The Band

Posted on by jonnoherring

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Sarah Ellen Hughes

ASJ18Sarah was a professional singer for 12 years, during which time she sang principal vocals for The National Youth Jazz Orchestra, amongst other bands.
She also won the international jazz singing competition ‘Jazz Voices‘ in 2011. She has released 3 albums and sung for various people including Cleo Laine and Quincy jones. 
She is now a primary education music teacher in Hertfordshire.

Andre ‘Saxman’ Brown flyer

André is a saxophonist and singer performing internationally with his events band Entourage at exclusive events and celebrity parties. He recently featured on gospel-jazz pianist Emmanuel Waldron’s “All Seasons”. André also plays Baritone sax in Bassment Project whose first album came out in April 2014 and they performed at the San Javier Jazz Fest summer 2014. They can be found jamming every 3rd Thursday Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s. http://www.andresaxmanbrown.com

Jon HerringIMG_4444

Jon is Pastor at Grace Church Leatherhead and a passionate musician. Jon studied music at Southampton University and whilst there was the principle drummer for SUJO, alongside MD Joe Stilgoe on piano, performing at the Montreux and Vienne Jazz Festivals. Having studied drums under Roger Nobes he performed with NHYJO under Roger’s direction and during this time was privileged to have performed alongside Animal (from the muppets) AKA Ronnie Verrell. Jon trained for ministry at Oak Hill Theological College where he came up with the concept of the Roots of Jazz for one of his assignments.

Phil Wain ASJ30

Phil regularly performs with his trio at venues across London including their pioneering venture with Waitrose Bar, Granary Square Kings. He is also a regular member for the All Souls Orchestra playing music for worship and events at All Souls Langham Place.  Outside of music he is the editor and main content contributor for London’s Best Coffee app, website and Caffeine magazine. He has reviewed a number of records for the No Treble website.

J Fashole-Luke

Jonathan Fashole-Luke is a multi instrumentalist who is in high demand particularly for live piano performances.  He has performed all over Europe (including Montreaux, North Sea and Vienna Jazz Festivals and in across the UK at Glastonbury, Bestival, 53556654_10216263899423224_7472739076332847104_nBoomtown and The Isle Of Wight Festival),. During this time Jonathan has accompanied members of Bassment Jaxx, Jurassic 5, Sugar Hill Gang, Tomorrow’s Warriors and All Saints. In 2010 he was invited to perform for Royalty at the 2010 International Jewellery Exhibition in Bahrain. Jonathan Has also appeared at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club and performed live on BBC2s Later With Jools Holland. Most recently he has been working with Chart topping UK vocalist Alexandra Burke.

Melvin Reeves

Some very sad news. Our dear friend and band member Melvin Reeves passed away in Nov 2020. We will greatly miss him. He was such a character and we all consider it a privilege to have known him and performed with him on this project! We have many fond memories of him and we look forward to when we can jam with him again in the new creation!

Melvin Reeves, Actor/Musician played the Trumpet from the age of nine, studying with Hardy Matthews of Kansas, USA.  He performed with or shared the stage with an array of international artists including “The Dells” of Chicago, Roy Ayers, Diana Ross and Ray Gaskins (on whose Shady Lane award-winning 54211649_10216263901303271_7787020460654329856_n

album he played trumpet and trombone). Performing with numerous bands and at Jazz venues in Washington DC, USA, including “One Step Down”, “Takoma Station”and “Twins”, Melvin has also performed extensively with Hugh Masekela and at Jazz venues in London including Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express, Toulouse Le Trec and Oliver’s Jazz Bar. He continued to study Jazz improvisation with New York’s Barry Harris and credits his trumpet style also to the geniuses of trumpeters Clifford Brown, Booker Little, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard and Dizzy Gillespie.  An Actor also, Melvin performed for 12 consecutive years in the hit West End show, “Buddy”. A band leader in his own right, Melvin led the Jazz Knights Quintet.  In addition to performing with Roots of Jazz, Melvin performed regularly with Celebrate the UK band specialising in the music of Kool and the Gang, which performed regularly around the UK.

Ray Butcher

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Ray is a trumpeter who plays jazz and nightclub music. He’s recorded a
trumpet solo with US Christian artist Chris Tomlin and Martin Smith on the Billboard 200 number one album ‘Burning Lights’, for their joint song ‘Gods Great Dance Floor‘. His TV performances include performing in a jazz ensemble on ‘Landgirls‘.

Samuel EaglesSONY DSC

Having performed with the Junior Jazz Group at the Royal Academy of Music every Saturday he gained a wealth of knowledge and experience under Nick Smart. With this group he played at venues including Pizza Express Jazz club (Dean Street) and Ronnie Scott’s. He then became lead alto in ‘The Jazz Funk Collective’, touring with them for three years around London and Ireland performing at venues such as The Blue Note, The Boom Boom Room and Galway Jazz club. Soon after he was accepted onto the Jazz course at Trinity Laban, one of Europe’s top music college’s. For four years he studied under renowned musicians including: Russell Van Den Berg, Jason Yard, Mark Lockhart and Jean Toussaint. He currently leads his own group ‘The Samuel Eagles Quartet’ which performs regularly around London and the UK. His critically acclaimed debut album ‘Next Beginning’ has been released on the renowned F-IRE Label, launched at Pizza Express Jazz Club (Soho) in The EFG London Jazz Festival.

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Published by jonnoherring

In Christ- a sinner saved by grace; husband to love of my life, father of 4 little beauties, lover of music, sport and food! Assistant Pastor of Kennet valley Free Church http://www.kvfc.org.uk/html/index.php