Ahead of opening the new Sheffield Jazz season, city musician Alex Hutton reveals why the city is in his blood.
ANYONE who has ever lived in Sheffield will confirm the place gets under your skin for many reasons.
And, in spite of being a resident of the nation's capital for a decade, the influence of his hometown and its people is as strong as ever for pianist Alex Hutton.
"I've returned to Sheffield frequently to see my parents," he says ahead of his show at the Millennium Hall a week tomorrow. "And returning to the house I grew up in, with many happy childhood memories, I tend to write little melodic ideas."
In fact, Alex has just released an album fired by Sheffield and the surrounding countryside, called Songs From The Seven Hills.
"I had great fun with this 'suite' because it was all there in musical fragments that I then had to piece together. Sheffield's fresh green landscape definitely is echoed here but memories sometimes take on dream-like qualities, and I think this is reflected in the music.
"I definitely think the fantastic landscape around Sheffield is echoed in this music. Sometimes when I was composing I would even get out pictures and landscapes of Sheffield and sit them on the top of the piano for a mood setting."
Of course, Alex isn't the first Sheffield musician to be inspired by his town and he won't be the last.
But there is always a danger that wearing a place so evidently on your sleeve, including your album cover, could alienate you from a non- Sheffield audience.
Like fellow city muso Richard Hawley, Alex makes no excuses. Either way, it didn't do the aforementioned Brit-nominated star any harm.
"It could be the album alienates a non-Sheffield audience, but it's been really well received so far.
"And it's performed with three musicians who have been steeped in the jazz tradition, so musically it can pull in different directions. But I think music if it's honest is always a reflection of its environment."
Currently promoting the new album, Alex singles out his Sheffield Jazz show on September 12 as something special.
"It's great to be playing this music in Sheffield," confirms Alex. "Sheffield Jazz has been hosting great jazz for decades and I remember attending these gigs before I left town, hearing world class players like Pete King, Bobby Wellins and Jim Mullen – who I've since met and had the pleasure to play with in London.
"I've also got good memories of doing my first jazz gigs in Mr Kite's, on Devonshire Green."
While Alex will take care of the piano, his trio is completed by Arnie Somogyi on double bass and Enzo Zirlii on drums/percussion.
"It will be a great gig with lots of fireworks," adds Alex. "The music and the way we play is not just for jazz purists by any means. My Italian drummer Enzo is fantastic and really captivating.
"I'm hoping some familiar faces will be there – I've lost touch with a lot of people so it would make a great reunion.
There are some great musicians in Sheffield and it would be great to see them again."
n Other Sheffield Jazz highlights include: Killer Shrimp – winners of the Parliamentary Jazz Awards Best Ensemble 2007 – the Friday after Alex, featuring Damon Brown on trumpet, followed by the Paul Booth Quintet on September 26, Chris Lawrence Quartet on October 3 and the distinctive piano talents of Zoe Rahman Quartet the week after that.
Cleveland Watkiss Trio blend improvisation, counterpoint, harmony, breakbeat loops and basslines on October 17 while the action shifts to Sheffield Cathedral on October 25 when 3 Dimensions – the new project from Acoustic Triangle – stop off at Church Street on a 14-date tour of the UK's finest ecclesiastical buildings.
Guitar and sax-led quartet Compassionate Dictatorship find the Millennium Hall on November 7 followed a week later by Detroit-born Kirk Lightsey and Michael Janisch & The Transatlantic Collective the Friday after that.
The Upper Chapel, Norfolk Street, hosts the John Taylor Solo Benefit Concert on November 29 while Sam Crockatt Quartet and Georgia Mancio Quintet complete activities at the Polish Centre on Ecclesall Road.
n Among the best names lining up for Saturday's Rotherham Jazz Festival – the 29th such gathering – has to be Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band.
They start off the schedule at the Rotherham Show music marquee in Clifton Park from 1pm. After that you get Sheffield-based band The New Orleans Strollers, with Suzanne on vocals (2.30pm), followed by Roy Williams And His Jazz Friends, with Enrico Tomasso on trumpet, taking you from 4pm until 5.15. Vic Smith Hosts.
n Rotherham Jazz Club has begun its new season at The Transport Club, welcoming Dave Donohoe Jazz Band to Union Street on Monday.
The following Mondays host Chicago Teddy Bears Society, Old Fashioned Love Band, Bob Ludlam, Dave Mott, Mart Rodgers and Savannah Jazz.
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FeaturesMore Rotherham newsMore Doncaster newsMore Barnsley newsCheck out the very latest on South Yorkshire's roads - including live traffic cameras on Sheffield's commuter routes - with our Traffic sectionLatest sport. The full article contains 869 words and appears in Sheffield Star newspaper.
