This Friday at Doug Ellingford’s Hove Jazz bar, Brighton Blue note will have Hastings based tenor sax player Rob Leake with bands from Brighton Jazz school to start the night. Rob Leake grew up in the North-East and began gigging in and around Newcastle after leaving school. In 1995 he left to go to college at Leeds College of Music. The next 3 years provided a great period of study and playing that ultimately lead to a move to London. Here, Rob landed gigs with Polar Bear, Oreille and extensive work on the salsa scene. The influence of this period was formative. A visit to Hastings brought him into contact with the legendary saxophonist Trevor Watts. Following extensive rehearsals and study with Trevor, Rob toured Europe and the USA with the Celebration Band: a continuation of’ Moire Music’ featuring 4 saxophones and a heavy ‘World music’ component.
Rob is now based in Hastings and enjoys a varied life of playing, teaching and family. Rob’s music is firmly rooted in jazz, but reflects his passion for ‘World’ influences such as Latin and Funk. Rob’s debut album, ’Present Time’, was finished in 2010 and is all of the above. It features Liane Carroll, Pete Wareham, James McMillan, Terry Pack, Nick Peck and Jim Whyte. Currently, I am part of The Paul Busby Big Band, The Hastings Horns, Chacon y su Timba among others.
We have the brilliantly versatile George Trebar on double bass who’s played with Wynton Marsalis and members of his band as part of the JALC residency in London at the Vortex Club. He’s played with Simon Woolf, Alan Barnes, TJ Johnson, Gary Potter, John Etheridge, Alessio Menconi, Dominic Alldis, Lianne Carol, Ian Shaw, Nigel Price, Brandon Allen, Andreas Oberg, James Evans, Adam Glasser, Tim Kliphuis, Bob Barnard, Toured with Tim Kliphuis, Sue Richardson Quintet, Bright Stars of Jazz (Isle of Man Jazz ), Blenkhorn All-Stars (SildaJazz Norway ), Gypsy guitarists Moreno (Esprit de Manouche UK IGGF ) and Matcho Winterstein. George has been involved with recording and performing with Spring Heel Jack. He’s also also delved into Indian influenced music touring internationally with the Nasha Collective and supporting Nitin Sawney. Has also played Bass for the Mediterranean Jazz Summer School alongside Simon Purcell, Lianne Carrol and Martin Speake. George has been in high demand for years on the Gypsy Jazz circuit has also played in the UK with, Ensemble Zaiti, Mike Reinhardt, Andreas Oberg, as well as playing extensively with own trio ‘Rythme Futur’.
Scorching Loz Thomas will be on drums, he plays down the bees mouth jazz sessions every Monday, check it out. I’ll be on guitar. Brighton Jazz school bands start at 8pm followed by the quartet at 10.30pm. It’s Brighton Blue Note, 63 Church rd, Hove, East Sussex.
