Band on the Wall (main venue)
A triple bill of the freshest jazz talent from across the UK regions, with a late-night DJ set from Dance Regular with EVM 128 & Szajna + Black Vudu Dance Crew
Marcus Joseph
Marcus Joseph alto saxophone / Lorenze Okello Osenger keyboards / James Wade-Sired trombone / Wayne Matthews bass / Edward Wakili Hick drums
For those that haven’t experienced a Marcus Joseph live performance, get ready for energy! Marcus, a talented alto saxophonist, has created a heavy groove-driven show that is loaded with funky breaks and wicked rhythm sections that make you wanna get up and dance. His jazz takes influences from his Jamaican heritage and connects with the audience through hip-hop and spoken word affirmations that Marcus weaves through the music, making it a seriously engaging show for the audience. A celebrated young performer with lots of talent and creative energy.
Marcus, with roots in Leicester and the East Midlands, was recently part of the 2022 Take 5 programme with Serious. He is also part of the Jerwood Jazz Encounters programme for 2023, which sees him exploring the limitless possibilities of XR technologies within music, presenting his Jazz Maze project at Sage Gateshead in September 2023. Alongside showcasing at SXSW in Austin Texas, it’s going to be one busy year for this talented young artist.
Romarna Campbell Trio
Romarna Campbell drums / Cenk Esen piano / Mutale Chashi bass
Drummer, producer and composer Romarna Campbell performs music from her highly anticipated new album, set for release in 2023.
Romarna’s storytelling begins with the drums. The nomadic spirit of this exciting artist from Birmingham’s bustling jazz scene lives in her jazz and hip hop-infused music. Her irrepressible energy can be heard on Inherently Political, a super-charged sonic assault on racism that immediately won favour with Jazz FM’s Deb Grant and Tony Minvielle and had her crowned by Jamz Supernova as ‘New Name of the Week’.
Her independently-released kaleidoscopic debut 25 Songs For My 25th Birthday features Soweto Kinch, Tomeka Reid, Sumi Tonooka and Lady Sanity and takes us deeper into her world of resonant frequencies and conscious vibrations. Having honed her craft with Berklee College of Music, Tomorrow’s Warriors and the Notebenders, Romarna stands on the shoulders of giants and is drawing inspiration from the view as she beats a path forward that is very much her own.
Robocobra Quartet
Chris Ryan drums, vocals / Tom Taboroi soprano saxophone / Peter Howard alto & tenor saxophone / Nathan Rodgers bass guitar
A collective of musicians from Belfast inspired by Stravinsky and Dead Kennedys in equal measures. Meticulous arrangements and on-the-spot improvisations hang on every sung, spoken or shouted word, propelling the music forward and concocting a sound that is groove-driven but cerebral, invoking the likes of Fugazi, Talking Heads and contemporaries such as Black Midi, Squid and BadBadNotGood.
Robocobra Quartet’s unmatched live performances channel-hop from moments of joy and playfulness to periods of intense fury, earning them invitations to festivals across the world, including Montreux Jazz Festival, SXSW and Latitude Festival.
Their self-produced Northern Ireland Music Prize-nominated album Plays Hard To Get pulls the audience like a rag doll through its nine tracks of improvisation-soaked post-punk. Featuring oblique production nods to influences as disparate as modern classical music and 60s pop, the album track Short Stretch of Day was used in the HBO documentary Game of Thrones: The Last Watch.
Bar stage from 10.00pm (free entry):
Dance Regular with EVM 128 & Szajna + Black Vudu Dance Crew
London’s brand new Sunday night jam by EVM128, featuring various Dj’s from the UK house and Brokenbeat scene, comes to Manchester. EVM128 is a producer and DJ, originally from Bristol but rooted in London, who has DJ’d alongside Gilles Peterson, Ross Allen, Don Letts, Norman Jay, Greg Wilson, IG Culture, Afronaut, Henry Wu, K 15, Neneh Cherry, DJ Vadim, Roots Manuva, LV, Artwork (Magneticman), Afrika Hi-tek, Silkie and Flako. His Dj’ing is eclectic, with influences ranging from 80’s Boogie, Soul, Electro, Broken Beat, Afro, House and Disco to HipHop, Ragga, Jungle, Garage and Bass genres.
Date: saturday 27 may
Time: 9:00 pm - 11:45 pm
Time: 10:00 pm - 3:00 am
Price: £10
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