Sam Leak Trio, Michel Camilo

Rising UK star, Sam Leak provides a snap shot of his wide-ranging contemporary jazz before one of the world’s finest Latin-jazz pianists , Michel Camilo, makes a welcome return to the club for his first shows since 2013

“Bravura gigs don’t ordinarily warrant five stars” said the Guardian critic of Michel Camillo’s 2015 Queen Elizabeth Hall appearance, “but concerts by the Latin-jazz piano star from the Dominican Republic are so astonishing that you abandon all aesthetic doubts and come out with your hands up”. The show was “a firework display” and a tour de force set that had the reviewer marvelling that the piano hadn’t collapsed in defeat! Multiple Grammy-winner Michel Camillo is a composer and pianist extraordinaire. A pianist with a brilliant technique and a composer who favours tunes with the spice of Caribbean rhythms and jazz harmonies, Camillo’s artistry and virtuosity bridges the genres of jazz, classical, popular and world music. He appears at the Piano Festival with Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto known for his revolutionary drumming techniques that have had a powerful impact on the Latin and Jazz music scene and Puerto Rican bassist Ricardo "Ricky" Rodriguez, part of the New York jazz scene and as likely to be found playing hip-hop, classical and RnB as Latin jazz. From heart wrenching ballads to lightning speed runs, tickets for Camillo’s Trio Latino will surely be in hot demand.

Described as “one of the brightest stars in the Jazz piano galaxy, a heavenly improviser and a brilliant prospect for the future (Jazz Fm), Sam Leak’s creativity both as a player and composer belies his youth. Equally at home as leader of UK jazz heavyweights, Aquarium, the acclaimed free-jazz/chamber jazz outfit, Leak can be seen in a solo setting or as here in a trio setting providing assured and sophisticated acoustic jazz with deep roots in the tradition.