Shirley Smart/Robert Mitchell Duo Live at The Verdict Jazz Club

Shirley Smart // Cello

Robert Mitchell // Piano

‘A charming kaleidoscope and jazzy showcase of her global folk music-inspired compositions’

- Jazzwise on Shirley Smart

“This is not at all easy to categorise and is all the more powerful for that. Pulling on jazz traditions from the deep South through to today’s European scene, hip hop and adding in a knowledge of modern classical back to Baroque, Mitchell creates music that doesn’t allow the listener to sit back and relax into familiarity…. Throughout the evening, there was no way of knowing what route he would take, what musical colours he would paint, what soundscapes he would invent.”

- Oxford Times on Robert Mitchell

This is the very first duo show at the Verdict for Shirley Smart and Robert Mitchell. Having first worked together on a large-scale project of Robert’s – Invocation (2014) – there followed many conversations on their mutual overlapping musical interests, eventually leading to a debut album, “Zeitgeist²” (Discus Records). Recorded at Steinway Recording Studios and engineered, mixed and mastered by Spencer Cozens – it is an exploration of originals, improvisation, poetry and some CPE Bach with a unique history of its own!

Shirley Smart is recognised as one of the UK’s most versatile and creative cellists – being equally at home and well versed in jazz and Middle Eastern music, as well as classical music.Originally trained under Raphael Wallfisch at the Guildhall School of Music, and Janos Starker in Paris, she subsequently moved to Jerusalem. She remained for 10 years. studying and performing a wide variety of musical traditions from the region, and working with artists including Avishai Cohen, Omer Avital and Yasmin Levy. Since returning to the UK, she has quickly become established as a unique performer, and is in demand with artists such as Mulatu Astatke, Neil Cowley, Robert Mitchell, Nikki Yeoh and Maya Youssef. She also leads her own projects and released her first trio album Long Story Short’ in 2018 to critical acclaim. Shirley is Professor of Musicianship and Improvisation at the Royal College Of Music.

Robert Mitchell is one of the most significant voices in British jazz – a pianist, keyboardist, composer, improviser, writer, poet and so much more. As Gilles Peterson put it in reaction to one of Mitchell’s most recent albums with his trio Epiphany 3 – “a very important, influential musician” and a relentless seeker and thinker, encompassing many art forms, musical genres and constantly pushing the envelope.

Robert Mitchell is proud to have been a Steinway artist for over a decade. He was MD on the successful BBC4 television programme ‘Jazz 625 Live: For One Night Only’ which won the British Broadcasting Award. He has played with Billy Harper, Greg Osby, Courtney Pine CBE, Alicia Olatuja, Orphy Robinson, Steve Coleman, Phil Ranelin, Omar Puente, Ernesto Simpson, Daymé Arocena, Jason Rebello, Shirley Smart, Basement Jaxx, Dub Colossus, Daniel Casimir, Joshua Redman, Jacqui Dankworth MBE, and many others. Robert Mitchell’s works have been performed by the Grammy-winning Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and the London Sinfonietta, amongst others. He is a sought-for composer and known as an innovator with a distinct, unique voice. Robert is a Professor Of Jazz Piano at the Guildhall School Of Music and Drama, Mentor at Black Lives In Music, YMM and Artist In Residence at Morley College.