Jazz Course
Directed by Andy Hague
Saturday 9th – Saturday 16th August
Following the success of the 2006 and 2007 Jazz Course, we are pleased to announce the return of Andy Hague Course Director whose enthusiasm and friendly relaxed approach was the key to a hugely successful week. We are pleased to announce that Ben Waghorn will be joining Andy Hague as the saxophone tutor and Mark Upton on trumpet. The rhythm section will be supported by Pete Furnish (Bass) and Michael Buxton (Piano) alongside a host of other visiting professionals.
The word jazz covers a wide spectrum of idioms. Whether you need to be guided through the essential elements or new challenging innovative material for improvisation, this course is for you. The course is open to woodwind players, brass players, rhythm section (keyboard, bass guitar, rhythm guitar and drums) and vocalists. Singers are welcome to suggest suitable repertoire prior to the course and are welcome to join the Sing Out course (singing course) throughout the week.
This course will give you the opportunity for daily performance, but no pressure will be put on any student. There will be opportunities for jazz ensembles to perform in the bar area every evening and we encourage you to bring along some of your favourite repertoire for performance. Step by step theoretical advice alongside practical experience is the best way to make progress.
Friends and colleagues who share a similar interest will make this a social and educational course. It will be divided into both big band and smaller ensembles. Professional tutors will be available to guide each student in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere.
Each afternoon there will be the opportunity to perform with other musicians and prepare for the evening entertainment in the bar area if you so wish. There will be a concert on the Wednesday evening for family and friends and a big band performance as part of the Music for You final concert.
A welcome meeting will begin at 7.30pm on Saturday 9th August followed by music in the bar. Rehearsals will commence on 9.30am Sunday 10th August. A daily schedule will be given to you on arrival.
Andy Hague - Trumpet
Also known as a drummer and composer, Andy Hague attended Banff Summer School (1988) with tutors such as Dave Holland and Kenny Wheeler. He recorded four broadcasts for the BBC’s Jazz Noted programme, and three CD’s as a band-leader, plus many appearances as a session musician including albums by Portishead and their Live in New York video. He organised two tours with support from Jazz Services, and appeared at festivals such as Edinburgh, Brecon and Glastonbury.
Ben Waghorn - Tenor Sax
Spent several years playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and recorded the album Rebel Fire with hard-bop drummer Tommy Chase. Also recorded with Portishead in New York, and on the soundtrack to Cracker on TV. Theatre work includes the West End productions of West Side Story & Fosse, and more recently he has recorded with chart band Goldfrapp. Ben's clarinet playing is featured extensively in the soundtrack to the motion picture "A Good Woman" starring Helen Hunt & Scarlett Johannson.
Ed Jones - Tenor Sax
Ed Jones began playing saxophone at the age of 15. In 1984 he graduated from Middlesex University with a degree in music, and for a while served an apprenticeship as a street musician. After giging for a few years on the London scene he formed his first group "Ed Jones Quartet" in 1987, recording "The Homecoming" (Acid Jazz, 1989). In 1991 he formed a new quartet featuring pianist Jonathan Gee,and drummer Brian Abrahams This band recorded "Pipers Tales" (ASC, 1995). Since 1995 his main ongoing 'solo' project has been a quintet with which he has recorded ''Out Here" (ASC, 1997), and "Seven Moments" (ASC 2002). He has made musical connections in many countries particularly in Japan where he runs two projects; EJQ (a jazz quartet), and Quasimodo, an electric project featuring the legendary Paul Jackson on bass.In Scandinavia he has been collaborating for many years with Finnish trumpeter/composer Mika Myllari on a number of projects including the 10 piece ensemble BURN, and the evolving studio project SILK.
His experience as a sideman reflects his diverse interests. Over the past decade he has performed with U.S jazz musicians George Benson, Dianne Reeves, Charles Earland, Horace Silver, Jimmy Witherspoon, Clifford Jarvis and Dr Lonnie Smith and Melba Joyce. In the UK he has appeared with Dick Heckstall-Smith, John Stevens, District Six, Evan Parker, Jason Rebello, Claire Martin, Don Weller, Gary Crosby, Byron Wallen,Tim Richard's Great Spirit, Antonio Forcione, Damon Brown Quintet, Vibraphonic, Monk Liberation Front,
Accension Jazz Orchestra, Stekpanna and On the Corner.
As a session musician he has worked with Chaka Khan, D'angelo, Herbie Hancock (Headhunters),Omar, Aswad, Tina Turner, Alison Moyet, Philip Bailey, Bootsy Collins, Mori Kante, Maysa, Terry Callier, and long standing connections to jazz crossover projects such as US3 (1992-) and Incognito (1995-) both with whom he has been a regular band member.
He has also written numerous compositions for film and television, dance and theatre.
As a session musician he has worked with Chaka Khan, D'angelo, Herbie Hancock (Headhunters),Omar, Aswad, Tina Turner, Alison Moyet, Philip Bailey, Bootsy Collins, Mori Kante, Maysa, Terry Callier, and long standing connections to jazz crossover projects such as US3 (1992-) and Incognito (1995-) both with whom he has been a regular band member.
He has also written numerous compositions for film and television, dance and theatre.
Brigitte Beraha - ‘for lovers of good vocal jazz’
Brigitte obtained a music degree at Goldsmiths College, where she currently gives Jazz and Improvisation workshops, and went on to study at the prestigious Guildhall School of music on the jazz postgraduate course.Throughout her professional career Brigitte has played at numerous venues in London including The Vortex Jazz Club, Pizza on the Park, The National Theatre & The Queen Elizabeth Hall. Venues across the UK include The Cliff's Pavilion (Southend), the Blue Lamp (Aberdeen),Dempsey's (Cardiff) and the Edge Arts Centre (Shropshire). Brigitte has performed with many great musicians such as John Parricelli, Malcolm Earle Smith, Pete King, Julian Siegel, Frank Griffith, Chris Laurence and Liam Noble. She also regularly sings with the Ivo Neame Trio (featuring on the album Swirls and Eddies) and is a member of the Pete Billington Band.
Notable appearances also include a tour of France with the Glenn Miller Memorial orchestra and Jazzmandu Festival in 2004, concerts at Proms in the Park, London and Manchester Jazz Festivals, finalist in the international www.jazzconnect.com competition in 2005. In 2006 she appeared at Aberdeen Jazz Festival and was one of 20 young musicians selected to take part in Betty Carter's Jazz Ahead program/concerts in Washington D.C, with Carmen Lundy, George Cables and Curtis Fuller.
In 2007, Brigitte participated in the Brussels international Jazz Singers competition reaching the semi-finals, performed as part of the London Jazz Festival and completed a three-week extensive trio tour of the UK (18 dates) with Joe Auckland-trumpet/flugelhorn and Ivo Neame-piano.
Following this successful tour, the trio and the Brigitte Beraha Group (trio + Phil Donkin-double bass & George Hart-drums) recorded an album of original material. This was very much influenced by Brigitte's multilingual background found in her own expressive writing and heard in her genuine rendition of jazz and Latin standards. Flying Dreams, a melodic contemporary jazz album with Anglo-European, World and Latin flavours, will be released in 2008 and promoted during the Autumn of that year with another tour of the UK.
In 2007, Brigitte participated in the Brussels international Jazz Singers competition reaching the semi-finals, performed as part of the London Jazz Festival and completed a three-week extensive trio tour of the UK (18 dates) with Joe Auckland-trumpet/flugelhorn and Ivo Neame-piano.
Following this successful tour, the trio and the Brigitte Beraha Group (trio + Phil Donkin-double bass & George Hart-drums) recorded an album of original material. This was very much influenced by Brigitte's multilingual background found in her own expressive writing and heard in her genuine rendition of jazz and Latin standards. Flying Dreams, a melodic contemporary jazz album with Anglo-European, World and Latin flavours, will be released in 2008 and promoted during the Autumn of that year with another tour of the UK.
Pete Furnish - Rhythm Section
Pete has always enjoyed a wide range of music from Pop to Classical.In the 1960s he was busy doing TV, Radio, recording and touring with a Scottish Folk Group "The Islanders". Although he has played in dance bands, groups and trad jazz bands, an introduction to Modern Jazz in the 1980s required him to deepen his understanding of Modes and Harmonic Structure. Summer Schools played an important part in this and the idea that Jazz could be taught lead Pete to gain a City & Guilds qualification in Teaching Adults. Pete plays bass with AJ's Big Band and Jazz Trilogy based in Devon. He enjoys the variety offered by playing in other bands on a freelance basis and also plays in a local amateur symphony orchestra.
