Band on the Wall’s ‘Free Jazz’ series continues. Four hours of the hottest new jazz vibes from Manchester and further afield.
The Graham Dean Band is made up of a talented team of creative musicians, known for their technical abilities and musical versatility, put together with a view to playing their take on, (among others), music played by the likes of Brecker Brothers, Yellow Jackets, Bob James, David Sanborn and others.
Collectively, the musicians have played with artists as diverse as Pepper Adams, Jim Mullen, Heather Small, Aril Anderson, Julian Arguelles, Kid Creole, Bob Minton, Nikki Iles, Mark Anthony Turnage, Elkie Brooks, M-People, Branford Marsalis and Kenny Wheeler.
The line-up is:
Graham Dean, drums,
Paul Kilvington, piano, keyboards
Gary Culshaw, bass guitar
Mike Smith, saxophone
John Bailey, guitar
Abbie Finn is a drummer from the North-East of England, currently based in County Durham. She performs with her own bands the Abbie Finn Trio and the Finntet, and also with the Alice Grace quartet, Stu Collingwood organ trio, Dean Stockdale trio, Harry Keeble Quartet and more.
In 2020, she released her debut album Northern Perspective with the trio which received sterling reviews from British jazz blogs and magazines, and radio plays including BBC Radio Newcastle and Jazz FM. The album was dubbed ‘Exceptional British Jazz’ by Chris Phillips of Jazz FM and Abbie was described as ‘As good as it gets’ by popular blog Bebop Spoken Here.
The trio recently performed at the Manchester Jazz Festival and Hexham Jazz Festival amongst other venues. Abbie also performed this year at Jazz Café Posk London as part of ‘Maxine Gordon’s Sophisticated Giants’ alongside Tony Kofi, Emma Ra-vich and more, celebrating the life and work of Maxine Gordon and Dexter Gordon.
In July the trio recorded their 2nd album comprising of all original music, is due to be released in January 2023. They will be performing new material from this upcoming album alongside favourites from their debut album.
Abbie Finn – Drum Kit
Harry Keeble – Tenor Sax
Paul Grainger – Double Bass