding Events von Weltklasse zu finanzieren. Und wie machen wir das? Ganz einfach. Während der Konzertpause geben wir bekannt, dass wir Geld einsammeln werden. Bei den meisten Konzerten (außer Jam Sessions) informieren wir unsere Kunden, dass ein Beitrag von ungefähr 15 Euro es uns erlaubt die Musiker gerecht zu bezahlen. Manche geben dabei mehr und andere weniger... und das ist auch in Ordnung. Wir haben auf diese Weise schon Hunderte Konzerte organisiert.
ENTRANCE FEES
One of the reasons that makes the zig zag jazz club so unique is that it is the first and only jazz club in the world that manages to finance world class events through a crowd funding concept. How do we do it? Its quite simple… during the break of the concert we make an announcement regarding the collection for the evening. For most concerts (excluding the jam session) we inform our customers that a fee of around 15€ per person will allow us to fairly compensate the musicians. Some people give more and some give less… and that´s ok… we ´ve already successfully promoted hundreds of concerts like this!!!