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The collaborative pairing of two of the finest musicians of their generation, award-winning musicians Martin Taylor and Martin Simpson, will perform an evening of acoustic music expertly combining their distinctive styles of jazz and folk.

Martin Taylor

Labelled ‘the acoustic guitarist of his generation’ by Acoustic Guitar Magazine and ‘Europe’s finest guitarist’ by Jazz Times, New York, award-winning guitarist Martin Taylor has established a unique musical career as an internationally acclaimed musician, and his inimitable style has seen him recognised as the world's foremost exponent of solo jazz guitar playing.

Although completely self taught, he has enjoyed a remarkable musical career spanning across four decades, and during that time has invented and developed a way of playing the guitar that is admired, and often imitated, by guitarists all over the world. As well as being a true guitar innovator, he is also a master concert performer, dazzling audiences with his solo shows, which combine virtuosity, emotion, humour, with a strong stage presence.

He spends much of the year travelling the world, playing in concert halls in Europe, North America, Japan, Asia, and Australasia.

As well as his solo concerts and recordings, he has also collaborated with musicians from many different musical genre including Stephane Grappelli, Chet Atkins, Bill Wyman, Dionne Warwick, Sacha Distel, Bryn Terfel and Jamie Cullum.

From 1979 to 1989 he toured the world and recorded over 20 albums with the French jazz violin legend STEPHANE GRAPPELLI. Monsieur Grappelli described him as "Rich in talent and elegance, he's a great artist".

In 2002, he was appointed MBE "For Services to Jazz Music", in The Queen's Birthday Honours List, which he received personally from Her Majesty the Queen at an investiture at Buckingham Palace.

In 2007 he received the prestigious BBC Radio 2 "Heart of Jazz" Award in recognition of his career in music, was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the North Wales Jazz Guitar Festival for his "Contribution to Jazz Guitar Worldwide" and was voted Best Guitarist in the British Jazz Awards for a record eleventh time.

Martin Simpson

Folk musician Martin Simpson has been nominated an astounding 23 times in the eleven years of the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards - more than any other performer - with 9 consecutive years as nominee for Musician of The Year, which he has won twice. 2008 saw an incredible 5 nominations for "Prodigal Son' and 2 wins, whilst in 2010 he had an unprecedented 6 nominations for his CD, "True Stories" and a win for Best Traditional Track, "Sir Patrick Spens".

His 2007 release, "Prodigal Son" was nominated for 5 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and won Album of the Year, and Best Original song for the deeply moving "Never Any Good". At the end of 2008, Simpson returned to the States for the first time in 5 years for a triumphant series of gigs. Having lived and worked in the US for 14 years he is regarded there as a guitar legend, and an enormously influential musician.

2009 saw the release of a new CD, "True Stories" to wide critical acclaim. The music ranges from solo guitar instrumentals and songs to full band arrangements featuring some of the finest musicians anywhere. They are, bass icon Danny Thompson, pedal steel player BJ Cole, Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, Bellowhead front man Jon Boden on fiddle, accordion ace Andy Cutting, ex Page and Plant hurdy gurdy man Nigel Eaton, singers Muireann Nic Amloaibh and Kellie While and co-producer Andy Seward on bass. The influences are eclectic, Northumbrian dance tunes, Anglo Scots ballads, old timey and blues songs, New Orleans jazz and Rand B and more.

The sounds are highly distinctive, led by Simpson's guitars, banjola and banjo, it moves from solo slide to flat out grooves via nursery rhymes and tragic dark ballads. Simpson's own songs are beautifully written and at times most unusual in form, telling true stories and dealing with themes of love, loss, home and much more.

Tickets: £17.50

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