Late Set Sessions - The Quentin Collins and Brandon Allen Quartet with special guest Hamish Stuart

Friday 17th February, Tickets £12, Doors 7pm, Music 9pm (2 sets, approximate finish 11.30pm)

Hamish Stuart joins The Quentin Collins/Brandon Allen Quartet at London's finest live jazz club Hideaway

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. The Quentin Collins/Brandon Allen Late Set Sessions have since long brought the brightest names to shine on Hideaway’s stage, tonight the quartet presents a smooth arrangement of deliciously crafted jazz for their first set, and then meld with soul for a special second set,  as this lively and flawless quartet is joined by the Highland soul of Hamish Stuart.

Propelled to fame in the 70’s as he joined the Average White Band, with his singular song writing and unique voice and guitar style helping along their route to worldwide stardom, Glasgow native Stuart has written for and performed with some of the biggest names in the music industry, sharing the stage with the likes of Chakka Kahn, George Benson, Aretha Franklin and Paul McCartney, to name but a few. A man recalled for his versatility, Hamish Stuart never left the scene and more than thirty years after his first appearance on stage he is still a reference at the very forefront of modern R&B with his most recent project The Hamish Stuart Band earning rave reviews everywhere they go.

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 energizing, once you get over the surprise." Dave Gelly, The Observer

Quentin Collins

Established as one of Europe’s finest Jazz/Commercial trumpeters, recording & 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, & 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.

Special guest will be announced soon!