The King of Swing - A Tribute To Benny Goodman

Huddersfield Jazz are proud to be collaborating with Head of Steam to bring you:

The King of Swing - A Tribute to Benny Goodman with the Derrick Harris Septet featuring Alan Barnes

Overview:

Seven leading jazz musicians have been brought together to play sparkling new arrangements by Derrick Harris.  Featuring many of Goodman's most famous hits, including Don't Be That Way, Let's Dance, Air Mail Special, That's a Plenty, Soft Winds, Sweet Georgia Brown, King Porter Stomp, and Sing, Sing, Sing, this band has been thrilling audiences both for listening and for dancing.

Line-up:

Alan Barnes - Clarinet & Saxophone

Mark Chandler - Trumpet

Stuart Garside - Trombone and Vocals

Derrick Harris- Guitar

Martin Longhawn - Piano

Jose Canha - Bass

Paul Smith - Drums

See below for full band biographies.

Ticket Prices / Availability:

Tickets are priced at £16.00 per person (plus 0.40p booking fee).  Tickets can be purchased online via the Huddersfield Jazz website, or on the door on the date of the event.  We encourage customers to book online where possible to allow Huddersfield Jazz / the venue to better manage numbers on the day.

Note: Payment on the door can now be made by card.

Tickets will be limited to the venue fire safety capacity.  Huddersfield Jazz & The Irish Centre reserve the right to refuse entry.

Start/Finish Times / Refreshments:

As per past events the gig will start at 2pm and finish at 4pm with a short mid session break.  Full bar facilities will be available on the day.

Venue Location:

The Irish Cente is located on Fitzwilliam Street in Huddersfield - 86 Fitzwilliam St, Huddersfield HD1 5BB.

Car Parking:

Car parking is availabe on the street / in the car parks opposite the Irish Centre.

Please Note

Huddersfield Jazz / The Irish Centre take no responsibility for incorrect parking / any fines incurred.

Band Member Biographies:

Derrick Harris - Born in Swansea, South Wales. Graduated from Leeds College of Music where he also taught for a number of years.  His most reecent cd is called Ripples. A trio recording, it is his third under his own name.  A previous cd Once More For Luck recorded in 2010 also features him a trio setting again with bass and drums. His second album, And Then Some, also from 2010, was partly funded by Jazz Yorkshire.  This again features his writing and arranging , but this time in the context of a septet for trumpet, saxophone, trombone, guitar, piano, bass and drums. His work in this area was recognised when he was shortlisted for an award as composer/arranger of the year in the Jazz Yorkshire Awards 2012.  The cd was recently featured on the UK and Europe Jazz Showcase on ukjazzradio.com.

As well as leading his own groups, he frequently guests as a soloist with bands up and down the country. He is also to be heard as part of the Ronnie Bottomley Jazz Orchestra, the Yorkshire Jazz Orchestra directed by Tony Faulkner and the Al Wood Trio and accompanying artists such as Enrico Tomasso, Alan Barnes and Digby Fairweather.

He works regularly with orchestras such as the Royal Northern Sinfonia, The Halle Orchestra, and The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. He can also be heard on the cast albums of Honk (Dress CD004), Dave Willetts in Concert (UK Productions) and Bat Boy the Musical (Halo 161203).

His guitar playing was also recently featured on the soundtrack to the recent West Yorkshire Playhouse production of 'Tis Pity She's a Whore", and on the soon to be released Sky Atlantic television drama series "Little Birds”

From an early age he became aware of Charlie Christian, the guitarist with the Benny Goodman band and was drawn to both the playing style, and the sound of Christian’s guitar. Due to Christian’s tragically early death, the majority of Christian’s recording was done with the Goodman Orchestra, hence his familiarity with the music.

Sometime in 2024 it was suggested to Derrick that he should do some arrangements of Goodman’s music for a small group. Goodman’s catalogue of recordings is so vast the difficulty lay in choosing which songs to include and which to omit. The ones chosen represent most of his ‘greatest hits’, and include several tunes which were written by Charlie Christian.

Alan Barnes - His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.

His recorded catalogue is immense. He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.

In British jazz, the young Barnes was recognized – and hired – by the established greats of the time: Stan Tracy, John Dankworth, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, and Humphrey Lyttelton. But he is equally respected for his longstanding and fruitful collaborations with contemporaries such as David Newton, Bruce Adams, and Martin Taylor.

Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.

Mark Chandler - Mark is one of the top trumpeters in the UK, working internationally and with a musical spectrum from Humphrey Lyttelton to Matt Monro to Gladys Knight and the Pips.  He is well known as a jazz player working as a member of the Johnny Dankworth Big Band, a tour withGeorge Russell’s Living Time Orchestra. Guesting with the BBC Big Band as a section member and jazz soloist working with Canadian Band leader, Rob McConnell and Bobby Shew amongst many top jazz names. Playing with the great drummer Elvin Jones at the Soho Jazz Festival was a wonderful memory.

More recently, Mark was a regular section member of the Syd Lawrence Orchestra and featured soloist also working with the Stuttgart Radio Orchestra, Andy Scofield / Jo McCallum Big Band alongside Mike Walker and Stuart McCallum, We Three Kings run by Toby Greenwood and Jamil Sheriff’s Big Band.Mark is now concentrating on jazz tuition working as senior Lecturer at Leeds College of Music and devoting his time to playing jazz with the intention of making a duet album with a number of prominent UK jazz artists. As part of this, he spent a week studying with Bobby Shew learning his methods of teaching embouchure development. An album ‘The Quiet Band’, ‘Lullabies and Dreams’ is due out late 2014 featuring Mark as soloist.

Martin Longhawn - Martin is one of the most in demand piano and keyboard players around the North of England. Martin has performed regularly with a variety of jazz ensembles including the Firebird Quartet, Svarc/Hanley/Longhawn, Kate Peters Quartet/Septet and Krzysztof Urbanski’s Urban Jazz Society.  As well as jazz, Martin is equally at home in other styles from blues, latin, pop, rock and classical.

Jose Canha - José is an accomplished jazz double bassist and has collaborated with a range of projects across various genres and styles, from Bossa Nova, Jazz, Blues, R&B, Manouche, Rock, Funk, and Fado, in ensembles ranging from duets to orchestras and theatre production sets.  Before moving to the UK, Canha's work was mainly focused on popular music and world music fusion, working closely with the pianist and composer Valter Rolo.  Now based in the UK, he has been mostly focused on Jazz music and had the privilege of performing all over the country, sharing the stage with esteemed artists such as Greg Abate, Nigel Price, Jim Mullen, Quentin Collins, Simon Spillett, Julian Stringle, Art Themen, and many more."

Paul Smith - Paul, a seasoned drummer with many years of experience in the music business playing for various artists including Millicent Martin, Eartha Kitt and Vera Lynn. He also played for Muhammad Ali on the Michael Parkinson show, and more recently with Paul Baxter’s band, 7 Pieces of Silver, a tribute to Horace Silver. He now runs the Head of Steam Jazz Club in Huddersfield, one of the North’s most popular venues.