Calling all music lovers. Local East Dulwich resident and jazz singer, Andrea Mann, has organised an ‘Oxjam’ charity gig at the East Dulwich Tavern (EDT) this coming Tuesday 29th April.
The evening promises to be a very special, one-off event. Three living British music legends – Chaz Jankel, John Turnbull and Derek Hussey of The Blockheads will be headlining the ‘Oxjam’ night. They’ll be performing a unique acoustic set of old Blockheads favourites as well as new material.
Andrea says, “I was on Facebook one day and saw that a musician friend of mine had joined a Facebook group called ‘Oxjam’. So I investigated more, and saw that it was an initiative by Oxfam asking people to put on music gigs throughout the UK in April, with proceeds going to Oxfam.”
The line-up earlier in the evening will feature rising singer-songwriter star Sarah Gillespie and her band, and acclaimed British jazz outfit the Kate Williams Trio, who’ll be joined by Nouvelle Vague-tinged jazz vocalist, Andrea Mann. The night will be compered by self-proclaimed ‘20th century celebrity’ Simon Hickson of ‘Trevor And Simon’ fame, and there’ll be special guests too.
Most of the musicians are locally-based. “I live in East Dulwich, as does the bassist (Steve Watts) and drummer (Mike Pickering) in Kate Williams’ Trio that night,” says Andrea. “Steve and Mike are two of Britain’s finest jazz musicians, regularly playing places like Ronnie Scotts, the 606 Club etc. Sarah Gillespie is also a SE Londoner.
The Blockheads connection comes from Sarah Gillespie. She supported them once at Ronnie Scott’s, and from that she began working with Chaz Jankel, writing songs and performing with him. Sarah asked Chaz if he would perform [at EDT] and it turned out that he, John and Derek had just done an acoustic gig at the Union Chapel – so they’re sort of replicating that night for us down here in East Dulwich, for Oxfam.”
As far as the venue is concerned, Andrea says, “The EDT have turned the upstairs restaurant into a leading live music and comedy venue in the area – when I decided to put on the gig, they were the first people I contacted. Ray, the bar manager, has been hugely supportive and behind it every step of the way. It’s a really nice room to play.”
“If you can help us raise money for Oxfam I would be hugely grateful!”
Upstairs @ edt Tuesday 29 April 2008 – Doors are 7pm, the show starts at 8pm –
Tickets are £10, with all proceeds going to Oxfam. For bookings/reservations call 020 8693 1817. Upstairs @ edt is at the East Dulwich Tavern, 1 Lordship Lane, London SE22 8EW.
