We had a great night of bouncing Samba last week at the late night session thanks to Charlotte Glasson and to Brighton Jazz school who kicked things off earlier on.  This Friday we have excellent Canadian trumpeter/flugelhornist Martijn Van Galen playing at Brighton Blue Note, Hove actually.  Martijn plays in a variety of settings and is very busy working  as a jazz artist, composer, arranger and educator.  During his career he has played and worked in several countries around the world with top names.  Highlights of his career to date include performances at the Montreux and Brienz Jazz Festival in Switzerland with Saxoffonee, the Calgary Jazz Festival with his own group The Jazz Infidels trio and the Primetime Big Band (with Hugh Frasier), studying (with Yosvany Terry) and recording in Cuba, and studying at the Banff Centre of the Arts (Jazz Workshop 1999) with among others Kenny Werner, Joe Lovano, Dave Holland and Dave Douglas. In the summer of 2002 he performed and toured with the Canadian dance company Decidedly Jazz Danceworks in their show Perched on the Edge of a Quarter Note. He has very actively performed for four year (1998 – 2002) with the Canadian Afro-Cuban Jazz group Masacote and is featured on their first album Nada Mas (2002).While living in Japan, Martijn had the opportunity to regularly perform in Tokyo with the funky and imaginative group The Conductors, among others.

He also currently performs locally with Funky Buddha Band and big band jazz with Straight No Chaser big band on the South coast of England and has been the musical director of the Sussex Jazz Orchestra.

In 1997 Martijn started collaborating with Brian Christensen on various creative projects culminating in their form of the group Colors of Mime. The group’s first album release was, entitled Always the Sun in 2004. Martijn has composed and performed in Alberta while at the Banff Centre as an artist-in-residence working on creating music for large jazz ensemble.

 We’ll be having the brilliant Alex Eberhard on drums, Nick McGuigan on bass and myself on guitar.  We’ll be kicking off 11pm until late with Brighton Jazz School starting the night at 8pm with live jazz ensembles.  Free entry all night, open until 4am!  Entry is by the gate next to Topolino duo Italian underneath the Greenhouse Effect, 63 Church Rd, Hove, BN3 2BD.  See you there!

We had a packed, amazing night last Friday courtesy of Zee Gachette at Brighton Blue Note, Under the Green house effect, 63 Church Rd, Hove, BN3 2BD.  We did a twist on the normal jazz thing blending drum n bass, Dub, Hip Hop, Swing, Latin and more which ended up transforming the venue into a bouncing dance club for the night until gone 3am.  This week for an added twist we have the great multi – instrumentalist Charlotte Glasson swinging by to play with the house band, performing a mix of Latin Jazz, Brazilian Choros & Samba plus a sprinkling of swinging jazz.  On bass we’ll have Nick McGuigan, on drums Sam Samba Glasson and myself on guitar.  It’s free entry all night with the music kicking off from 8pm with Brighton Jazz School followed by our quartet with Charlotte 11pm until late.  The bar’s open til 4am.  Entry is outside, down the steps under the Greenhouse into the Jazz basement.

Equally at home playing jazz, classical music, blues, soul, funk, latin, country and everything in between she’s kept busy on the music scene. She has also composed music for an Art Installation at The Ashmoleon museum in Oxford with Chinese Artist Qu Lei Lei, and music for theatre performances by George Dillon. She has played all over the world including The Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Thailand International festival, Holland, Ronnie Scott’s, jazz festivals in the UK and Europe.

As a session musician Charlotte has worked with Oasis, The Divine Comedy, Nerina Pallot, James Blackshaw, John Martyn, Julian Lloyd Webber, PJ Proby,Claire Martin, The Lost and Found Orchestra, Jah Wobble, Ladyhawke, Lorraine Bowen,The Damage Manual, Pucho and The Latin Soul Brothers, Antonio Forcionne, The Jiving Lindy Hoppers,Joby Talbot, Will Gaines, John Cooper Clarke, Ladyhawke, Diana Vickers, Stevie Kalinich,  Herbie Flowers, Chris Spedding, The Mummers, Bah Samba, Cubana Bop, Will Young, The Karelia, Rob Bravery, Paul Stacey and Jeremy Stacey, Unkle, Orlando, Daniel Pemberton, Foy Vance, Murray Young, Reuben Wilson, Snowboy, Andy Newmark, Jim Mullen, Alan Barnes, Big Band Metheny, Bobby Matos, Heather Cornell, Guy Massey, Steve Power, Nigel Godrich, Spike Stent and Ian Hamer……