The best in Live Jazz at the Royal Hotel, Southend
Every Wednesday
8:30 – 10:30pm
Free Entry
Playing Modern, Be-Bop, Fusion & Avant Garde, featuring Special Guests.
The Venue
Book a table for a fantastic dinner in the lounge or arrive early and choose from the large cocktail menu in the bar downstairs, including original recipes.
Small plates are available with table service whilst watching the live music upstairs.
Getting There
Train
Southend Central (c2c Line) located in the middle of Southend High Street.
Southend Victoria (Greater Anglia Line) located at the opposite end of the High Street.
Bus
Southend Central Bus Depot is approx 4 minute walk
Parking
Alexander Street Car Park is located just behind the Royal Hotel, with a pedestrian pathway through to the main entrance.
Alternatively, street parking can be found locally.
The Royal Hotel,
1 High Street,
Southend-on-sea
SS1 1JE
What's On
“People say to play the Blues you have to of suffered… well I play the blues & I ‘aint never suffered & I don’t intend to suffer” -
Miles Davis
1st November
RIVER PEOPLE - a tribute to Weather Report
Weather Report was formed by Joe Zawinul & Wayne Shorter in 1970 & with the addition of the legendry bassist Jaco Pastorious, went to become one of the most influential jazz fusion bands of all time & defined the genre. Their initial style was collectively improvised jazz with a strong thythmic pulse and latin influences, moving into a more funk orientated sound.
Zak Barrett – Saxophone
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Terry Gregory – Bass
Graham Cuttill – Percussion
Simon Harwood – Drums
“It's taken me all my life to learn what not to play” – Dizzy Gillespie
8th November
AERO - featuring Tom Ridout
Award winning saxophonist and recorder player Tom Ridout was predicted by Jazzwise Magazine in 2012 as an upcoming jazz musician to watch out for. A finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician Jazz Award, graduate from the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, winner of the Lancaster Jazz Festival Youth Jazz Commission 2018, Help Musicians Peter Whittingham Jazz Awardee 2021, and a recent member of NYJO, Tom is a prolific composer who fronts his own bands playing his original compositions.
Tom Ridout – Saxophone
Dave Whiting – Guitar
Dan Banks – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
15th November
GAIA - featuring Dan Banks
play a tribute to Chick Corea
Jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher Dan Banks is based in Medway, Kent. Although initially self-taught Dan has studied classical piano under the tutelage of Tim Carey, and jazz piano, theory, arranging, and composition with Eddie Harvey and Brian Everington. Additionally, Dan holds a Masters degree in performance (awarded with distinction) from London College of Music.
Dan Banks – Piano
Dan Parker – Guitar
Zak Barrett – Saxophone
Terry Gregory – Bass
Simon Harwood – Drums
22nd November
CATHERINE LIMA
SPECIAL GIG £10
“I have heard Catherine perform at so many different venues, including outdoor concerts, and her voice can penetrate any environment because it is so very movingly soulful yet in a jazz style. This is the first time that I have heard her as a songwriter. Her efforts show all the signs of a fabulous career ahead.”
– Tony Andrews for Audiophile News
Catherine Lima has been singing on the London jazz circuit since 2001, she is a charismatic and entertaining performer. Drawing on influences such as Anita O’Day, Hoagy Carmichael, Patricia Barber, Barbra Streisand and Peggy Lee, she has a warm expressive tone that she uses expertly to create moods from sultry to joyous. Whether performing an intimate set with duo or trio or fronting a big band, her personality comes through with each song.
Catherine Lima – Vocals
Alex Field – Guitar
Gabriel Keen – Piano
Alex Keen – Bass
Jason Campbell – Drums
29th November
REWIRE - Celebrate DAVE BRUBECK
featuring Dave Hathaway
David Brubeck was a jazz pioneer and composer. Often regarded as a foremost exponent of cool jazz, Brubeck’s work is characterized by unusual time signatures and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.
Martin Hathaway – Saxophone
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
"You should never be comfortable man.... being comfortable fouled up a lot of musicians" Miles Davis
6th December
AMALGAM
Amalgam are a modern jazz quintet based in Essex and London. Formed during the dark days of the Covid pandemic, they managed to play together virtually from their homes using music software similar to Zoom. It was over this time that they wrote much of the material for their first album, which they went on to record in the studio together in 2022. The band are presently writing new material for their next long player. Amalgam will be playing a selection of their own tunes alongside some choice standards.
Lawrence Harper – Trumpet
Dave Whiting – Guitar
Dave Lee – Piano
Jason Nicholls – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
13th December
KAREN SHARP
Karen Sharp has ben a prominent figure on the UK Jazz scene since 2000. She is well known and admired for her melodic, full-toned saxophone playing, winning the British Jazz Awards for best tenor saxophonist on numerous occasions and appearing as a nominee in the rising star category of the Downbeat Critics Poll for baritone sax in 2018 and 2019.
Born in Suffolk, Karen studied classical piano and clarinet before discovering jazz and switching to the tenor sax, a choice inspired by two giants of improvisation – Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins. Her career took off when she was asked to join Humphrey Lyttelton’s band with whom she toured the UK and Europe for four years. During this period Karen also worked hard to establish her own quintet, touring the festival and club circuit and recording the first of 6 albums as a leader.
Karen Sharp – Saxophone
Gabriel Keen – Piano
Dominic Howles – Bass
Simon Harwood – Drums
20th December
(downstairs in the lounge)
VIBRATION feat' TONY GOODERHAM
Tony founded Vibration over 10 years ago playing a special blend of Jazz Funk. Always worth checking out this superb band with the local legend that is Alan Clarke on drums.
Ian Thompson – Saxophone
Alex Field – Guitar
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Terry Gregory – Bass
Alan Clarke – Drums
“Jazz is the only music in which the same note can be played night after night but differently each time.”
- Ornette Coleman.
27th December
CLOSED - HOTEL FUNCTION
3rd January
CROSSWIND
A collection of classic tracks from Jeff Lorber to Jon Scofield to George Benson.
Andy Watson – Guitar
Zak Barrett – Saxophone
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Terry Gregory – Bass
Simon Harwood – Drums
10th January
AERO - featuring Tom Ridout
Award winning saxophonist and recorder player Tom Ridout was predicted by Jazzwise Magazine in 2012 as an upcoming jazz musician to watch out for. A finalist in the 2016 BBC Young Musician Jazz Award, graduate from the prestigious Royal Academy of Music, winner of the Lancaster Jazz Festival Youth Jazz Commission 2018, Help Musicians Peter Whittingham Jazz Awardee 2021, and a recent member of NYJO, Tom is a prolific composer who fronts his own bands playing his original compositions.
Tom Ridout – Saxophone
Dave Whiting – Guitar
Dan Banks – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
"I start in the middle of a sentence and move both directions at once"
– John Coltrane
17th January
Roger Curphey Trio
+ V.I.P GUEST ALAN BARNES
Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit that have few peers. His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.
His recorded catalogue is immense. He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.
“Barnes is steeped in the language of bop, but is such a consummate stylist that his playing tends to buck any argument that his musical approach is conservative or out of step with the times. Whether on alto, baritone or tenor, Barnes’ melodic sense bypasses the usual scale-running clichés that pepper the playing of lesser bop disciples.”
Peter Marsh, BBC Music Review.
Alan Barnes – Saxophone
Gabriel Keen – Piano
Roger Curphey – Bass
Simon Harwood – Drums
24th January
TOMMASO STARACE Quartet
special Gig £10 entry
Tommaso has performed and collaborated with many great musicians including Dave Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Billy Cobham, Jim Mullen, Liam Noble, Jonathan Gee, Roger Beaujolais, Paolo Pellegatti, Attilio Zanchi, Fabrizio Bosso, Tino Tracanna, Paolo Fresu, Gianni Giudici and Academy Award Winning composer Dario Marianelli. He continues to seek inspiration and nurture his jazz expertise by taking part in jazz seminars and classes led by some of the greatest musicians alive, including Dave Liebman, Miguel Zenon, Vincent Herring, Ted Nash.
Tommaso Starace – Alto Saxophone
Frank Harrison – Piano
Dave Chamberlain – Bass
Chris Nichols – Drums
31st January
MANDALA - celebrate MONK & MINGUS
Thelonious Monk was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including “‘Round Midnight”, “Blue Monk”, “Straight, No Chaser”, “Ruby, My Dear”, “In Walked Bud”, and “Well, You Needn’t”. Monk is the second-most-recorded jazz composer after Duke Ellington.
Charles Mingus was an American jazz upright bassist, composer, bandleader, pianist, and author. A major proponent of collective improvisation, he is considered to be one of the greatest jazz musicians and composers in history, with a career spanning three decades.
Dave Jago – Trombone
Zak Barrett – Saxophone
Graham Hunter – Trumpet
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Geof Harris – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
“Jazz is the big brother of the blues. If a guy's playing blues like we play, he's in high school. When he starts playing jazz it's like going on to college, to a school of higher learning.”
B. B. King
7th February
GAIA
Celebrate the music of JOSHUA REDMAN
Featuring albums of FREEDOM IN THE GROOVE & TIMELESS TALES
Joshua Redman is one of the most acclaimed and charismatic jazz artists to have emerged in the 1990’s. Born in Berkeley, California he is the son of legendary saxophonist Dewey Redman and dancer Renee Shedroff. In 1991 Redman graduated from Harvard College summa cum laude and had already been accepted by Yale Law School, but deferred entrance for what he believed was only going to be one year. Instead, he moved to New York City and immediately found himself immersed in the city’s burgeoning jazz scene. Five months later Redman was named winner of the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Saxophone Competition. Since then, Redman has worked and played with a vast array of jazz luminaries, released over twenty albums (Warner & Nonesuch), and has garnered top honors in critics and readers polls of DownBeat, Jazz Times, The Village Voice and Rolling Stone.
Zak Barrett – Saxophone
Dan Banks – Piano
Terry Gregory – Bass
Simon Harwood – Drums
14th FEBRUARY - CLOSED FOR HOTEL FUNCTION
21st February
REWIRE featuring Martin Hathaway
Celebrate John Scofield & John McLoughlin
Martin Hathaway – Saxophone
Dave Whiting – Guitar
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
28th February
The DOMINIC HOWLES SEPTET
Special Gig £10
Dominic received a full scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama(1991-1992) Since leaving Guildhall, Dominic has been busy on the British jazz scene playing all across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has also done TV (the Johnny Vaughan show, etc), Radio sessions (Stacey Kent, Blue Harlem, Tommy Chase etc) and theatre shows (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sweet Charity, West Side Story, etc). Some of the people who he has played and recorded with include:- Stacey Kent, Anita Wardell, Christine Tobin, Kevin Fitzsimmons, Bobby Wellins, Don Weller, Nick Brignola, Gary Smulyan, Kate Williams, Julian Siegel, Phil Robson, Tim Richards, Gareth Lockrane, Leon Greening, Pete Lukas, Pete Long, Malcolm Earle Smith, Pete Cater, Frank Griffith Nonet, Mick Garrick big band, Tim Whitehead and many others.
Steve Fishwick- Trumpet
Alison Neale – Flute
Dave O’Higgins – Tenor Sax
James O’Donnell – Alto Sax
Nick Tomalin – Piano
Dominic Howles – Bass
Matt Fishwick – Drums
Dave Whiting – Guitar
Tony Gooderham – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
6th March
GHOSTS & distant VOICES
Celebrating the music of Wynton Marsalis – BLACKCODES
featuring a very special guest PAUL HIGGS
Paul Higgs is a highly accomplished and respected trumpet player with an impressive career in many fields including performing, composing and arranging music for film, TV and theatre. He was a Musical Director for many years for the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Company. Paul has established himself as a versatile musician, equally at home playing jazz, classical, or contemporary music.
Paul Higgs – Trumpet
Zak Barret – Saxophone
John Gee – Piano
Sam Hollis – Bass
Trevor Taylor – Drums
CONTACT
ttaylor228@aol.com
07786 864263