Sarah Ellen
Hughes Quartet
featuring a special appearance by leading UK saxophonist Dave O’Higgins
Trades Club, 20th May
London-based jazz singer Sarah Ellen Hughes visits Hebden Bridge’s HX7 Jazz Club for what should be a superb concert on Thursday 20th May 2010. This popular vocalist is promoting her first CD Darning the Dream, released in March. The album features a special appearance by leading UK saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, who will also be joining Sarah’s quartet for the HX7 performance.
Championed by leading UK jazz vocalists Claire Martin and Ian Shaw (who also appears on the album alongside Sarah in two stunning duets), Sarah has taken the jazz scene by storm, especially since her 8-month residency at Pizza on the Park where she has been working with such musicians as Dave O’Higgins, Jim Hart, Iain Mackenzie and Gareth Lockrane.
Sarah’s current quartet features the cream of the London jazz scene: Darren Altman on drums, pianist Rick Simpson and bass player Tom Farmer. Expanded to a quintet with the inclusion of the incomparable Dave O’Higgins, the band delivers a mixture of jazz standards and Sarah’s own compositions - all presented with class and style and the highest level of musicianship.
Photo of Dave O’Higgins by Hash Varsani 2008
"He is rightly acknowledged as one of Britain’s finest contemporary jazz musicians", said the Observer of Dave O’Higgins, who has twice won the British Jazz Awards Best Tenor Sax Player.
"A stunning player in the neo-bop vein, with an apparently effortless flow of coherent ideas, beautiful time and a highly developed harmonic sense." wrote Jazz Guide of this versatile and highly sought-after player who has performed with such luminaries as Salif Keita, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, Martin Taylor, Jim Mullen, Jason Rebello, the Clark Tracey Sextet, Peter Gabriel and Jamie Cullum.
“It’s a real thrill to have someone of the calibre of Dave O’Higgins at HX7 sharing the stage with the delightful, super-talented Sarah Ellen Hughes and her excellent trio”, said organiser Dave Nelson. “We’re already hosting nationally and internationally acclaimed musicians; that’s not bad for the newest jazz venue in the North of England!”
HX7 Jazz is monthly on a Thursday at the Trades Club in Holme Street, Hebden Bridge. Future bookings include the Sam Crockatt Quartet (June 10), the Eduardo Niebla Quartet (July 8) and the Dagda Quartet on the 26th August. More information is available at the HX7 Jazz Club website. Doors open at 8pm with a live music starting at 8.30, and the headline band starting at 9. As an added bonus the venue provides excellent value curries from early evening. Phone the Trades Club on 845265 to book a meal or to ring to book advance tickets which are £12, and £9 for concessions and members.