A Night of Brazilian Music

Friday 18th October: A Night of Brazilian Music featuring Will Arnold-Forster, Hugo Jennings, and American jazz legend Chuck Redd

Tickets are £10 and can be purchased via Eventbrite or at reception.

In a very special evening, we are delighted to be welcoming percussionist Chuck Redd over from America to perform a night celebrating different genres of Brazilian music, in particular samba and bossa nova. For nineteen years, Chuck was the drummer in the trio of the great Charlie Byrd, who played a huge part in the development of bossa nova and other Brazilian music in America. He will be joined by highly-respected guitarist Will Arnold-Forster to present the first half of the programme in a traditional guitar trio format, exploring different repertoire from Brazil across different decades, before being joined by rising star pianist and vocalist Hugo Jennings, who will songs from the famous collaborations between Frank Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim, as well as other Brazilian favourites.

In addition to his work with Byrd, Chuck Redd was the featured vibraphonist in Mel Tormé’s All-Star Jazz Quintet from 1991-1996, and has also performed with Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown, Tommy Flanagan, Terry Gibbs, and many others as both a drummer and vibraphonist. He has played with key figureheads in Brazilian music such as Laurindo Almeida, Carlos Barbara Lima and more recently Duduka Da Fonseca and his wife, Maucha Adnet, who sang with Jobim for 10 years. Today, he can regularly be found performing all over America at some of the most prestigious music venues in the world with some of the country’s finest musicians. He has also been the director of the Oregon Festival of American Music since 2019.

Will Arnold-Forster is one of the most sought-after guitarists in Britain, known for his beautiful interpretations of a wide range of music, as well as his driving swing and musicality. Since studying at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and being awarded a Yamaha Scholarship in 2016, he has gone on to perform with many of the biggest names in jazz at venues including Ronnie Scott’s The Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Barbican Centre. Influences include Jim Hall, Jimmy Rayney, and many others. For several years, Will ran one of London’s most successful jazz nights every Monday night at the Oxford Tavern (now the Parakeet).

Jazz pianist and singer Hugo Jennings is a rising star on the London jazz scene. Known both for his tasteful playing and resonant bass vocals, and his work as founder and director of the highly successful Battersea Jazz Festival, Hugo has performed with at some of the Britain’s most prestigious venues, ranging from jazz clubs such as Toulouse Lautrec, Hampstead Jazz Club, and Pizza Express Dean Street, to larger halls such as Battersea Power Station and the Clapham Grand. He is also the conductor of Social London Orchestra and the South London Jazz Orchestra.