Riff Raff live at the Vortex.

Jazz Hastings presents Dave Manington’s Riff Raff

One of the mainstays of the London jazz scene will be taking to the stage for Jazz Hastings’ session on Tuesday 4 February: bass player and composer Dave Manington and his band Riff Raff. Julian Norridge sets the scene.

The starting point for the music is collective improvisation but compositionally it draws on as wide a range of styles as possible. Folk, electronic music and contemporary classical influences are added to the mix with complex jazz harmonies and rhythms. The music has been developed through countless gigs and rehearsals, giving Riff Raff a genuinely unified sound.

The band also benefits from the fact that Dave, Rob and Tim have been playing together as a rhythm section for over 20 years. Since starting out in school bands, they have developed a telepathic understanding.

For Jazz Hastings, they will be performing songs from their new album Weightless, due to be released in February. The music is lyrical, intimate and creative, at times lush and beautiful, at others raw and powerful – with influences from across the whole spectrum.

Riff Raff: from left, Dave Manington, Ivo Neame, Brigitte Beraha, Rob Updegraff, Tim Giles and Tomas Challenger.

This will be their third album together. Their first was Hullabalo, which came out in 2013 to critical acclaim and was described as “inventive, forward looking jazz that subtly pushes the envelope whilst remaining thoroughly accessible to the listener.” An even more ambitious Riff Raff album, Challenger Deep, came out in 2018 after an extensive Arts Council funded UK tour.

Dave Manington also plays extensively with other major jazz musicians both here and around the world and is much in demand as a sideman for jazz, pop and singer-songwriters. His skill as a composer is widely recognised. Nominated for an Ivor Novello Award for Jazz Composition in 2021, he and singer Brigitte Beraha received an Ivor’s nomination for Best Jazz Small Group Composition in 2022.

This promises to be an evening of inventive, improvised yet highly accessible music from some of the UK’s leading jazz musicians.

Dave Manington’s Riff Raff Jazz Hastings, Tuesday 4 February, 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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