Download Press News - CD Launch Tour

Arnie Somogyi : Paul Booth : Tim Lapthorn : Dave Smith : Rob Townsend
featuring Eddie Henderson
Press News - CD Launch Tour
‘Accident & Insurgency’ Tour Dates
February ‘08: 8-date, 6-region, UK Tour
2nd: Southport Jazz on a Winter’s Weekend,
4-6th: London Headline at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, Soho,
7th: Nottingham Jazz Steps, Bonington Theatre, Arnold,
8th: Wakefield Wakefield Jazz, Wakefield Sports Club,
9th: Birmingham CBSO Centre, Birmingham Jazz,
10th: Poole, Dorset The Lighthouse, Poole Arts Centre,
Supported by:
New CD
‘Accident and Insurgency’
Linn AKD 306:
Hybrid Super Audio multichannel CD
Produced by Arnie Somogyi
Release Date: Monday 21 January, 2008
Reviews
‘Five of the UK’s most exciting musicians’
‘Engagingly fresh, full-bodied, subtle’
‘Muscular, oblique and witty’
Ronnie Scott’s Magazine
The Guardian
The Independent
‘Mellow swing and rhythmic swagger, full harmonies and funky beats’
The FT
‘Original compositions of such measure, mystique and eccentricity that it's incredibly hard not
to keep rushing back for another dose.’ Straight No Chaser
1 - Arnie Somogyi’s Ambulance – Accident & Insurgency - CD Launch Tour – February 2008
CD Launch Tour - Accident and Insurgency - February 2-10 2008
Arnie Somogyi’s Ambulance, featuring jazz legend Eddie Henderson, are live on tour
across the UK from February 2nd – 10th to launch their much-acclaimed new CD ‘Accident and Insurgency’ – released January 21st on Linn Records (Linn AKD 306).
The 2008 Accident & Insurgency Launch Tour, tipped on Claire Martin’s New Year
‘must see’ list (BBC Radio 3, Jazz Line Up), extends from Southport to Poole and
includes a three-night headline at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in London.
Arnie Somogyi’s Ambulance features five of the UK’s most exciting young jazz
musicians – Paul Booth (sax), Tim Lapthorn (piano), Dave Smith (drums), Rob
Townsend (sax & laptop), Arnie Somogyi (bass), in collaboration with U.S. trumpet
maestro Eddie Henderson.
One of the aims of Ambulance is to sound ‘like a band’, not just a group of musicians –
but with free improvisation and spontaneity a vital component in the structure of the
music.
The talented core quintet is the perfect foil for the musical open-mindedness of
Henderson, the trumpet player who has recorded with Herbie Hancock, Pharoah
Saunders and Joe Henderson. He also recorded a host of albums for Blue Note and
Capitol in the 1970s.
In 2006 the band was chosen for the first-ever jazz residency at Snape Maltings in
Aldeburgh, Suffolk, which gave it the rare chance to develop a new set of original
material. The music was inspired by the sounds, sights and people of the Suffolk coast,
the band’s own musical ideas and forms - and freshly caught fish.
Ambulance developed the musical ideas further at live gigs around the country during
2007 – including Cheltenham International Jazz Festival as part of the ‘Jerwood Jazz
Generation’ series, headlining Ronnie Scott’s, the Aldeburgh Fringe Festival, the Pizza
Express Jazz Club in Soho and regional venues from Gateshead to Bournemouth.
The result is a whole new repertoire of inventive, fresh material, to be showcased on
the UK launch tour from 2nd - 10th February 2008.
For further information, review copies, interviews, artwork, etc. please contact::
Paul Tate at Ambulance Music - +44 (0) 7973 510458; [email protected]
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Musician Biographies
Arnie Somogyi bass
Arnie Somogyi is one of the UK’s leading jazz bass players and innovative new
bandleaders. Starting out on the violin at 5, bass guitar at 14 and later the double bass,
Arnie began playing with Portishead’s Adrian Utley during a BA Hons course in English at
Bristol University before moving onto The Guildhall in London to study music exclusively.
Arnie is a much-sought after musician, composer, bandleader and a jazz educator at
Birmingham Conservatoire. He’s played with many of the world’s top jazz musicians from
Steve Grossman, James Moody, Bobby Hutcherson, Annie Ross and Claire Martin, to
Art Farmer, Joey Calderazzo and Bud Shank. He has featured on over 30 albums with
leading talents including Urban Species, Galliano, Omar, Chris Botti and The Verve’s
Richard Ashcroft. He’s also performed on film soundtracks including “The Talented Mr
Ripley”, and presented two BBC Radio 4 ‘road-movie-for-radio’ documentaries about Eastern
Europe. As one of the “all-stars” he performs regularly at Ronnie Scott’s, one of the world’s leading jazz venues. Arnie
is also a partner in music production outfit, VoodooKazoo.
His first album as leader and composer in 2000, “Cold Cherry Soup”, received widespread critical acclaim and was
chosen as BBC Music Magazine's Jazz Pick of the Month. He created and led the acclaimed Hungary Jazz Festival in
Soho in May 2002, starring some of the UK's and Hungary's finest jazz artists. Arnie was also the motivating force
behind IMPROVOKATION, a ground-breaking Anglo-Hungarian 10-piece ensemble of leading jazz and folk musicians.
The debut tour in 2004, backed by Arts Council East, included Cheltenham International Jazz Festival, Appleby Jazz
Festival & Ronnie Scott’s.
Ambulance is his latest project as bandleader – a highly original five-piece band of young and ambitious musicians,
launched at Ronnie Scott’s in 2005. The band was chosen for the first-ever jazz-residency at the prestigious Snape
Maltings in Aldeburgh in Spring 2006, where they created an entirely original set of new music for their debut album
‘Accident and Insurgency’, released on Linn Records (AKD 306). The band’s subsequent performances at Ronnie
Scott’s in September 2006 and UK tour in 2007 with legendary guest trumpeter Eddie Henderson won extensive
plaudits across the national press.
Eddie Henderson trumpet & flugelhorn
Eddie Henderson is one of the world’s truly legendary jazz trumpeters.
Born in New York City and the son of a Cotton Club dancer, Eddie grew up surrounded by
some of the world’s greatest jazz musicians, including Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis. He
began playing the trumpet at the age of 10 and studied music theory at the San Francisco
Conservatory from the age of 14, before later completing a degree in medicine at Berkeley.
It was Miles Davis who convinced Eddie to become a professional jazz musician and after
gigs with Miles and John Handy, Eddie joined the legendary Herbie Hancock Sextet (who
also recorded as the Mwandishi Band) in 1968. This highly experimental and successful
band delved deeply into fusion and free jazz for three years.
Eddie continued in the fusion style during the seventies, making albums for Capricorn and Blue Note and joining
Art Blakey's band for a while. He jammed around the Bay Area with great musicians such as Joe Henderson and
Pharoah Sanders.
In the early nineties he moved back to New York where his career took off again with a series of exceptional albums for
Steeple Chase and Milestone, while also working as a psychiatrist. So as well as a great musician, he is also a
qualified doctor – just what every Ambulance needs! Eddie is now a much sought after performer on the international
jazz circuit and plays regularly with leading musicians and bands in the US, Europe and Asia. Most importantly, he has
also played with Ambulance as a featured guest on UK tours in 2006 and 2007 – a powerful combination that received
considerable acclaim.
Tim Lapthorn piano
Described as ‘brilliant’ by Humphrey Lyttelton and ‘electrifying’ by Jazz
Review, Tim Lapthorn is developing into one of Britain’s most exceptional young
pianists. His enigmatic and melodic, yet ‘loose-cannon’ style, is distinctive,
expressive, different and ambitious.
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Born in Newmarket in 1976 and raised in Cambridge, Tim initially studied French and philosophy at Leeds University
before deciding to follow his musical ambitions and completing a postgraduate jazz diploma at the Guildhall School of
Music in 2000 where he studied under Simon Purcell, Nikki Iles and Pete Churchill.
Since graduating Tim has lived and worked in London as a performer, composer and teacher. He has worked with many
leading musicians and groups including Guy Barker, Acoustic Ladyland, Bob Martin, Frank Griffith Nonet and Jim
Mullen. Tim recently featured on Ian Shaw’s collection of Joni Mitchell songs “Drawn to All Things” and works
regularly as pianist, composer and arranger with singer Polly Gibbons. He recently recorded, in Italy, on her first jazz
album produced by jazz producer Makoto Kimata (Chet Baker, Benny Golson, Freddie Hubbard) to be released in
March in Japan and the Far East.
Tim has released three original CDs with his band, the Tim Lapthorn Trio. Of ‘Natural Language’, The Penguin
Guide to Jazz on CD said: 'Lapthorn's beautiful debut set is a marvelous first statement ****'. ‘Seventh Sense’
received similarly glowing reviews including Mojo ****, and was rated as one of the top ten international releases of
2007 by critics in Jazzwise magazine and Jazz Review. The CD was also one of the 25 favourite releases of 2007 by
Japanese record giant 'Disc-union'. His next project will include exclusively solo material.
Dave Smith drums & percussion
Dave Smith is one of the finest young drummers on the British jazz scene. Drawing
on a wide range of influences, from West African percussion to classic jazz drumming, his
explosive style and musical sensitivity give him the versatility to play in many musical
environments.
Born in Norwich, Dave began drums and percussion at the age of nine, receiving weekly
lessons from Angus Honeyman. He also played for the Norwich Students Jazz Orchestra
under Dave Amis, and performed with Johnny Dankworth at the Royal Albert Hall.
At 16, Dave won a music scholarship to study at Wells Cathedral School where he received
top percussion tuition from Jane Obradavic and Jan Faulkner with drum kit lessons from
Andrew Tween. He then moved on to The Guildhall School of Music and Drama to specialise in jazz drumming in 1999,
including masterclasses from Dave Liebman, John Patitucci, Billy Cobham and Geoff Keezer.
After graduating from the Guildhall, Dave has worked with leading jazz musicians such as Peter King, Liam Noble,
Julien Siegel, Chris Biscoe, Bobby Wellins and Stan Sulzmann, and is playing regularly in LOOP Collective from
the Outhouse, Jim Hart's Gemini, MA and the Rory Simmons quartet.
Dave's involvement with West African music began in The Gambia in 2002 when he attended an ECCO International
cultural course. Since then he has made return trips to study Sabar drumming from the Wolof culture. He recently
lead a collaboration with Outhouse and five ECCO-Wolof drummers, funded by the Arts council of England, the BBC
Fame Academy Bursary and Pearl drums. Dave was the 2006 winner of the BBC Fame Academy educational bursary,
helping him to fund recording projects, collaborative projects, research trips and drum studies.
Paul Booth saxophones
Paul Booth is one of the most exciting and in demand musicians on the scene today.
Although a very prominent figure on the jazz scene, with one album released on the Jazzizit label
and his new release ‘No Looking Back’ on the Basho label, his versatility has seen him play in
many musical genres.
Paul studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London from the age of 16 and graduated with
honours at the age 20. In his early years he won many awards including the prestigious Clifford
Brown/Stan Getz fellowship held in Miami, ‘The Best Modern Jazz Player’ category in the
televised ‘Young Jazz Player of the Year’ competition and many more.
Paul is currently in the Steve Winwood band has performed worldwide with the likes of
Riverdance (for over two years), Eric Clapton, Matt Bianco, Basia, Alex Wilson, Roberto Pla, Snowboy, Jane Monheit,
Ray Gelato.
He is a regular at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club in London with both his own band and other musicians and has toured
several times under his own name with the backing of Jazz Services and Jazz Action. Paul has been involved with bands
such as Sax Appeal, Tim Garland's Northern Underground Orchestra, The New Couriers, Mike Garrick Big Band, and the
Laurence Cottle Quartet/Big Band.
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Rob Townsend saxophones, woodwind & laptop
Rob Townsend’s musical versatility is exceptional - ranging from saxophone maestro, through
talented woodwind virtuoso, to a master of innovative new ideas in digital sound. Joining
Ambulance during their residency at Snape Maltings in Aldeburgh, Rob not only brought his talents
with saxophones and variety of woodwind instruments into the band’s repertoire, but also added a
new digital dimension, bringing fresh new sampling and sound manipulation technologies to the
Ambulance mix.
A graduate of Middlesex University with a 1st class Honours in Jazz, Rob has performed with a broad
range of leading musicians including Django Bates, Sam Rivers, Iain Ballamy, Mark Lockheart,
Laurence Cottle, Bill Bruford, James Taylor and many more.
He’s also toured with the Leeds-based Phoenix Dance company and the South Indian dance
company Sankalpam and has played on film and TV scores for Oscar-winning composer Stephen Warbeck.
Rob is a senior lecturer in Jazz at Middlesex University and also teaches on summer schools in the UK and abroad.
Alongside his teaching role, Rob plays with Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett – both on tour and featuring on 6 CDs and
2 DVDs – and is a partner in the music production outfit VoodooKazoo, writing music for Film, TV and next generation
computer games for clients including ITV, Channel five, Talkback Thames, Triffic Films and Codemasters.
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