Apr ’23 – Robin Sings Chet Baker At Saffron Hall, 14th April ’23

We’ve been loving deep-diving into Chet Baker again for these shows featuring Robin and trumpeter James Brady, working together to bring the music of Chet Baker back to life.

The Westerham Jazz Club show went down exceptionally well in March, check out our social networks and our YouTube channel for some video from the night dropping next week.

The next show is at Saffron Hall in their Foyer Jazz series, where we’re focussing on the kind of drummer-less line-up adopted by Chet in Europe, with Robin on vocals, James on trumpet, Louis Thorne on guitar, and Joel Humann on Bass.

Robin Sings Chet at Saffron Hall (Saffron Walden nr Cambridge) on Friday 14th April.

Click here for more info on our Chet programme.

Mar ’23: repmusic presents ‘Sam & Vij Play Blue Train’ 29th Sept ’22

Kicking off the Spring season of jazz at Gonville Hotel in Cambridge and continuing the ‘repmusic presents’ series at the venue, on Thurs 9th March Sam Miles (tenor saxophone) and Vij Prakash (trombone) will perform their own take of one of John Coltrane’s most seminal albums: ‘Blue Train’.

At this dinner jazz event, guests can enjoy a two-course meal before settling in to enjoy these two top jazz musicians explore this 1958 classic, as well as playing brand new original music written for this project. A ticket only option is also available.

Dinner and jazz: 18:30 (two-course meal + concert £45)
Jazz concert only: 19:30 (£15)

Featuring some of the city’s top jazz musicians who perform regularly at London’s jazz clubs and around the country, this collaboration is sure to be a great night of jazz, mixing well-known jazz classics with brand new material.

John Coltrane is one of the most famous jazz musicians in history, becoming an absolute master of the saxophone and changing the landscape of jazz with his 1959 Giant Steps album. The year before releasing that album, his more chilled out Blue Train album is an absolute masterpiece of cool bluesy jazz, recorded during his residency at Five Spot with the Thelonious Monk quartet, as hard bop was reaching its peak and the artists starting to move to a more modal approach to jazz.

Mixing Coltrane’s originals where he uses the blues and other standards as bases to create his own pieces, and alongside the standard I’m Old Fashioned, Blue Train (alongside Miles Davis’ Kind Of Blue) is one of the most famous jazz albums of all time and certainly one of the most listenable regardless of your preferred style of jazz. The album featured John Coltrane alongside other jazz masters Lee Morgan, trombonist Curtis Fuller, Kenny Drew, Paul Chambers, and Philly Joe Jones.

repmusic presents ‘Sam & Vij Play Blue Train’, will feature:
Sax – Sam Miles
Trombone – Vij Prakash
Guitar – Phil Stevenson
Bass – Sandy Suchodolski
Drums – Josh Blackmore

Click here to email to book tickets or request further information, including a menu for the event.

repmusic presents live jazz at the Gonville Hotel, every Friday evening between 7-9pm, for more information see www.repmusic.co.uk

Jan ’22: ‘Back To The Source’ Screening & Pinstripe Réduit Performance

This UK film premiere screening and music event is a joint repmusic-Cambridge Modern Jazz promotion.

‘Back To The Source’ is a multi-award winning music road-trip documentary film by Robin Phillips, retracing the path of jazz and blues in America, from Chicago to New Orleans on a Harley Davidson to connect with the soul of his art form.

The 58min documentary follows Robin’s trip and music experiences and includes interviews with people encountered along the way, including:
– St Louis blues club owner John May,
– Clarksdale tourist chief Bubba O’Keefe,
– ‘The Swampers’ bass player David Hood,
– Mississippi blues man Dexter Allen,
– Muscle Shoals Sound Studio Chief Engineer from 1970s Steve Melton, and,
– New Orleans saxophonist James Martin.

The Gonville Hotel is offering a dinner ticket which will be served during the documentary screening.The screening will then be followed by a one-set performance by Robin’s New Orleans-flavoured speakeasy swing quartet Pinstripe Rèduit, including original music inspired by the trip featured in the film.

The film won ‘Best Documentary’ and ‘Best Feature Film’ at the Kings Cross Film Awards in December 2021, won the PARAI Musical International Award 2021, and was an ‘Official Selection’ in the Best Documentary category at the New Creators Film Awards (Dec 2021).

This is the first public screening in the UK following the World premiere at the Clarksdale Film Festival in Mississippi.

For more info:
www.thejazzpresenter.com
www.facebook.com/backtothesourcefilm
www.pinstripswing.co.uk
or email via the contact page

Cambridge Modern Jazz event page

Tickets including two course meal – £40 Ticket only – £15
Room (B&B) special offer that evening for event attendees – £160

Book by email: sales@gonvillehotel.co.uk or phone Gonville Hotel on 01223 366611

March 2020: New studio video from Re-Versed album

To celebrate the beginning of Spring, we have just released the first studio video from the recording sessions for Robin’s album, Re-Versed. And as it’s Spring, we thought the first video should be Spring Can Really Hang You Up The Most.

Click here to watch the video on YouTube.

The song was written by Tommy Wolff with lyrics by Fran Landesman. The track features Robin Phillips (vocals, piano, arrangements, producer), Brandon Allen (tenor saxophone), Jihad Darwish (upright bass), and Seb De Krom (drums). The song is featured on the Re-Versed album, which looks at the lost verses of the jazz standards. The album has received fantastic critical acclaim and Robin will be touring the album in Autumn ’20 / Spring ’21.

The song was recorded at the repmusic recording studio and was produced, mixed, mastered, and the video edit all done by Robin Phillips.

Click here for more information of Robin Phillips and the new Re-Versed album, including links to reviews and other tracks and videos from the album.

Jan 2020: Music Road Trip Documentary & US Premiere

In 2019 Robin undertook the road trip of a lifetime, retracing the path of jazz and blues in America from Chicago down to New Orleans, on a Harley Davidson motorbike. The film coverage from this trip has become a documentary called ‘Back To The Source’.

The documentary was premiered at the Clarksdale Film Festival in Mississippi in January 2020. Whilst back in the US for the premiere, Robin filmed more footage for the final version of the film, including interviewing The Swampers bassist David Hood, and recording with the Dexter Allen Band from Jackson, Mississippi, in the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound Studio.

Click here to visit the Facebook page dedicated to the documentary and follow the journey of this film as it makes its way into the public domain in 2020.

Click here to see the film’s trailer on YouTube.

Film blurb:

English jazz musician Robin Phillips retraces the path of jazz and blues in America, from Chicago to New Orleans, in a once-in-a-lifetime road trip on a Harley Davidson motorbike, to better understand the art form he has dedicated his life to. The full documentary includes road trip footage and pieces to camera, as well as interviews with John May (BBs Blues and Soups in St Louis), Bubba O’Keefe (Visit Clarksdale), Steve Melton (Muscle Shoals Sound Studio), Dexter Allen (Jackson blues musician), and James Martin (New Orleans jazz musician).

Co-directed by: Robin Phillips & Domininkas Zalys
Produced by: repmusic Ltd
Main footage and editing: Domininkas Zalys
Additional footage by: Robin Phillips, Marcus Stade, Stacey Dawson, Damian Glasfurd-Brown Copyright

(C) repmusic 2019

Nov ’19: Time After Time Music Video Now Live

The second official music video from Robin’s new ‘Re-Versed’ album is now live and available to watch on YouTube.

The video features footage from Robin’s 2019 road trip of research and discovery from Chicago to New Orleans, on a Harley Davidson Street Glide motorbike. The vocal parts of the video were filmed at Sun Studios in Memphis, Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, ‘Robert Johnson’s crossroads’, and on Frenchmen Street in New Orleans. The trip will be featured in a documentary released in 2020.

Click here to see the video on YouTube.

Click here for more information on Robin and the ‘Re-Versed’ album.

Video produced by repmusic.

Videography and editing – Domininkas Zalys, Creative Onions