Loz Speyer Quartet
Loz Speyer - trumpet, flugelhorn
Leo Morland - guitar
Mark McQuillan - double bass
Josh Walker-Martin - drums
click here for video: "Mixed Message"
the Quartet live at the Jazz Centre Southend, 2023 (with guitarist Billy Marrows, and Anmol Mohara on drums)
Playing a mix of Speyer originals and the music of Thelonious Monk, the band has a bright, open sound with its roots clearly in 60s post-bop - while drawing on influences from the wider world and our own time. The band plays two sets of energetically charged original pieces composed specifically for the lean and spacious sound of a trumpet and guitar led Jazz Quartet.
"Sparky, open, attractive jazz with all the punch and accessibility customarily associated with rock music.”
Chris Parker, the Times
“The music largely written by the leader, is solidly based in bop but is subtley inflected with less orthodox rhythmic twists, and the tunes have an appealing bounce and vigour."
Kenny Mathieson, the Scotsman
Speyer's debut Quartet album "Two Kinds of Blue" was recorded in 1998 on the back of a thirteen date UK tour and released on 33 Records in 1999. Click on the cover art to hear ->
Loz Speyer - trumpet, flugel
Andy Jones - guitar
Richard Jeffries - bass
Tony Bianco - drums
“The conversational energy of the performers, and the hipness of Tony Bianco's drumming, lift the music above the regular classic-jazz homage. Speyer, who has listened to Miles Davis’ pre-electric style with intelligence and imagination, is excellent throughout.” John Fordham, the Guardian
"A set of immaculate hard bop compositions… bright trumpet with a tone combining generous doses of Brownie and hints of Woody Shaw or mid-period Miles… The band is both fluid and tight, able to navigate the quick-shifting rhythms and accents of Speyer’s songs quite nimbly.”
David Lewis, Cadence USA
“An excellent, gutsy, hard edged quartet session.”
John Lewis, Time Out
