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Free Lunchtime Music!
Welcome to ignite. Taking place on Friday lunchtimes in the relaxed atmosphere of the Hall's Café Consort, ignite features talented young ensembles in performances from gypsy jazz to Parisian folk. Come and hear some fantastic music for free whilst enjoying great food and drink.
This season features four performances from the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3. For more on the London Jazz festival visit www.londonjazzfestival.org.uk.
Our successful ignite brunch also continues throughout the summer, allowing you to enjoy a lazy Sunday with live music and a choice of dishes from our exclusive brunch menu. To find out more, please visit the ignite brunch page.
Hai La Drum - Friday 5 September
 Hai La Drum ('Hit the road') is an international collaboration of four versatile musicians with a unique blend of influences.
Impeccably led by violin virtuoso Baz Stanescu, this gipsy jazz quartet plays traditional Romanian, Russian and other Balkan forms, mixing in some improvisation and unusual arrangements.
Featuring Baz Stanescu on violin, Jonny Hepbir on guitar, Pete Watson on accordion and Dan Sheppard on double bass.
Guerillasound - Friday 12 September
 Featuring Nick Kaçal on double bass, Dave Ohm on drums and Grant Windsor on piano.
Guerillasound is jazz as it is played in the clubs by musicians afterhours – the real deal as they hear it, without constraint. This makes every performance eclectic, as inspiration takes them from contemporary rock tunes to fragile acoustic ballads, from hard swinging bebop to biting funk backbeats.
Guerillasound love to play clean and acoustic, but are not afraid to be dirty and electric!
www.guerillasound.co.uk
Ritary Gaguenetti Quartet - Friday 19 September
 The Ritary Gaguenetti Quartet comes from the pure tradition of gipsy swing. With two guitar players, a bass and a saxophone, the group continues to pursue a tradition born from the music of Django Reinhardt.
Ritary, a self-taught musician much influenced by the Dutch gypsy style, has developed a style of his own that’s full of ideas and smoothness whilst continuing the Django style. His virtuoso playing is as sharp and precise as it is melodious and smooth. The group has earned a reputation that has put them at the top of many festival invitation lists all over Europe, as well as numerous independent jazz clubs.
http://ritaryensemble.free.fr
Top Shelf Jazz - Friday 26 September
 Top Shelf Jazz, the "Fine Purveyors of Filthy Swing", play jazz as it used to be: fast and louche!
Delicious echoes of Al Bowlly and Fats Waller with a dangerous hint of gypsy swing, all rolled into one hot menagerie of crooning, tap dance, old world suave and rakish banter.
Arthur Foxaque, “Caustic Crooner” and notorious dandy, leads the elegant entourage that is Top Shelf Jazz. His genuine 30’s crooning voice creates an atmosphere harking back to prohibition parties and silver screen romances. The band also sports their very own tap dancer and Charleston flapper. Lunchtime travel, anyone?
www.topshelfjazz.co.uk
Christian Brewer - Friday 3 October
 Alto saxophonist Christian Brewer is one of the most lyrical and soulful players to have emerged from the UK in recent years.
Loved for his melodic playing and pure tone, he has risen to prominence on the British jazz scene, having been a regular at London's prestigious Ronnie Scott’s, as well as performing at most of the major jazz clubs in the UK.
www.christianbrewer.co.uk
Los Quatro - Friday 10 October
 Los Quatro features four members of Los Desterrados (‘The Exiles’), a London sextet who have created their own radical and rousing take on the ancient folk music of the Sephardic Jews.
Fusing Spanish Flamenco and the fiery Gypsy melodies of the Balkans and Greece with the rhythms of Morocco and Turkey, they have created a rootsy Mediterranean sound that is wholly their own.
Using traditional instruments such as the cajón, with vocals in Ladino, the language of the Sephardic Jews, Los Quatro perform their own versions of the Los Desterrados repertoire.
www.losdesterrados.com
Alejandro Toledo and The Magic Tombolinos - Friday 17 October
 London-based band “Alejandro Toledo and the Magic Tombolinos” is a six-piece group which is currently conquering the UK.
The band is made of musicians from different parts of the globe (Argentina, France, the UK, Greece, Slovakia and Australia) who bring together their backgrounds and experiences in a celebration of music with no regional boundaries.
Led by Alejandro Toledo, this high energy band stylishly serves up the most intricate and fun performances Oriental Gypsy music has to offer.
www.magictombolinos.co.uk
Mala Pinta - Friday 24 October
 Mala Pinta aims to demystify tango and to open up a new path for those who have not had the opportunity to discover its richness and its relevance to modern life. For them tango is the music of the city, filled with all the energy and emotions that burn in the heart of all heaving capitals.
Mala Pinta, meaning rogue, perform music from the underground urban world of Argentinean Tango, challenging, ambitious and devastatingly beautiful.
www.malapinta.com
Dr Teeth Big Band - Friday 31 October
 The Dr Teeth Big Band was formed over seven years ago to reinvent the great sound of jazz/blues and swing, and serve it up for the new millennium.
They have invented their own genre and bring you an intoxicating mix of non-stop jump jive, swing, boogie woogie and rhythm & blues into what they call New Breed Swing, played with energy and enthusiasm that is infectious. Sit back, and let the rhythm take control!
www.thedrteethbigband.com
Michael Mwenso – Friday 14 November
London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
 Michael Mwenso is a great trombonist, a nifty dancer and an extremely snappy dresser, and he can also sing!
He's a talented multi-instrumentalist who, at the age of 21, has already worked with the likes of Hugh Masekela, James Brown, Abram Wilson and Jamie Cullum.
Sarah Gillespie – Wednesday 19 November
London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
 Up-and-coming Singer songwriter Sarah Gillespie possesses a potent voice that is smoky and seductive with a bluesy edge.
She performs here with her trio featuring international jazz star Gilad Atzmon and bassist Ben Bastin.
www.sarahgillespie.com
Juliet Kelly – Thursday 20 November
London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
 Juliet's sensual, velvety vocals and jazz phrasing have been described as a cross between Cassandra Wilson and Madeleine Peyroux with a hint of Amy Winehouse... But she has developed her own individual style and is one of the most distinctive singers on today’s London scene.
A warm, passionate and witty performer, she combines jazz, soul and gospel in lilting, melodic songs that perfectly match her voice.
www.julietkelly.com
Nell Bryden – Friday 21 November
London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3
 Nell Bryden is a singer songwriter from New York whose graceful blend of blues, country and jazz has made waves on both sides of the Atlantic.
With influences such as Ryan Adams and Bob Dylan through to soul divas like Nina Simone and Bonnie Raitt, Bryden has weaven into her song-writing and performances elements of bluegrass, American jazz standards and retro soul.
Her inspiring vocal style can jump from laid-back lilt to passionate plea, or shake things up with a straight-ahead roadhouse boogie.
www.nellbryden.com
Modern Jazz Trio - Friday 28 November
 Modern Jazz Trio was formed in 2005, and since then has performed at various venues across the South East with a huge list of jazz greats: Don Rendell, Harry Beckett, John Etheridge, Jean Toussaint, Tony Kofi and Don Weller to name but some.
The band consists of Roan Kearsey Lawson, one of the UK’s finest percussion players, extraordinary guitarist John Myhill, and sought after bass and brass player Harry Cook. Not to be missed!
Click here for May to August ignites
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