Just announced – Michel Legrand

UPDATE 1st AUGUST: Ronnie Scott’s has announced: “The legendary Michel Legrand  Trio will be stepping in to headline at Ronnie’s next Friday and Saturday as part of International Piano Trio festival (in place of Joe Sample who has unfortunately had to cancel – get well soon Joe).” 

We reviewed Legrand’s first ever appearance as headliner at Ronnie Scott’s HERE, and his 2013 autobiography HERE
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Matthew Wright previews the Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival. He writes:

Ronnie Scott’s has launched an international piano trio festival, running next week, presenting some mouthwatering band combinations of both new and established talent. Ronnie’s has devised an ingenious overlapping programme, whereby the bigger bands play two nights, alongside a different support each night, offering an unparalleled variety within a single week.

PHRONESIS / JASON REBELLO / HAROLD LOPEZ-NUSSA / TINGVALL TRIO / JACKY TERRASSON

Phronesis surely need little introduction, and are always good value live; Rebello, back on the solo jazz scene after many years with Sting and Jeff Beck, impressed with last year’s album Anything but Look. But also well worth hearing are trios led by young Cuban Harold Lopez-Nussa, and young Swede Martin Tingvall. Though only 26, Lopez-Nussa has already released three albums, and came to prominence with an extraordinary performance at the 2006 Montreux Jazz Festival. His playing combines driving jazz rhythms with unmistakably Cuban swirling melodies to exhilarating effect. The Tingvall trio, meanwhile, (reviewed here) is clearly a descendant of the fellow Swedes of EST, their compositions combining the potent rhythms and lyrical melodies of rock with the spontaneous complexity of jazz. Frenchman Jacky Terrasson, according to his agent, is “always flying“. He drops in for just one night.

LATE SHOWS

Ronnie’s late shows are a popular showcase for talented young groups, and there are exciting shows all week, with exciting young bandleaders including Peter Edwards, and Leon Greening. But in some ways the most exciting show of the week, because of its sheer novelty, will be the Jacob Collier Trio, which is playing on Friday night. Still only 20, Collier takes the concept of youth and talent to a new extreme. Largely self-taught, having risen to prominence through his extraordinary multi-instrumental, overdubbed YouTube broadcasts, Collier is arguably the most exciting new player of the moment. Unmissable.

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It was probably never going away, but – with the Vortex’s Trio Trip series also programming some ambitious international ensembles – any concerns about the health of the piano trio can now be thoroughly assuaged.

FULL PROGRAMME

Monday 4th August: 

ZOE RAHMAN TRIO / JACKY TERRASON TRIO

Late Late Show: REUBEN JAMES TRIO

Tuesday 5th August: 

JACKY TERRASSON TRIO / PHRONESIS

Late Late Show: RICK SIMPSON TRIO

Wednesday 6th August: PHRONESIS / HAROLD LOPEZ NUSSA

Late Late Show: PETER EDWARDS TRIO

Thursday 7th August: 

JULIAN JOSEPH TRIO + HAROLD LOPEZ NUSSA

Late Late Show: LEON GREENING TRIO

Friday 8th August:

FIRST SHOW: JASON REBELLO TRIO / JACOB COLLIER TRIO

SECOND SHOW: MICHEL LEGRAND TRIO

Sat 9th August 

FIRST SHOW: TINGVALL TRIO / GARETH WILLIAMS POWER TRIO

SECOND SHOW: MICHEL LEGRAND TRIO

Sunday 10th August: 

 OSCAR PETERSON MEETS THE BIG BAND (JAMES PEARSON TRIO + BIG BAND) – This show is sold out