Jazz @St John’s Church North Bovey - Saturday 10 September 2022 at 7.30pm

Alan Barnes and David Newton have been playing together now for 45 years. These multi award-winners cover a vast repertoire, and play with an empathy that can only come with long experience. Tonight they are playing together with Jennifer Jones, on vocals, a friend and fellow musician of many years. Expect a hugely entertaining programme of jazz melodies.

This will be a collaborative trio. All three of these musicians may play together, or in pairs, or even solo from time to time.  It will be an adventure in jazz!  And it’s bound to be fun!

Alan Barnes and David Newton met at Leeds School of Music 45 years ago.  They shared rooms at the college, and have played together ever since.  Jennifer Jones first came across David Newton almost 40 years ago, when she was working in a theatre in London, and David came to the theatre as a musician in a play by Alan Ayckbourn.  And then just 20 years ago, Jennifer met Alan, and since then they have played quite a few gigs together.  For the three of them, this will be the fourth gig they have played at this beautiful church in North Bovey.

Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him hugely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year. 

I was relishing the prospect of Barnes’s casually consummate musicianship, deadpan humour (he could be a comedian, if jazz ever fails him), and indomitable belief in a respected place for the music’s rich history in this eclectic and often forgetful world.

John Fordham – The Guardian.

David Newton’s reputation as an exquisite accompanist for singers is legendary, and there are many with whom he has worked, including Stacey Kent, with whom he spent ten years recording and travelling all over the world.  He was made a Fellow of Leeds College of Music in 2003 and in 2019, was voted ‘Best Jazz Pianist for the sixteenth time by the Jazz audience of the UK in the British Jazz Awards. 

There is always more to Newton’s playing than first meets the ear. The surface may be smooth, but there are all kinds of clever, subtle things going on beneath. The variety he manages to dig out of Cole Porter’s ‘So in Love’ is astounding.  Dave Gelly – The Observer

Jennifer Jones was born into a musical family and has been singing all her life.  But it wasn’t until she reached her 30s that she decided to pursue singing jazz, and immersed herself in that, studying at a number of jazz courses to learn more.

Jennifer has a clear, warm voice, and her singing is as beautiful as she is.  She combines wit and an earthy sense of fun with a charismatic voice of moody rhythm. Her understanding of music for the soul is a joy to hear.  Les Tomkins – London Jazz News

The profits from this evening’s concert will go to The Friends of St John’s, a charity set up to maintain the fabric of this beautiful 13^th Church in North Bovey on Dartmoor.

Jazz @St John’s Church will take place on Saturday 10 September 2022.  Door opens from 6.30pm, and the bar will also be open then (cash only). 

Tickets are £14 from www.wegottickets.com/jazzatstjohns or from 07843 376060 or kevjean@gmail.com