Howard Assembly Room winter jazz highlights - Entrepreneur Generations

Tony Allen 7 April

Ambrose Akinmusire 28 April

The Howard Assembly Room at Opera North, Leeds, has announced its Winter 2018 season jazz highlights including:

Zara McFarlane with her latest album Arise, produced by Moses Boyd and featuring cameos from Binker Golding and Shabaka Hutchings (9 Feb). Eloquent and provocative singer-songwriter Zara McFarlane is fast becoming Britain's foremost female jazz vocalist. As a performer she is uniquely engaging, deftly combining the intricacies of jazz with a deep soulfulness, melding multiple influences from reggae to pop, folk and blues. Her third studio album Arise traces her Caribbean musical heritage and explores her take on the musical possibilities of British- Jamaican identity, produced by award-winning drummer Moses Boyd (Binker & Moses). Tickets: £15.50

June Tabor’s trio Quercus (16 Feb), featuring saxophonist and Loose Tubes founder Iain Ballamy and Welsh pianist Huw Warren (Perfect Houseplants). The incomparable English singer June Tabor leads a trio exploring jazz, folk and traditional songs in contemporary settings to mesmerising effect. Saxophonist Iain Ballamy and pianist Huw Warren join her in an evocative mixture of words and music, with songs from their beautiful second album Nightfall. Tickets: £15.00

French accordionist Richard Galliano is joined by guitarist Sylvain Luc for A Tribute to Edith Piaf (24 Mar). One of the great accordionists of the modern era, Richard Galliano returns to the Howard Assembly Room to bring the spirit of the Seine and Paris’ wartime nightclubs into the heart of Leeds. He is joined by the peerless jazz guitarist Sylvain Luc for a performance dedicated to the grande dame of French chanson: Edith Piaf. Tickets: £20.00

Founding father of Afrobeat Tony Allen returns to his jazz roots with new album The Source (7 April). A genuine icon and a founding father of Afrobeat as an original member of Fela Kuti’s Africa ’70 band, Tony Allen’s trademark splicing of jazz, funk, highlife and Yoruba rhythms has influenced generations of musicians over the past five decades, and he continues to innovate with his new album, The Source. Tickets: £22.50

Following his latest for Blue Note, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire visits on 28 April. Equally at home guesting with Kendrick Lamar as he is pushing boundaries with his own longtime quartet, the American trumpeter visits Leeds in the wake of his latest double album on Blue Note, recorded live at the legendary Village Vanguard, and continuing his advancing of jazz in unexpected directions. Tickets: £16.00

Tickets 0844 848 2727 or online at howardassemblyroom.co.uk

The Howard Assembly Room
46 New Briggate
Leeds
LS1 6NU