What’s it all about?
Among a wave of new jazz stars in the making this year the saxist Reiss Ellis Beckles made a firm impression on us via his balladry at new upstairs Soho jazz club Alfie’s on Greek Street back in April.
A representative of the future of jazz for 2025 and beyond drawn from the UK scene certainly you need to know about REB right now, one major leap on from that first introduction World’s Apart issued last month is an even stronger statement given it’s a group affair rather than a duo.
Will this confirmed bebopper be next to break in the wake of pianist Sultan Stevenson whose El Roi featuring Soweto Kinch is out soon or Emma Rawicz, touring with Gwilym Simcock, imminently? We reckon so.
Softly sung balladry is a plus factor
Buckle up
So, World’s Apart includes featured spots from singer Dea Juris heard on the winning vulnerability exihibited in the ambience of ‘Memory Fragment,’ a piece that has two versions to choose from on the album.
Dreamjazz balladry
When we heard the saxist the occasion was a blue moon in a function room type duo set.
And that proved perfect for after work imbibers and couples out on a date.
Beckles on a tiny stage, a busy street scene just about visible through the blinds behind peeking through the windows.
That time he was playing along with the pianist Rowan Hudson (kind of blue on the left).
Beckles has been gigging in his quintet with Hudson, guitarist Billy Marrows (who under his own steam released the well received ‘Penelope’ this year), bassist Tom Rivière – who was on Kim Macari outfit Extended Family Band’s The Plush Album last year – and all hail at the kit, Mark Hale.
In terms of a back story in a nutshell the saxist leader is a Londoner who studied at the Greenwich and Deptford based music and dance college Trinity Laban.
Later Beckles completed postgrad work at New York’s Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. His tutors there included the Hargrovian alto legend, Antonio Hart.
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