Thanks to Kris Grainger for this review of the Ray Butcher Quartet, who played the live jazz night at The Royal Exchange in Radford Street on Monday night.
There’s live jazz every Monday night from 9pm at The Exchange – and if you love live music, you really should give it a go. It’s a cracking night.
Over to Kris…
Stone has always been a great place for live music. Indeed, one of the many reasons I moved to Stone five years ago was that the band I was in at the time were playing here so much so that it worked out cheaper for me to move here than keep paying petrol costs. It’s never had a shortage of venues willing to host bands, (The Swan, The Star, The Red Lion and Granville’s to name but a few); but it is those unexpected moments, when one stumbles across music, that can create those moments of serendipity that stick with you.
Tonight was one such moment as founder member of alittlebitofstone.com, Jamie Summerfield and I, stumbled into The Royal Exchange for a Monday night pint and a catch up. As we approached, the unmistakeable sound of jazz and the sight of a double bass assured us we were in for an unanticipated treat.
After settling down with our pints of Steerage, we were treated to several hours of top-notch jazz provided by the excellent Ray Butcher Quartet, including jazz standards from Dizzy Gillespie as well as re-workings of popular classics such as The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood. Ray, the band leader and trumpet player providing the melody amidst many excellent solos from his band members Simon ‘Smudge’ Smith on bass, Pete Hammond on drums and Tim Amann on keyboards. Ray himself has worked with the likes of King Pleasure and The Biscuit Boys and Mica Paris, whilst also playing support for B.B. King; to name but a handful of his various live and TV credits.
Here’s a blast of the Ray Butcher Quartet from last night:
So ‘what’, you might ask, ‘is a musician of such standing and calibre doing in Stone, on a Monday night, in the middle of his very busy schedule?’ Well I found myself asking the sole same question to the event organiser Dr. Alan Swale. Alan informed me that the band were here as part of Jazz in Stone, a weekly gathering of jazz lovers in need of a good ‘fix’ of music. But how did the organisation attract such a high calibre of musician to Stone?
Alan informed me that the society has been established some 15 years and that it is somewhat of a ‘place to be seen’ for touring jazz musicians. It was founded back then by local resident Mick Gilligan and has variously been hosted at The Red Lion, Langtry’s and The Vine, before finally putting down its routes at The Royal Exchange.
‘Despite the organisation having very little money, not enough to have our own website or to pay for advertising’ Alan said, ‘we still manage to put top quality acts on, week in, week out at The Exchange.’ Alan informed us that they have a core of followers and rely on ‘word-of-mouth’ as well as contributions from the audience members to ‘top-up’ the performer’s fees. ‘More importantly’ says Alan, ‘the longevity of the organisation, and the reputation it has built, continue to create a buzz in the jazz community; enough to keep acts of this standard returning to Stone.’
I have managed to live in Stone for 5 years and not know about this wonderful evening, so I think it’s our duty to help Alan and the boys pass the word around. Stone has such a multitude of music events going on, (see below), that don’t just start and end with our wonderful annual music festival. We need to do what we can to keep these events alive.
Next week at Jazz in Stone at The Royal Exchange, (20th May) sees the Charlie Right Quartet followed by Ben Holder on the 27th May and Cool School on the 3rd June. For anyone interested in Jazz in Stone, Alan Swale can be contacted about the events on (01785) 813391 or emailed on: alanswale@clara.co.uk
Other noteworthy musical events in Stone are:
Mondays: Paul Walker’s Open Mic Night at Granville’s
Wednesdays: Ben Owen’s Open Mic at The Star
Thursdays & alternate Saturdays: Live Music at The Swan
1st Friday of each month: Live Rhythm and Blues, with Open Mic, at The Crown Hotel
2nd Friday of each month: Young Musician’s Showcase at The Crown Hotel hosted by Ben Owen
Kris Grainger
1 comment
Andy Burdon
Thanks for the review Kris. “Jazz in Stone” started in 1999 at the Red Lion when local Jazz musicians were looking for somewhere to play in Stone and most pubs did not have a full entertainment licence (in those days you could only have “two in a room” without one). We started “Jazz in Stone”, which was a great success from the outset, with the help of Mick Gilligan as a contact for some of the best musicians in the area and further afield. Good to see you and Jamie there tonight. Hope this review will bring in more people to see world-class jazz musicians to help sustain this vital venue for live jazz in the area.