Eddie Parker’s Airborn feat. Rob Luft – Jazz at NAC

Renowned jazz composer and flautist Eddie Parker, a key member of the revolutionary, genre-busting big band Loose Tubes, brings his singular musical vision to NAC for this exciting gig, in a thrilling band sparked further by the presence of hotshot guitarist Rob Luft.

Eddie co-led Tubes to glory in the 80s with his eclectic approach, the band’s strikingly fun and anarchic music and exceptional, colourful stagecraft landing them TV slots in unlikely territory such as Wogan, The Tube and Afternoon Plus (then called A Plus 4). The ubiquitous 21-piece also, in 1987, became the first large jazz ensemble to play at the Proms, their landmark set opening with Eddie’s ingenious reggae-with-a-difference earworm The Last Word.

Tubes split in 1990 but reformed in 2014, Eddie’s memorable pieces such as the Eric Dolphy-echoing Sosbun Brakk and the super-smart Brazilian-style funk of Children’s Game remaining as lynchpin works in the band’s book, as they earned the Jazz Event of the Year gong from Jazz FM for their sold-out comeback in the huge tent at Cheltenham Jazz Festival.
It’s a great privilege for us to welcome Eddie’s latest project to Wolverhampton, this treasured musical icon having spent much of the last 30 years in jazz education.

When the 21-year-old Rob Luft sat in for John Parricelli for a few nights during Loose Tubes’ reunion set at Ronnie Scott’s in 2015, the spark of an idea kindled. A few years later that inner mounting flame took the form of what Eddie describes as a “posh covers band”, playing modern classics by John McLaughlin, Keith Jarrett, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. Alongside his internationally acclaimed jazz flute playing, Eddie is a superlative pianist and keyboard player (“my Dad started me on piano when I was four”, he says), and the band is also a vehicle for this hitherto largely unknown side. After some deliberation on what to call the band and with a brand-new original set composed by Eddie, Airborn was born.

Eddie Parker: flutes, keyboards, piano (Loose Tubes, Bheki Mseleku, Nduduzo Makhathini, Will Gregory Moog Ensemble, Debussy Mirrored Ensemble); ‘World-class flute player, fine composer, inspiring bandleader’ – The Times; “relaxed, informal yet unpretentiously musicianly, all presented with warmth and good humour” – Chris Parker; “Eddie Parker has a deliciously rich coppery tone, tells subtle stories in his solos, and is a fine composer into the bargain – John Fordham www.eddieparker.co.uk

Rob Luft: guitar; ECM recording artist, with both Elina Duni and John Surman; acclaimed for his own excellent, envelope-pushing releases on Edition Records; nominated “British Jazz Musician of the year” – Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2018; “Breakthrough Act of the year” – Jazz FM Awards 2018; “thoughtfully virtuosic head-turner” – The Guardian; “an original guitarist to be prized” – The Irish Times “; “One of the most exciting young jazz musicians to have emerged on the UK jazz scene.” BBC Radio 3 www.robluft.co.uk

Dave Manington: double bass (Julian Arguelles, Marius Neset, Gwilym Simcock, Riff Raff, Tori Freestone Trio, Yazz Ahmed Quartet); founder member of Loop Collective, nominated for Ivor Novello Award 2022 www.davemanington.co.uk

Jay Davis: drums; Performed at Umbria Jazz Festival, Jimmy Glass (Valencia), Jazzwerkstatt (Graz), Bimhuis (Amsterdam), Die Nato (Leipzig), Pizza Express Dean street, Ronnie Scott’s (London), Jamboree (Barcelona); “An intelligent and impressive presence” – The Jazz Mann www.jaydavismusic.com