Brandon Allen/Alex Garnett: 'Tough Tenors'
Brandon Allen’s wonderfully fluent and incisive sax playing has been heard with numerous high-profile artists including Eric Clapton and Jools Holland and he is currently the featured saxophonist with the Kyle Eastwood Band. Alex Garnett’s powerful, flowing, hard bop sax has been heard with many of Europe's leading groups. He has performed in over 30 countries and includes work with artists including Wynton Marsalis, Van Morrison and Jools Holland on a stellar cv. Friends for over 20 years, the musical chemistry between these two brilliant sax players is truly impressive. Tonight they come together to celebrate the great jazz tradition of the “Tenor Battle”, made famous by the likes of Sonny Stitt/Gene Ammons, Al Cohn/Zoot Sims and the more contemporary pairings of Joe Lovano/Joshua Redman and Eric Alexander/Grant Stewart. As they say, “expect foot tappin’ rhythm and blues, classic hardbop, high energy modal blowouts, contemporary jazz and gorgeous full toned ballads”. Also featuring Jim Watson-organ and Dave Ingamells-drums.
“Brandon Allen is arguably the most exciting tenor player in Britain today” Jazzwise; "[Allen's] four-octave range and flawless command of the altissimo register was nicely offset by his full-bodied yet raucous tonal quality offering something for fans of the entire history of the instrument- from Hawkins to Brecker- he's got em covered." London Jazz; “Alex Garnett…one of Great Britain’s most accomplished post bop musicians” AllAboutJazz