SOLD OUT: Omar with the Quentin Collins/ Brandon Allen Quartet: "The Late Set Sessions"

Ticket update 16th September:
This gig is now SOLD OUT

Friday 16th September, Tickets £15, Doors 7pm, Music 9pm (2 sets, approximate finish 11.30pm)

Omar with the Quentin Collins/Brandon Allen Quartet: "The Late Set Sessions"

Omar, the founder of nu-classic British soul, brings his vocal talents to the same stage as this hard-swinging quartet, whose last album featured a superb, soulful rendition of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Smile Please’

You can also hear Omar's recent Radio 1 interview, which includes his work with Stevie Wonder here!

Omar – vocals - MOBO 2011 Nominee - Best R&B/Soul Act
Quentin Collins – trumpet
Brandon Allen – saxophone
Carl Hudson– Keyboards
Enzo Zirilli - drums

Omar, the 'Father of British Neo-Soul

One of the British Soul scene’s most influential figures since the early 90s, vocalist Omar is celebrating the re-release of classic album, Sing (If You Want It) – and yet another smash hit single that’s been keeping dance floors packed across the nation.

The Sing (If You Want It) album - featuring collaborators including Stevie Wonder, Estelle, Common and Angie Stone – was re-released in July 2011 with the addition of two new bonus tracks (one of which, the Zed Bias collaboration 'Dancing', has been riding high on the BBC 1Xtra playlist).

Omar’s sixth album, Sing (If You Want It) is a bona fide soul classic and was all set to tip the UK soul sensation into the pop-star realm, once and for all, on its release in 2005. However, a series of setbacks – not least the sudden collapse of the record label involved, a week after release – severely dented its chances of breakthrough success. Hardly a flop, it impressively still sold over 50,000 copies, but as Tru Thoughts A&R and long-time Omar fan Robert Luis says, “it was so heavily anticipated, and with collabs from the likes of Stevie Wonder...well, everyone knew it could have sold ten times that”.

Having recently made contact with Omar through his work on Maddslinky’s 2010 album Make A Change, Robert Luis found himself chatting to his soul hero about how they could work together to re-promote Sing (If You Want It), as well as some exclusive new material that he had bubbling away, and this new, augmented version of the album is the result.

The 'Dancing' single highlights Omar’s continuing appeal in today’s music scene. Tearing up radio and clubs across the UK and beyond, it is currently sitting pretty on the BBC 1Xtra playlist; also picking up plays from BBC Radio 1’s Rob Da Bank, MistaJam and Trevor Nelson, and across Kiss FM, Choice FM and other stations.

Omar’s enviable career – which has seen him sell over half a million records - first started taking shape more than 20 years ago, when his debut single for indie label Kongo Dance made him a hot name on London’s underground. Then came the hit 'There’s Nothing Like This', in 1992, which captured the imagination of soul fans the world over; Stevie Wonder declared himself a fan on first hearing it, and vowed to work with him. Further releases on Gilles Peterson’s label, Talkin’ Loud, were followed by a move to RCA, for whom he cut two albums (including 1994’s For Pleasure, on which he worked with legendary Motown producers Leon Ware and Lamont Dozier), notching up critical acclaim and introducing him to several more of his musical heroes and heroines.

In 2000, now the leading icon of the UK’s resurgent soul movement, Omar released his fifth LP, on French imprint Naïve Records; Best By Far was a self-produced set on which his interest in cinematic soundtracks and jazz rose to the surface. This time, Erykah Badu and MOBO winner Kele Le Roc came good on their promises to work with him. Robert Luis summarises: “Omar is just a hugely influential and talented artist, and importantly he has always been respected by fellow musicians, which is proved by all the people queuing up to collaborate with him.”

With Sing (If You Want It) Omar embarked on a new phase of his career, one designed to bring him directly to a wider public than ever before. With the sheer quality of the music, underpinned by the world’s finest on collaborations, the album’s hit potential was clear; now this reissue is set to bring it back into the limelight, and into the record collections of many old and new Omar fans around the world

The Quentin Collins/Brandon Allen Quartet

Hideaway favourites, Quentin and Brandon’s eponymous Quartet is celebrating its fifth year of gripping shows with their debut album release, What’s It Gonna Be? – a great album from one of the most exciting live bands on the European jazz scene.

Brandon Allen (saxophone) & Quentin Collins (trumpet) are already established masters of their instruments, and they have the ‘chops’ to prove it in the studio. Backing the leaders is one of the most sought after rhythm sections around –Ross Stanley on Hammond organ & drummer Enzo Zirilli.

A Sunlightsquare Records release, What’s It Gonna Be? is a stellar melting-pot of the leaders’ own compositions, inspired by their passion for hard-bop – notably, 1950s & 60s Blue Note recordings – plus a soulful cover of Stevie Wonder’s Smile Please, featuring Natalie Williams on vocals.

In the run up to the recording date, the quartet toured the UK & Italy & also put in a celebrated appearance at the Portugal’s Douro Jazz Festival in 2009. Individually, members have performed at the Canary Wharf Jazz Festival, The Terassa and Vittoria Jazz Festivals in Spain, The Jazzinec Festival in the Czech Republic, The Canary Islands International Jazz Festival, The Copenhagen Jazz Festival & the London Jazz Festival.

In the summer of 2010, the band set to work proving their versatility with a five-month Friday night residency at East London’s ‘Last Days Of Decadence’ club, where apart from showcasing their own talents, they backed an eclectic range of the UK’s top instrumentalists & singers - from established Jazz performers like Liane Carroll, Cleveland Watkiss and Dennis Rollins to singer songwriter Gywneth Herbert as well as pop artists Paloma Faith and Omar.

The fruit of these labours is this swinging session, which finally sets the seal on why the Quentin Collins/Brandon Allen Quartet is one of the most exciting groups around today. Their sound pays homage to such luminaries as Art Blakey, Joe Henderson, Larry Young & Lee Morgan, but with the leaders forward thinking drive, there’s a whole lot more going on besides. There’s new ground to be broken with what each individual member brings to the table, and the sum of these parts is What’s It Gonna Be?

"...there's a restlessness about this band's music that defies expectations. Instead of grooving comfortably along, the drums chatter away busily and the organ produces sudden changes of register and great washes of harmonic colour. The compositions, Collins's especially, keep you guessing, too. It's disconcerting but wonderfully energising, once you get over the surprise." Dave Gelly, The Observer

Quentin Collins

Established as one of Europe’s finest Jazz/Commercial trumpeters, recording and playing live with such luminaries as Prince, Jean Toussaint, Roy Hargrove, Dennis Rollins, Beverley Knight, US3 & Roy Ayers. In 2007 he released a critically-acclaimed solo album, If Not Now, Then When?, voted one of MOJO magazine’s Top 10 Jazz Albums of the year.

Brandon Allen

A native of Perth, Australia, Allen is one the most exciting saxophonists on the UK/European Jazz scene. Since relocating to London, he has worked extensively throughout the U.K, Europe and Asia with musicians including Eric Clapton, Mica Paris, Jools Holland, Wynton Marsalis, Stan Tracey, Guy Barker, Pete King, and Nigel Hitchcock. His solo debut Destination Zero will be released on Sunlightsquare Records in 2011.

Ross Stanley

Already one of the first-call piano and Hammond organ players working in the UK today. His ever-expanding CV includes work with music legend Maceo Parker, Dennis Rollins, Stan Sultzman, Jim Mullen, The Heritage Orchestra, Seamus Blake, Joel Frahm & others.

Enzo Zirilli

Beginning his apprenticeship on the drums aged eight, Enzo Zirilli went on to graduate from Turin’s renowned G.Verdi Conservatory. He fell in love with Jazz after working with the great Italian tenor sax player Larry Nocella & has gone on to play at a host of international festivals & venues as well as recording with such luminaries as Steve Grossman, Charlie Mariano, Gary Bartz, Randy Brecker, Reggie Johnson, Steve Wilson, Peter Washington, Larry Shneider, Joe Magnarelli & Stefano Di Battista.