This closing evening of the JazzLeeds Festival is curated by Sally Coe and a number of former band members and fellow musicians. They will celebrate the late Matthew Coe AKA Xero Slingsby (1953 – 1988) who was a powerful force in the Jazz scene in the UK, Belgium, Holland and Germany during the 1980’s. He formed a number of bands along the way including Llamas in Pyjamas before forming his final line up of Xero Slingsby and The Works with bass player Louis Colan and drummer Gene Velocette. The idea was to present Jazz with punk-type brevity and he was remarkably successful becoming part of the movement flowering in Europe that included bands such as Blurt, Rip, Rig And Panic and Pigbag. Saxophonist Alan Wilkinson and drummer Paul Hession, long standing pioneers of European Free Jazz scene, readily acknowledge their debt to Slingsby’s inspirational belief in musical communication. The event will be a celebration of those tunes and that energy.
The evening will feature Gene Velocette drums, electric bass, double bass Louis Colan Den Hoed, Alan Wilkinson, Paul Hession, Richard Bostock, Maggie Somers, Tony Birkhill and painter Gina Southgate and (tbc) Shuffle Demons – paintings by Gina Southgate
“A meteorite in his own life time, and with an apocryphal number of arrests for offences ranging from busking to blocking Dortmund Square with an alto saxophone case, Xero blazed a unique trail from Leeds to the ‘main land.’ Over the years he was accompanied by a range of musicians from the first trip as ‘Crow’ with Alan Wilkinson and Paul Hession, to Llamas in Pyjamas featuring Alphonse Material and the final line up as Xero Slingsby and the Works with Louis Colan and Gene Velocette. All these musicians (and more) are joined for this one night of celebration by a group from Ghent – Den Hoed who discovered Xero Slingsby some 25 years after his death and lit the blue touch paper again”
Prepare for a night of driving energy as we negotiate with a foreign power to transport the final rip-roaring band from Canada.