Jazz at Hintlesham Hall: From Bebop to the Cool School

• From Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus to Ella Fitzgerald and Miles Davis – basking in the glow of his 100th anniversary – take a journey through the captivating world of 1940s and ‘50s American jazz

• Explore the fashion of this changing, often turbulent era with guest speaker Grace Evans, Keeper of Costume at Chertsey Museum 

• Uncover parallels within American and British art of the time, with a dedicated lecture, and enjoy a visit to the Munnings Art Museum in Dedham

Tour Director

Tour Director Sandy Burnett, MA, is a musician and broadcaster who spent a decade as one of the core team of presenters on BBC Radio 3; highlights there included hosting the breakfast programme, presenting live broadcasts from the Proms and Edinburgh Festival, and interviewing many of the world’s most distinguished musicians. As a double bass player, Sandy has performed, toured and recorded with many of the finest artists and ensembles from Britain and beyond. He is the regular bass player for Blue Harlem, the Hep Chaps, the Tuxedo Jazz Orchestra and for the American singer/songwriter Gerard Kenny; he has a Friday night residency at the Chelsea Arts Club, appears regularly at Ronnie Scott’s, and in 2016 his playing was featured in the National Theatre’s acclaimed revival of August Wilson’s play based around Black American music-making in the 1920s, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom. Conducting credits have included a complete cycle of Bach cantatas as well as work with the Royal Shakespeare Company, Royal National Theatre and in London’s West End. He is the author of the Idler Guide to Classical Music and he was appointed as the Hogwood Fellow of the Academy of Ancient Music for the 2018/19 season.

ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS & PERFORMERS

Grace Evans

Passionate about the history of fashion, Grace Evans read History at the University of York before starting her career at the Museum of London, and then going on to take up the post of Keeper of Costume at Chertsey Museum. In addition to curating a series of fashion exhibitions, she regularly lectures and writes about the history of dress. Her book Fashion in Focus – 1600 to 2009: Treasures from the Olive Matthews Collection at Chertsey Museum was published in 2011.

Sarah Burles

Sarah Burles, MA, studied History of Art at Cambridge and gained a Masters at University College London before going on to a career in museum and gallery education. This included 12 years at the Fitzwilliam Museum as well as work in other Cambridge museums. An accredited Arts Society lecturer, Sarah has a passion for making museums and their collections accessible. She has led several art tours for ACE to the USA, including the galleries of New England, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. 

BruMing Band

BruMing celebrates the music of two celebrated jazz pioneers, Dave Brubeck and Charles Mingus. Both of these bandleaders put out ground-breaking albums in 1959: Time Out and Ah Um, respectively; it is from these recordings that the BruMing Band will draw their material.

David Gordon (piano) is an inventive musician who draws on a hugely diverse musical background ranging from playing harpsichord with the London Concertante to outrageous piano stylings with such jazz luminaries as Chris Garrick, Jacqui Dankworth, Tango with Zum and the London Tango Quintet.

Bristol-based Jake McMurchie’s (alto sax) distinctive sound, imagination and melodic invention have made him a key member of many innovative and exciting bands, notably Get The Blessing, Michelson Morley, Portishead and Massive Attack, among many others.

Mingus’s huge shoes are filled by our Tour Director, the bassist Sandy Burnett. Sandy has worked as a musical director at the RSC and National Theatre, and spent over a decade as one of BBC Radio 3’s core presenters; this all aside from his regular jazz work with many of the finest musicians in the UK.

Completing the line-up on drums is Paul Cavaciuti, who spent over a decade living in the US, where he absorbed the language of jazz first-hand. His infectious groove and creative playing have featured in a multitude of different musical contexts. He has worked with a huge number of the top names in British jazz (including many years touring and recording with the David Gordon Trio) and has had his playing described by Musician Magazine as “outstanding and virtuosic”.

Sara Oschlag

 
Danish-born Brighton resident Sara Oschlag has established herself as one of the UK’s premier jazz vocalists. She is a regular performer at leading jazz festivals and venues, including Ronnie Scott’s, Love Supreme Festival, Jazz at The Lincoln Center and Pizza Express, has sung at events all across Europe, and has built up a YouTube presence of over 12 million views. Equally at home in the role of band leader as she is as a much in-demand special guest, she sings regularly with the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra and Pete Long’s Echoes of Ellington Big Band with their show ‘Duke & Ella’, and duetted with US trumpet/vocal star Benny Benack III when he visited the UK on tour. 

Alex Garnett

Born into a London-based family of musicians, saxophonist Alex Garnett followed his father's career into the music business. He has been a professional musician since 1995, enjoying a varied musical career as a solo artist and session musician. Garnett is amongst the very few headlining UK jazz musicians at London’s famous Ronnie Scott’s club and an integral part of its house band ‘The All Stars’, as well as presenting his ‘late show’, which plays host to a kaleidoscope of world-class jazz musicians. As a regular sideman of choice for touring artists, Alex has performed in over 30 countries worldwide and with a wide range of artists, including Seth McFarlane, Ruby Turner, Sam Moore, Jimmy Page, Pee Wee Ellis, John Hendricks, Van Morrison, Mike Gibbs, Wynton Marsalis, Kurt Elling, Doris Troy, Scott Hamilton, Carlene Anderson, Houston Person, Otis Grand, Jools Holland, Buddy Greco, The Rolling Stones and Michele Legrand. Alex released his debut quartet CD in 2011 to widespread critical acclaim; while his second album on the illustrious Whirlwind label received similar praise, gaining Alex first-place nomination in the British Jazz Awards 2016. 

  
Liam Dunachie

 
Liam Dunachie is one of the most in-demand pianists and Hammond organists of his generation in the UK. A graduate of Cambridge University and later the Guildhall School of Music postgraduate jazz course, his versatility across a wide range of styles has established him as one of the busiest keyboard players in the UK. He is a regular face in the clubs of London and beyond as a sideman with many of the foremost figures in UK jazz such as Henry Lowther, Tony Kofi, Alex Garnett and Jim Mullen as well as many more contemporary groups such as those led by bassist Misha Mullov-Abbado, trumpeter Hugh Pascall and violinist Benet Mclean. In more commercial work he has worked with such varied figures as Beverley Knight, Tony Blackburn and Andrew Lloyd-Webber. He also works regularly with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall, in the pit bands of various West End musicals and recently returned from a tour of China, where he was the musical director for the singer Alfie Boe.