The Cable Street Rag Band
Ewan Leads the The Cable Street Rag Band who play jazz, ragtime, blues, swing and other dance music from the early twentieth century. They formed at Jamboree, a venue on Cable Street in the east end, where they had a weekly residency for about 5 years. They often play swing dances in and around London and are know for their energetic style.
Ewan and frontline side man Will Scott on reeds play improvised New Orleans counterpoint around old songs and rags, whilst Louisa Jones, Jim Ydsite and John Kelly provide the rhythm section on accordion/piano, bass and guitar/banjo respectively. Louisa Jones, Jim Ydstie and Ewan Bleach all sing songs and everyone in the band doubles various instruments.
Whiskey Moon Face
To describe Whiskey Moon Face as an alternative folk group doesn’t even begin to do justice to the breadth of influence, inspiration and style in their music.
Based around double bass, accordian, and clarinet, they’re led by the stunning vocals and hallucinatory lyrics of singer Louisa Jones. Both ear-to-ear grinningly entertaining and profoundly moving, they combine elements of Eastern European traditional & old-time New Orleans jazz and the baroque folk styles of Sufjan Stevens and Beirut with their own unique take on contemporary folk to make for a superbly realized, truly beautiful, and utterly original sound- there is simply no-one in the UK making music like them. (New Roots Promotions)
Frog and Henry
Formed in New Orleans as a collective of several street performing groups, Frog & Henry perform and record old dance and jazz music from the early 1900's on brass and string instruments, with several singers and vocal harmony. Most of our repertoire was obtained by digging up forgotten songs from the dawn of recorded music, in the form of early dance tunes, and from even earlier 19thc sheet music.
Basin Street Brawlers
The Basin Street Brawlers are acclaimed as 'London's top hot jazz ensemble' (visitlondon.com). Since their inception in 2014, this band of 'world class' (BBC) musicians have gone about bringing to you the most beautiful melodies and raucous rags of the 1920s and 1930s.
The ensemble regularly give concerts at the UK’s most prestigious jazz and chamber music venues, including the Royal Albert Hall’s Elgar Room, the Pizza Express Jazz Club and the Holywell Music Room. They toured the UK in 2016 with the New York City based ragtime pianist Terry Waldo, in addition to many festival and jazz club appearances. The Brawlers have also featured as guest artists on BBC Radio 3 (live from the Southbank Centre) and BBC Radio 2
The Man Overboard Quintet
The Man Overboard Quintet add their own stamp to a repertoire of tunes made famous by the likes of Billie Holiday, Django Reinhardt, the Mills Brothers, Duke Ellington and Fats Waller. The chemistry between these superb musicians and their audience makes every performance a magical occasion.
