Time: 8.00 – 11.00pm

Tickets: £12

Personnel

Benn Clatworthy – Tenor Sax & Flute
Alex Hutton – piano
Simon Thorpe – bass
Matt Home – drums

Tonight, our annual welcome back to tenor ace Benn Clatworthy . .

From storming post-Coltrane energy to beautiful ballad playing, Los Angeles-based Benn Clatworthy has matured into a truly great tenor player. Known for his emotional playing and his dry sense of humour, we are delighted to welcome him back with a top-class rhythm section featuring the fantastic Alex Hutton on piano , Simon Thorpe on bass and Matt Home on drums

Playing from the songbook of Blue Note and more contemporary jazz, his tone is extraordinarily beautiful, and his melodic ideas come from the heart. As someone said recently ‘It’s as though he’s talking to us and telling us a story through the saxophone!’

Born in Hastings in 1955, grandson of the famous theatre and revue artist, Gertrude Lawrence, Benn Clatworthy grew up in London. As a teenager he took sax lessons from Ronnie Scott who recommended him to Berklee College, Boston. Benn’s distinctive, muscular saxophone and flute feature in his unique arrangements of standards from Cole Porter to Marvin Gaye, John Coltrane to the Beatles. His work credits include such notables as Cedar Walton, Lionel Hampton and Jimmy Cleveland. Benn has released eleven CDs to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.

After a stint with the iconic Horace Silver band Benn moved to the US and has gone on to establish himself as a musician of impressive pedigree and talent, working with the likes of Billy Higgins, Lionel Hampton , Cab Calloway & Cedar Walton.

A fixture in Los Angeles area clubs since 1980, Benn Clatworthy was originally heavily influenced by late-’50s John Coltrane, but would soften his tone and sometimes sound a little like Warne Marsh with touches of Sonny Rollins.

Tonight Benn will be performing with his quartet a mix of classic, post-bop jazz standards and material from his latest recording “The Pursuit”.

A powerful and impressive player.  Benn has released eleven CDs to critical acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic..

“While forty years in Los Angeles seem to have had little effect on expatriate Brit Benn Clatworthy’s Bow Bells speech, his tenor sax playing has acquired strong US characteristics, not least a tough personal tone and a wide emotional range that extends from ballad tenderness to gladiatorial torrents of controlled aggression at fast tempos.” Chris Lee “…

Scattering notes around the room with a deliciously dry loquacity in a fast-moving hard-bob manner” John Fordham

Artist website