Alan Barnes Octet

Alan Barnes – Alto Sax and Clarinet

Bruce Adams – Trumpet and Flugelhorn

Mark Nightingale – Trombone

Robert Fowler – Tenor Sax and Clarinet

Karen Sharp – Baritone Sax and Clarinet

David Newton – Piano

Simon Thorpe – Bass

Clark Tracey – Drums

The Octet is here again, so it must be Christmas and it must be Alan Barnes! We always look forward to this occasion with his and the band’s fine musicianship along with Alan’s own inimitable sense of humour.

This hugely versatile line-up presents a set of jazz classics from Bix Beiderbecke and Louis Armstrong, through Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan to Coltrane and beyond, as well as some of Alan’s swinging and accessible compositions. As it is Christmas they will also include some festive fare.

Everyone in the band is a superb soloist and Alan has written a whole bunch of new charts to let them loose on! The show will, of course, include a lot of anecdotes about the great (and not so great) figures of the music through the years.