Charlie Parker was one of the most important figureheads in the development of jazz music, pioneering the ‘bebop’ style. This quartet comes together to explore the Parker catalogue of compositions, which include Yardbird Suite, Anthropology & Moose The Mooche.

Alan Barnes Plays Charlie Parker - Jazz In The Cellar Bar

Stamford Arts Centre

SINGING MIGHT MAKE MORE SENSE OF LIFE THAN LIVING HAD TO START WITH.</q><cite>— RICHARD POWERS (THE TIME OF OUR SINGING)</cite> <p>After a year of anticipation, Kris Defoort’s new opera will finally be brought to the stage! Black Lives Matter, police brutality, rigged elections: these are themes that have remained at the forefront of current affairs over the past year. There are clear parallels to be drawn between the recent history of the US and <em>The Time of Our Singing</em>, which was inspired by the Richard Powers novel of the same name. The work depicts the life of a mixed-race family that is both united and divided by music, against the backdrop of segregation in the post-war United States. In collaboration with the librettist Peter van Kraaij, the conductor Kwamé Ryan, and the stage director Ted Huffman, Kris Defoort conjures an imaginary space in which official history and personal histories intertwine, in which people come together to weave a narrative, and in which jazz and classical music are enriched by one another. ‘To my mind, it doesn’t happen often that a contemporary opera is so profoundly rooted in the “now” and yet raises so many universal themes.’ (Kris Defoort)

EPSG:4326

The Time of Our Singing

La Monnaie

We are very excited to present this fabulous Big Band as a special Jazz Club event, to be held in the main auditorium of the Key Theatre. Hailed as “a living, breathing, positively fizzing jazz orchestra” (‘Jazz Rag’) the Simon Spillett Big Band burst onto the UK jazz scene 2021 with the purpose of revisiting the repertoire of the legendary British jazz icon, saxophonist Tubby Hayes, playing music Hayes’ bands played during the 1960s and early 1970s, much of which hadn’t been heard publicly since his death in 1973. The band is a genuinely ‘all star’ unit, comprising a line-up of stellar UK jazz soloists, many bandleaders in their own right, led with charisma and style by multi-award winning saxophonist Simon Spillett. The line-up includes trumpeter Mark Armstrong (director of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra), Pete Long (leader of Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra) and Alan Barnes (winner of over 30 British jazz awards) along with a powerhouse rhythm section.

Alan Barnes

Events

Upcoming events

Feb 22, 2025

Peterborough Jazz Club: Simon Spillett Big Band · Key Theatre

Past events

Nov 8, 2024

Alan Barnes Plays Charlie Parker - Jazz In The Cellar Bar · Stamford Arts Centre

14 - 26 Sep, 2021

The Time of Our Singing · La Monnaie / De Munt

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