2008 SEASON

THURSDAY 8 MAY: KILLER SHRIMP

"BEST ENSEMBLE": 2007 Parliamentary Jazz Awards

"Telling tunes, coolly crafted harmonies, powerful horn-playing and a great young rhythm section in bassist Ben Hazleton and drummer Troy Miller." John Fordham, The Guardian

Damon Brown: Trumpet/Flugelhorn/Vocals
Ed Jones: Soprano/Tenor Saxophones/Bass Clarinet/Percussion
Ben Hazleton: Double Bass
Troy Miller: Drums

THURSDAY 8 MAY 2008
Doors open 7.45pm
Music starts: 8.30pm
FULL PRICE: £9
STUDENTS: £4 (with valid ID)
TICKETS AVAILABLE ON THE DOOR
Advance reservations/tables: 01202 540065

EXCELLENT FOOD AVAILABLE AND BAR
Alternatively, have a pre-concert meal next door at The Pig and Whistle gastropub

Centre Stage
14 Queens Road
Westbourne
Bournemouth BH2 6BE

Killer Shrimp is a new group born out of the long-standing partnership of trumpeter Damon Brown (Benny Golson, Steve Grossman, Dave Liebman...) and saxophonist Ed Jones (Incognito, Great Spirit, Us3 ...) Both players have featured in each others bands and in clubs and festivals in the UK and abroad. The band also features Ben Hazelton on double bass (currently with Tony Kofis Monk Quartet and a winner of the Worshipfull Company of Musicians Award) and Troy Miller (currently playing with Roy Ayers, Jean Tousant and Soweto Kinch).

Killer Shrimp released their debut album "Sincerely Whatever" on 33 records to critical acclaim in spring 2006 and followed up with hugely successful 21 date Uk tour. They have since then completed two further tours of the Uk.

They are recent winners of the Parliamentary Jazz Award BEST JAZZ ENSEMBLE 2007 and their debut album SINCERELY WHATEVER was also nominated for BEST JAZZ CD 2007.

The band blends and blurs the lines between the new and the old. Dispite a forward looking and modern sensibility the music always retains its commitment to the jazz tradition. Hip/Hop, Drum n Bass, Funk and Latin grooves rub shoulders with Straightahead Swing, free wheeling improvisation, and textures created with modern studio technology.

As DAMON says: The project is very much a culmination of many years spent touring with each others bands and our friendship on and off stage. Its a vehicle for both our writing and playing and an attempt to expand into, for us, some new areas. Although rooted in straight-ahead jazz, the music is quite eclectic and touches at times on drum and bass, Latin and funk. Both Ed and I have worked a lot in groove-related projects over the years and wanted to do something that stayed close to the spirit of jazz and improvisation but that also incorporated some different rhythms and more open textures than we usually incorporate in our quintets.

ED also adds: For me the title of the album really sums it up. We both wanted to make an album that wasn't contained just within one sub genre of the music, which was free to go in a variety of different directions. We set out to explore the possibilities of the studio and technology and to take a few risks without compromising the musical integrity. Why not have a jazz standard next to a hip Hop or drum'n bass track? For us it was also important to document the live sound of the group and the kind of interplay that we've been working on the last few years. Its definitely a direction we want to pursue and explore further.