Gig preview: Dennis Rollins’ Velocity Trio @ The Sage Gateshead May 24

(Preview by Russell).
Badbone man Dennis Rollins is a busy man with a busy schedule. The trombone funk master stops-off in Gateshead later this week with his Velocity Trio. The band features Rollins with Hammond star Ross Stanley and the sensational young Portuguese drummer Pedro Segundo. 

Rollins boasts an impressive pedigree; early recognition came as a member of the famed Doncaster Youth Jazz Association which led to an offer from Bill Ashton to continue his jazz education in the ranks of the institution that is the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Rollins’ jazz funk approach led to professional engagements with the seminal big band outfit Jazz Warriors, UK superstar Courtney Pine (a recent and frequent visitor to The Sage Gatesehead), a see-the-world tour with Jamiroquai, funking it up with funksters US3, soul jazz funksters the Brand New Heavies and by no means least his on-going association with the one and only Maceo Parker.
 

Rollins’ regular outfit Badbone & Co. has toured for many years to great acclaim and the Velocity Trio’s date at The Sage – Thursday 24 May – promises to be a storming set of high energy jazz grooves. Hammond virtuoso Ross Stanley is sure to give it the Jimmy McGriff/Jimmy Smith treatment and then some. Pairing him with Rollins’ tireless pedals-and-effects big ‘bone riffs just about guarantees that the joint (Hall Two) will be jumpin’. The presence of drummer Pedro Segundo threatens to take it off the scale. The London-based Portugese’s polyrhythmic mayhem is set to be the talk of the town. This is your chance to ‘get on down’ with Badbone Man Dennis Rollins. He is unlikely to be back anytime soon because from The Sage Gateshead he heads up the A1 to tour across Scotland and beyond that he gets to work once again with Maceo Parker touring Europe throughout the summer months. Your jazz summer begins this Thursday – Hall Two, The Sage at 8:00 pm.

Russell