TIME: Doors 7pm

TICKETS: £10/£8

AVAILABLE FROM: Jack's Records, The Bohemian, www.wegottickets.com

INFORMATION: Andy Whitehouse 07835 966810

A FOUR RIVERS PRODUCTION www.myspace.com/4rivers

The award winning but notoriously reclusive gypsy guitarist Lollo Meier makes his first ever visit to Sheffield on Wednesday 16th July. He will be accompanied by violinist Andy Aitchison, regarded by "Timeout" as "the most versatile violinist in the UK today" thanks to a career that has embraced The Vibrators and Jade Warrior in addition to the gypsy swing sound alongside Angelo Debarre, John Ethridge and many more.

Gypsy blood runs through Lollo's veins, a formidable guitar player who has made his goal in life to carry on the music of Django Reinhardt. His technique is understated and his gentle approach to music making and sharing is truly inspiring. He is truly a legacy of the old master and certainly belongs to an elite group. In addition he is an accomplished composer of new tunes which have that genuine Django flavour, gaining international recognition for his compositions on his most recent release "Rosas".

Meier will be performing with Andy Aitchison on violin, and the hugely in demand duo (recently referred to as the "Rolls and Jaguar" of rhythm sections in the French media!) of Dave Kelbie on rhythm guitar and Andy Crowdy on double bass.

"It felt like the legendary Django Reinhardt was performing again…"
Zutphen Paper 2001.

Andy Aitchison is without doubt the most versatile violinist in the UK today TIMEOUT

A supporting programme will be provided by Sheffield trio "Diminished Responsibility".

DJANGO A LA CREOLE

THE PASSION OF PARIS AND THE HEAT OF NEW ORLEANS!

Evan Christopher has been hailed by the legendary founder of Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegun, as "not only the greatest jazz clarinetist alive, but one of the greatest of all time". However his ambitious project "Django a la Creole", merging the tunes of the late great gypsy maestro Django Reinhardt with the sultry rhythms and musical exuberance of New Orleans, was born out of hardship. Christopher was one of over 4000 musicians displaced from the "Crescent City" by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Pitching up in Paris, thousands of miles away from the bands he starred in, he sought fresh inspiration. Enlisting the help of some of Europe's leading gypsy swing musicians and inspired by the pre-war collaborations of Reinhardt with American jazz greats of the era, he created an album that has been critically acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic.
His short summer tour of the UK stops by the Sheffield Central Library Theatre on Thursday, 7th August. Christopher will be accompanied by an all star band of Dave Blenkhorn (guitar), Sebastian Girardot (double bass) and Dave Kelbie (rhythm guitar).

"Christopher's rush of ideas and ardent lyricism brought fresh urgency" HOWARD REICH, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

"A clarinetist with a growing reputation in New Orleans and beyond" JON PARELES, NEW YORK TIMES

"Evan illustrates the versatility, adaptability, and flexibility that has always been a hallmark of the Creole approach to the clarinet, while also rendering a personal style that is uniformly ardent, tender, and joyous" BRUCE BOYD RAEBURN - CURATOR OF THE HOGAN JAZZ ARCHIVES, NEW ORLEANS

"[Evan] is, in my estimation, not only the greatest jazz clarinetist alive, but one of the greatest of all time" AHMET ERTEGUN, FOUNDING CHAIRMAN OF ATLANTIC RECORDS

"A forthright sound and a hungry energy" NEW YORK TIMES