A brand new quartet, and a collaboration between four of the most exciting and powerful improvisers on the UK scene, with double bassist Olie Brice, pianist Laura Cole, drummer Johnny Hunter and clarinettist/saxophonist/vocalist Faye MacCalman, and compositions drawing on free improvisation, poetry and spoken word.
TICKETS: £10 or £7 for students.
Pay on the door, or alternatively get advance tickets by emailing
bGVzY2FyamF6eiB8IGdtYWlsICEgY29t or messaging the Jazz at The Lescar.
Doors 8pm, music 8.30pm.
Leeds-based pianist, composer and writer Laura Cole is a thoughtful, creative presence on the UK music scene. A pianist, composer and writer, you may have caught her recent wonderful solo set at the Samuel Worth Chapel and she has visited The Lescar previously with her dynamic octet Metamorphic, with whom she recorded three albums, as well as in bands led by Corey Mwamba, Martin Archer, and Johnny Hunter. Other collaborations include an improvising trio with bassoonist/saxophonist Mick Beck and drummer Emil Karlsen, and also with Martin Archer/Julie Tippetts, Faye MacCalman, Lara Jones, Keith Jafrate’s group Uroboro, Seth Bennett.
Laura’s beautiful and very personal solo piano album ‘Enough’ was released on Sheffield label Discus in 2018, and a string quartet commission featuring her arrangements of saxophonist Ron Caines pieces - in conjunction with her solo piano arrangements of Caines’ music is due for release on the Discus label in 2025.
“Cole ought to be celebrated as one of the greats of British improvised music after this release. Always fiercely true to herself and her conception” Seth Bennett
Olie Brice is a bass player at the forefront of UK improvised music, a purposeful and energising musician who’s collaborations include Tom Challenger, Alexander Hawkins, Rachel Musson, Jason Yarde, Evan Parker, Tony Malaby, Ingrid Laubrock, Ken Vandermark and Louis Moholo, as well as performing at venues and festivals across Europe. His own quartet featuring Rachel Musson, Alexander Hawkins and Will Glaser releases a debut album in 2025, and he has also led a trio, quintet and octet which can be heard on albums including “Fire Hills” and “Day After Day”. You may have caught Olie previously at The Lescar leading his own inspiring ensembles, as well in bands including Dee Byrne’s wonderful Outlines project.
“Brice makes the entire body of his bass sing. He has the ability to deliver a fractal line that is as purposeful as any by the great jazz bassists, but to do so within an entirely abstract setting” – Brian Morton, Point of Departure
“imaginative and adventurous” – London Jazz News
“consistently inspired” – The Wire
A regular visitor to The Lescar, with strong links to the Sheffield music scene, enterprising and vibrant drummer and composer Johnny Hunter was named by Jazzwise as an “artist to watch” and he has featured in so many wonderful line-ups over the years, including leading his own quartet, and with many groups including Revival Room, Misha Gray’s Prehistoric Jazz Quintet, Sloth Racket, Nishla Smith, the John Pope Quintet, Engine Room Favourites, Blind Monk Trio, Swiss-UK collaboration MoonMot.
Johnny's music has been recorded and broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and performed across the country in notable venues such as London’s Ronnie Scott’s, the Manchester Jazz Festival, Birmingham Jazzlines at Symphony Hall, Liverpool International Jazz Festival, among many others. His recent recording with pianist Adam Fairhall has rightly received praise from many, including the New York City Jazz Record and Wire magazine.
Described as "one of the most envelope pushing jazz artists today" (Crack Magazine), Newcastle-based Faye MacCalman is a performer, composer-songwriter and improviser on saxophone, clarinet, voice and electronics. Faye’s music blends songs and improvisations inspired by feminism, playful magical realism and emotional honesty with avant-jazz, electronica and art-pop.
She is bandleader of acclaimed jazz art rock adventurers Archipelago, nominated for UK Jazz Act of the Year by Jazz FM, and whose last album ‘Echoes to the Sky’ was selected as one of Jazzwise magazine’s albums of the year. Her time as artist in residence at The Glasshouse ICM sowed the seeds for her debut solo album, scheduled for release in 2026. Fresh off the road from supporting progressive folk artist Richard Dawson on his tour this year, Faye is also collaborating/performing in 2025 with Me Lost Me, Andrew Wasylyk and Liz Corney.
“Moving…I lost myself” - Huw Stephens, BBC6 Music
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JOIN OUR MAILING LIST! To stay up to date with our upcoming gigs check out our website www.jazzatthelescar.com, or subscribe to our regular emails here:
http://eepurl.com/duAcH1 (we send emails about once per week, before gigs).
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Photo credits:
Olie Brice - by Alex Bonney
Laura Cole - by Victoria Smith
Johnny Hunter - by Dan Wiebe
Faye MacCalman - by Victoria Wai
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