On Friday 25 April multi-sax player and vocalist Andy Williamson will appear at the Bridport Arts Centre Jazz Café.
Andy is known for blowing exceptionally good tunes on the sax and for his repertoire of somewhat risqué old blues songs. He’s played with his own bands the Honkin’ Hep Cats and Big Buzzard Boogie Band on BBC Radios 2, 3 & 4 and at Buckingham Palace; as a sideman with Tom Robinson and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas; and sung duets with Suggs from Madness (taking the place of the then recently departed Ian Dury).
He created ‘Plainsong For the Planet’ to provide a non-liturgical way for anyone to perform Gregorian Chant, and set up the Jazz Activists – a loose group of musicians who perform at political demonstrations around liberty and the destruction of our ecosystem. He devised a course with Junior Laniyan on Jazz structure and Improvisation for Tap Dancers.
In 2010, he joined the Denbone Walkers, with guitarist Denny Ilett, celebrating the centenary of T-Bone Walker. He also co-founded ‘The Organ Grinders’ with keyboard player Maff Potts (after Maff donated one of his kidneys to Andy in 2007), with the aim of encouraging more people to join the UK Organ Donor Register.
He has performed ambitious works with large ensembles at the Bristol Jazz festival; in 2013 it was Duke Ellington’s Sacred Concert, and this year the Gershwin Spectacular, a jazz oratorio featuring vocalist Jacqui Dankworth.
His versatile style on saxophones (alto, tenor and baritone) and voice creates an interesting, eclectic and highly enjoyable performance, which will be complemented by Philip Clouts at the piano.
Friday 25 April Bridport Arts Centre, South Street, DT6 3NR
8pm £10 Box Office 01308 424204
