JAZZ at the Icebox One Last Time is the title for a memorial concert in celebration of the lives of Jack Pennington and Danny Sheppard, which is being held at the Avon Sports and Social Club, Melksham House, off Melksham Market Place, on January 26.
Jazz experts Alan Barnes, Andy Panayi, Art Theman, Andy Cleyndert, Martin Drew and John Critchinson, plus the Bill Taylor Trio, form the line-up for the evening.
The Icebox was the jazz club in Chippenham which John Albert Pennington, who was always known as Jack', ran for many years. Following his death in May 2006 his family decided a memorial concert would be the best tribute they could organise to the noted cartoonist and jazz promoter, who was the Bath Chronicle cartoonist for years and a jazz journalist for the likes of the Bath Chronicle, Venue magazine and the Jazz Journal.
Before his death Jack had planned to organise a memorial concert for Danny Sheppard, the noted tenor, alto and soprano saxophonist and a regular performer at Bath's famous jazz pub The Farmhouse, a longstanding friend of his who died in 2005.
His son Marcus, pictured below with his father and twin brother Darren, said: "After Dad's death it seemed only proper to include Danny as well."
Band members for the tribute include saxophonist Alan Barnes, who played on Cannonball Adderley's live album Cannonball, which was album of the year in the 2001 British Jazz Awards. In the same year Alan received the prestigious BBC Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year award. Alan has played with nearly all the jazz greats of the last 20 years.
He is joined by Andy Panayi on saxophone and flutes. Andy is another exceptionally gifted jazz musician, skilled in performance, composition and arranging. He plays all the flutes and all the saxophones and currently leads his own groups, both jazz and classical, and is perhaps best known for his Gery Mulligan-style quartet with trombonist Mark Nightingale.
Art Theman, who plays tenor and soprano saxophones, combines his love of jazz with his work as a consultant orthopaedic surgeon. His style originally owed much to the influence of Dexter Gordon and Sonny Rollins, but later influences included Coleman Hawkins, Evan Parker, and the "sheets of sound" John Coltrane. Art's original and quirky jazz style has set many a gig alight.
Double bassist Andy Cleyndert has been described as one of the most profoundly beautiful bass players we have, who started as the resident bassist at the George Chisolm Club in Manchester.He has worked extensively in UK and international jazz and tours extensively with Stan Tracey, and his label Trio Records has this year won an award from the Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Drummer Martin Drew is recognised as a dedicated, travelled, experienced and respected musician, having played with, been requested by, and constantly in demand to play with, many of the world's great musicians.Martin has been playing for nearly 50 years, 20 of them with the late, great Ronnie Scott.
Pianist John Critchinson was born a true Cockney but spent his formative years around the Bath area, and appeared at The Icebox in Chippenham in the early 1950s. A member of Ronnie Scott's Quartet until it ceased working in 1995, his most recent venture is a solo piano CD, Where's the tune, Johnny?, a collection of 16 lesser-known standard songs, released on TRiO Records.
Doors open at 7.30pm and admission is £10, with all profits going to Dorothy House Hospice Care to support the work of the Winsley hospice. Tickets are available from Broad Street Jazz, Broad Street, Bath on (01225) 427494 and from Avon Sports and Social Club, Melksham, on (01225) 703265.
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