Jazz at Progress | Darius Brubeck Quartet | Sold out
Friday 20 November 2015 | Progress Theatre, Reading | 7.30pm | £18.00 (£16.00 concessions) plus maximum 5% booking fee
Dave O’Higgins tenor saxophone | Darius Brubeck piano | Matt Ridley double bass | Wesley Gibbens drums
Darius is one of five Brubeck brothers who often toured with Chris, Dan and Dad – jazz icon Dave Brubeck – as ‘Two Generations of Brubeck’. He has a long career in music education and instigated the first Jazz Studies course at an African university when he moved to South Africa in 1983. In 2006 he moved to London where he created the original quartet including Matt and Wesley. Dave O’Higgins joined several years ago and now their mutual understanding and interaction is always exciting to witness.
At the end of 2014 the quartet released Cathy’s Summer. They will be playing many of the new Darius Brubeck compositions featured on this album, plus jazz standards, South African jazz and some ever-popular Dave Brubeck tunes.
Dave O’Higgins excels playing these tunes with the rhythm trio of Darius, Matt and Wes. Their acoustic sound is melodic, spontaneous, rhythmic and engaging. His fluent playing, never-dull improvisation and lovely tone, on both tenor and soprano sax, marks him out as a truly excellent saxophonist with a style rooted in post-bop and swing.
Matt Ridley has made a real name for himself as a bass player happy in any form of jazz-tinged genre, from world music, and bebop to contemporary, with swing in between. A member of the late Michael Garrick’s Quartet, Big Band and Lyric Ensemble and now the MJQ Celebration band with Jim Hart on vibes, he also has his own contemporary set up, releasing debut album Thymos in 2013.
Wesley Gibbens moved to London from South Africa in 2005 and has played drums with the quartet since its inception. Wesley’s Durban roots make him an obvious choice for UK-based African musicians and he has gained an international profile in jazz, African, Brazilian and traditional New Orleans music. | Sold out
