Edinburgh’s Playtime jazz sessions have announced a new season of concerts. Beginning with the house quartet of saxophonist Martin Kershaw, guitarist Graeme Stephen, bassist Mario Caribe and drummer Tom Bancroft playing the music of Miles Davis on Thursday 2nd May, the concerts run fortnightly into July.
Violinist Greg Lawson and accordionist Phil Alexander, of Moishe’s Bagel and the new trio Triptic, join the house quartet to play the music of new tango creator Astor Piazzolla on 16th May. They’re followed by a celebration of Chicago-born saxophonist-composer Henry Threadgill, with guests, trumpeter Robert Henderson, trombonist Anoushka Nanguy and drummer Chun-Wei Kang.
Guitarist and founder of the Celtic jazz band Lammas, Don Paterson appears on 13th June and singer and songwriter Michelle Willis follows on 27th June, with saxophonist Rachel Duns completing the series on 11th July.
Now in its tenth year, Playtime was founded by Kershaw and Stephen to create opportunities to play new music, with sessions initially taking place weekly. Joined by Caribe and Bancroft they have gone on to play tributes to most of the major figures in jazz as well as performing new compositions by all four musicians and on occasion playing completely improvised music.
“The loft space in the Outhouse has proved very conducive to sharing music in intimate sessions,” says Tom Bancroft. “As a group we’ve played in other venues, and in other towns and cities, and we’d like to do more of that. But the familiarity of the Outhouse is a big plus for us and audiences seem to enjoy it, too.”