Andy Panayi and his quartet on the Jazz Hastings stage

On Tuesday 2 September Jazz Hastings welcomes Andy Panayi, an exceptionally gifted jazz musician, skilled not just in performance but also in composition and arranging, and his quartet. Julian Norridge fills in the background.

Born in Islington in north London and interested in music from an early age, Andy studied at the Trinity College of Music before embarking on a professional music career.

“I think I’ve been lucky as I learnt classical and jazz styles at the start and have been performing both types of music as well as theatre and session work,” he has said. “For me, this has all contributed to what I play when I improvise – a diverse background of music and styles.”

Andy has been a stalwart of the British jazz and session scenes since the 1980s and has always set himself the highest musical standards. He plays all the saxophones and all the flutes (and occasionally the clarinet), and leads several of his own groups, both jazz and classical.

Fellow saxophonist Alan Barnes has said that Andy has “a huge tone, great intonation and facile technique. Matched with his infallible ear, lovely time feel and fertile imagination, they result in superb jazz performances.”

He has performed and recorded with many singers such as Shirley Bassey, Jessye Norman, Paul McCartney, Seth MacFarlane, Elaine Paige, Salena Jones, Elvis Costello, Georgie Fame, Peter Skellen, Zoot Money, Irene Reed, Elaine Delmar, Helen Shapiro, Madeline Bell and Patty Austin, to name just a few.

He has also worked alongside or supported Abdullah Ibrahim, Freddie Hubbard, Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra, Scott Hamilton, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine and Humphrey Lyttleton. He has played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Moscow City Ballet and the Bert Kaempfert Orchestra.

A professor at the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, he also works as a consultant with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and the Trinity College London Exam Boards, developing jazz and classical syllabuses for future examinations.

For this session, he’ll be playing tenor sax alongside distinguished jazz veterans Roy Hilton on piano, Simon Thorpe on bass and Bobby Worth on drums.

Andy Panayi Quartet Jazz Hastings, Tuesday 2 September, East Hastings Sea Angling Association (on the Stade behind the lifeboat station). Doors open 7.45pm for 8.30 start, tickets £15 on the door, £3 for under 18s.

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