We’re proud to welcome the Pete Roth Trio to The Bear for what should be a very special evening.
The word ‘jazz’ implies musicians who listen and interact; people who never play it the same way twice. This trio has those qualities in abundance, but the group’s music is also something over, around, above and below jazz. What they play isn’t always going to fit, or be “nice” but it will be “great”. The group’s roots are firmly planted in popular music, but it seeks to expand the notion of what it is acceptable or possible to do, or represent, within that genre.
Featuring tonight on drums is very special guest Bill Bruford. Internationally known as a rock musician with prog supergroups Yes and King Crimson, Bruford also has impeccable jazz credentials, having recorded, performed with or written music for Al Di Meola, the Buddy Rich Orchestra, David Torn, Allan Holdsworth, Tim Garland, Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Chris Botti among others.
Bill’s taste for the unpredictable in live performance has led him to collaborations with dozens of the world’s top rock and jazz musicians in an endless search for the innovative, the unusual, and the unlikely. He was voted into Modern Drummer magazine’s Hall of Fame (1990), named by Rolling Stone magazine as #16 Greatest Drummer of All Time (2016) and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of ‘Yes’ (2017).
The trio’s original music is seen as neither ‘better’ nor ‘worse’ than pre-existing repertoire, just another ballpark to play on. A song might start in a country mood, but end in an urban dystopia. A standard might reveal all, but only in the dying embers of its performance. Roth’s own compositions such as ‘Dancing with Grace’, the Trio’s collective compositions such as ‘Trio in Five’ or ‘Looking Forward to Looking Back’, or their reassembling of existing masterworks like Anton Dvorak’s ‘Largo from Symphony #9’ offer but three points of entry into the creative world of the Pete Roth Trio, a world you’re unlikely to leave without reassessing your views of what the guitar trio format remains capable of.
Pete Roth (guitar), Mike Pratt (bass), Bill Bruford (drums).
“They know the rules and want to break them. Not in order to be perverse or trendy, but so that they can put something rich, worthwhile and fun back into jazz soil.”
“With three such talented musicians it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but the way they played together exceeded all expectations. This is simply a great band.”
“Hey, that’s a good drummer…good hands.”
Doors 7pm / Music 8.30pm / Tickets £20
All seating/tables are first come first served.