A unique evening in the company of two of the UK’s best loved jazz musicians, Alan Barnes and David Newton, in the special atmosphere of the County Club on Guildford’s High St.

Saxophonist Alan Barnes has received over 25 British Jazz Awards and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year. Pianist Dave Newton has been voted best Jazz Pianist in the British Jazz awards for the thirteenth time. The two have been playing duets together for over 40 years and these multi award-winners play with an empathy that can only come with long experience. The emphasis, as always, is on swinging, accessibility and interplay.

Expect a hugely entertaining programme of straight ahead jazz flawlessly played and interspersed with lots of anecdotes! Guildford Jazz anchor Marianne will be on bass.

Ticket price includes a welcome glass of wine at a pre concert reception where you can meet the artists and other Guildford Jazz Members!

Please note that as this is a members event, all ticket holders must be Guildford Jazz Members.

Please click the link below for tickets

Doors and welcome drink 7pm, performance 8pm to approx 10pm (with interval).

Tickets £25 includes a complimentary glass of wine on arrival

Please note that as this is a members event, all ticket holders must be Guildford Jazz Members.

Alan Barnes - sax/clarinet

Alan Barnes is a prolific international performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and touring soloist. He is best known for his work on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, where he combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit that have few peers.

His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.

His recorded catalogue is immense. He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.

In British jazz, the young Barnes was recognized – and hired – by the established greats of the time: Stan Tracy, John Dankworth, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, and Humphrey Lyttelton. But he is equally respected for his longstanding and fruitful collaborations with contemporaries such as David Newton, Bruce Adams, and Martin Taylor.

Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.

“His stylistic range is quite phenomenal… He has a wonderful capacity for suggesting a given style without actually imitating anyone.” Dave Gelly, Masters Of The Jazz Saxophone.

David Newton - piano​

Growing up in Renfrewshire, Scotland, Newton had a musical upbringing with the piano trio sound of Peterson, Tatum or Garner an ever-present feature in the Newton household.

After graduating from Leeds College of Music in 1979 David Newton freelanced around Yorkshire and eventually became a resident musician at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for two and a half years. A move to Edinburgh followed where theatre work using local musicians quickly led to an established position on the Scottish jazz scene but after some four years there, his old roommate from college, Alan Barnes, persuaded him to move to London where he rapidly became a much sought after pianist teaming up with Barnes, guitarist Martin Taylor and saxophonist Don Weller.

Newton's recording career had begun in 1985 with Buddy De Franco and Martin Taylor and his first solo album was released in '88 in association with producer Elliot Meadow who oversaw the next nine years of recording for Linn Records followed by Candid Records. Once again, in 1997, David Newton and Alan Barnes teamed up and together with Concorde Label agent Barry Hatcher, made four CDs for that label. By 2003, Newton had learned a great deal of the ways a record company operated and he set up a business partnership with former pupil Mike Daymond and they established "Brightnewday Records" initially as a vehicle for Newton's own music but with an eye to opening up the catalogue to other artists later on.

In the first five years of the nineties, Newton's reputation as an exquisite accompanist for a singer, spread rather rapidly and by '95 he was regularly working with Carol Kidd, Marion Montgomery, Tina May, Annie Ross, Claire Martin and of course Stacey Kent, with whom he spent the next ten years recording and travelling all over the world. While all this was going on, Newton was composing music which he would record on his own CDs as well as writing specifically for Martin Taylor, Alan Barnes, Tina May or Claire Martin and Newton's music can now be heard on many television productions, especially in the United States where over twenty TV movies benefit from Newton's haunting themes. In 2003, after a twenty year gap, David Newton was reunited with playwright Alan Aykbourn having been involved with eight world premiers in Scarborough and London back in the early eighties, and he was asked to write the music for two new productions, 'Sugar Daddies' and 'Drowning on Dry Land'. Currently, with the release of a new CD called "Portrait of a Woman", on the 'Brightnewday' label, David Newton is relishing the musical freedom of his Trio and the special sound it makes whilst working on two other new recording projects, as an arranger and a composer.

David Newton has been voted best Jazz Pianist in the British Jazz awards for the thirteenth time in 2014 and was made a Fellow of Leeds College of Music in 2003..

With Marianne Windham on double bass

County Club 158 High St, Guildford GU1 3HJ

The club is situated towards the top of Guildford High Street. The entrance is located on the High Street  a few doors down from Holy Trinity Church and next to the Sainsbury’s shop front.

Access : There should be someone to greet you at the door but, if not, simply ring on the bell to alert staff who will let you in and make your way to the bar on the first floor where drinks will be served. If you arrive late the concert will be in the dining room  

Parking : If there are no spaces free on the High Street itself, we suggest parking in the the Sydenham Road car park GU1 3RW.

Seating is concert-style

An intimate evening in the company of two of the UK’s best loved jazz musicians, hosted by Guildford Jazz exclusively for members of the County Club and Guildford Jazz !

Saxophonist Alan Barnes has received over 25 British Jazz Awards and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year. Pianist Dave Newton has been voted best Jazz Pianist in the British Jazz awards for the thirteenth time. The two have been playing duets together for over 40 years and these multi award-winners play with an empathy that can only come with long experience. The emphasis, as always, is on swinging, accessibility and interplay. With Guildford Jazz founder Marianne Windham on bass.

Expect a hugely entertaining programme of straight ahead jazz flawlessly played and interspersed with lots of anecdotes.

Ticket price includes a welcome glass of wine at a pre concert reception where you can meet the artists and hear more about Guildford thriving jazz scene.

*** SOLD OUT ***

Doors and welcome drink 7pm, performance 8pm to approx 10pm (with interval).

Tickets £30 includes a complimentary glass of wine on arrival

Alan Barnes - sax/clarinet

Alan Barnes is a prolific international performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and touring soloist. He is best known for his work on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, where he combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit that have few peers.

His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.

His recorded catalogue is immense. He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.

In British jazz, the young Barnes was recognized – and hired – by the established greats of the time: Stan Tracy, John Dankworth, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, and Humphrey Lyttelton. But he is equally respected for his longstanding and fruitful collaborations with contemporaries such as David Newton, Bruce Adams, and Martin Taylor.

Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.

“His stylistic range is quite phenomenal… He has a wonderful capacity for suggesting a given style without actually imitating anyone.” Dave Gelly, Masters Of The Jazz Saxophone.

David Newton - piano​

Growing up in Renfrewshire, Scotland, Newton had a musical upbringing with the piano trio sound of Peterson, Tatum or Garner an ever-present feature in the Newton household.

After graduating from Leeds College of Music in 1979 David Newton freelanced around Yorkshire and eventually became a resident musician at the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough for two and a half years. A move to Edinburgh followed where theatre work using local musicians quickly led to an established position on the Scottish jazz scene but after some four years there, his old roommate from college, Alan Barnes, persuaded him to move to London where he rapidly became a much sought after pianist teaming up with Barnes, guitarist Martin Taylor and saxophonist Don Weller.

Newton's recording career had begun in 1985 with Buddy De Franco and Martin Taylor and his first solo album was released in '88 in association with producer Elliot Meadow who oversaw the next nine years of recording for Linn Records followed by Candid Records. Once again, in 1997, David Newton and Alan Barnes teamed up and together with Concorde Label agent Barry Hatcher, made four CDs for that label. By 2003, Newton had learned a great deal of the ways a record company operated and he set up a business partnership with former pupil Mike Daymond and they established "Brightnewday Records" initially as a vehicle for Newton's own music but with an eye to opening up the catalogue to other artists later on.

In the first five years of the nineties, Newton's reputation as an exquisite accompanist for a singer, spread rather rapidly and by '95 he was regularly working with Carol Kidd, Marion Montgomery, Tina May, Annie Ross, Claire Martin and of course Stacey Kent, with whom he spent the next ten years recording and travelling all over the world. While all this was going on, Newton was composing music which he would record on his own CDs as well as writing specifically for Martin Taylor, Alan Barnes, Tina May or Claire Martin and Newton's music can now be heard on many television productions, especially in the United States where over twenty TV movies benefit from Newton's haunting themes. In 2003, after a twenty year gap, David Newton was reunited with playwright Alan Aykbourn having been involved with eight world premiers in Scarborough and London back in the early eighties, and he was asked to write the music for two new productions, 'Sugar Daddies' and 'Drowning on Dry Land'. Currently, with the release of a new CD called "Portrait of a Woman", on the 'Brightnewday' label, David Newton is relishing the musical freedom of his Trio and the special sound it makes whilst working on two other new recording projects, as an arranger and a composer.

David Newton has been voted best Jazz Pianist in the British Jazz awards for the thirteenth time in 2014 and was made a Fellow of Leeds College of Music in 2003..

With Marianne Windham on double bass

County Club 158 High St, Guildford GU1 3HJ