Now resident in Liverpool but formerly from Oregon in the US, saxophonist and clarinetist Frank Griffith with jazz pianist and vocalist, Wendy Kirkland local bass legend, Bill Coleman, and Les Cirkel on drums bring you an enticing mix of jazz styles from mainstream classic songs and standards through to modern jazz.

Frank Griffith

Originating from West Coast USA, renowned Saxophonist, Clarinetist and Arranger, Frank Griffith developed his distinctive New York jazz sound living and performing in the city for over 20 years before moving to London, meeting and playing with one of his great influences Sir John Dankworth.

Frank has performed with musicians such as Ron Carter, Jon Hendricks, John Pizzarelli, Joe Temperley, Pete Cater, Mel Torme, Dame Cleo Laine, Tony Coe and Kenny Wheeler. Frank has achieved great acclaim as an arranger, composing for a number of well-known singers to include Tina May, Alexander Stewart, David Mcalmont, China Moses and Anita Wardel.

He has also been the musical director for a number of programmes to include Kind of Blue at Bridport Arts Centre, Jazz on a Summers Day, Dorchester Corn Exchange and The Billy Strayhorn story, Cadogan Hall, London, London Jazz festival. Counting Joe Henderson Lester Young, Duke Ellington and Burt Bacharach as some of his main influences, Frank plays many forms of jazz including modern, mainstream and traditional alongside funk, soul and some crossover Classical.

Now based in the North West, Frank is delighting jazz fans with his NY jazz style.

Wendy Kirkland

Pianist and singer Wendy Kirkland has been a mainstay of the UK Jazz scene since the late noughties, but it was her first album, Piano Divas, released in 2017 that began her ascent to wider recognition as a “Singing Pianist”, as dubbed by Jazz Journal. The ability to sing at the same time as comping and craft solos on the piano or unison piano/voice scat lines is her forte, with influences such as Diana Krall, Eliane Elias and Dena DeRose. Further accolades were given for her 2019 release The Music’s On Me, dubbed “a huge leap forward” by Jazz Views. Both albums prompted ACE funded tours all over the UK and constant radio airplay ever since.

"Terrific pianist and singer. Assured and full of surprises." **** Dave Gelly, The Observer

Bill Coleman

Bill Coleman is best known nationally for his years with the Kenny Ball, but for regular patrons of the Birmingham Festival his immaculate bass playing is a feature of many of the trios backing star soloists.

Les Cirkel

At just 15 years old Les Cirkel was the original drummer in NYJO before going on to play with 60s Britpop stars Sandie Shaw, Cilla Black, Dana, Matt Monro and Des O’ Connor. Over the years Les has played with the Drifters, the Platters, Brooke Benton and the Three Degrees. His film credits include ‘Hope & Glory’, ‘Dance with a Stranger’ and Stanley Kubrik’s ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.

Whilst on stage he has played drums for the original West End Theatre Productions of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘Cats’, as well as the ‘Rocky Horror Show’, ‘Me & My Girl’ and ‘The Little Shop of Horrors’. Other artists he has worked alongside include Buddy Rich, Lionel Hampton, Marian Montgomery, Liza Minnelli and Westlife.

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