We are delighted to welcome trombonist Bob Hunt with his Harlemites making their NRC debut. Bob spent many years as trombonist and arranger for the Big Chris Barber Band in addition to running his own ensembles including the very successful Ellingtonians. He has recently reformed Harlem (jazz orchestra) from the ranks of which the Harlemites personnel is drawn, these include some leading UK jazz musicians, many of whom are well-known to our audience.
The band will be performing selections from the pad of Bob’s arrangements dating back to when he ran the the “house band” at the notorious 100 Club, London where they had a residency there playing monthly on Wednesday nights from 1988-94, as well as accompanying visiting American guest musicians and singers.
Wil Robinson (trumpet, vocal), Bob Hunt (trombone and valve trombone), Zoltan Sagi (reeds), Richard Exall (reeds), Art Toper (piano), John Irwin (guitar/banjo), Chris Newman (bass), Nick Ward (drums)
Clarinetist Paula Jackman formed the Jazz Masters in 2022 and named as a tribute to Paula’s late husband, jazz banjoist, Brian Masters. The band is one of the younger ones on the British jazz scene with an average age under 60!
After a chance meeting with ‘Hank’ Jindrich, a Czech trombonist, in 2022, the Jazz Masters started touring Europe as well as jazz clubs all over Britain. ‘Hank’ now plays with Paula’s Jazz Masters as regularly as possible for someone who still has a ‘proper job’ in the Czech Republic.
The rest of the band consists of ‘Magic’ Mike Henry on cornet, a longtime member of the Big Chris Barber Band as well as a former member of the Pasadena Roof Orchestra and Keith Nichols’ Cotton Club Orchestra. Hugh Crozier, Paula’s husband, is one of Britain’s best exponents of Jelly Roll Morton’s style of piano playing. He was a member of Bill Brunskill’s jazz band and Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band for many years amongst other revivalist bands. Graham Collicott, who played frequently with the Temperance Seven and now with Harry Strutters’ Dance Orchestra plays drums while Jim Swinnerton joins the band for this tour on double bass, having recently spent a week with the band playing in Bavaria. Jim plays with an enthusiasm that matches his character and is a ‘much sought after’ member of the British jazz and skiffle scene.
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