The opening night of a new jazz club at the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club was a sellout success, attracting world class stars to Swanage in Dorset.
The Swanage Jazz Club has been set up by Mayank Patel who also runs London’s Hampstead Jazz Club. He moved to Swanage three years ago and started playing golf at the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club in 2023.
Jo Harrop wows the crowd with amazing vocals, backed by Paul Edis, Joseph Limburn and Nigel Price
Top names and rising young stars
Mayank has joined forces with the golf club’s owners, David Suruki and Kathy Tatar, to start up a monthly jazz club featuring some of the top names and rising young stars alongside Purbeck talent.
The club was launched on Saturday 2nd March 2024 by Nigel Williams, the voice of Jazz FM’s breakfast and Saturday morning shows and featured Jo Harrop, who won the 2023 jazz album of the year award with When Winter Turns To Spring.
She performed a number of tracks from her new album What The Heart Wants backed by virtuoso pianist Paul Edis, guitarist Nigel Price and Swanage bassist Joseph Limburn.
The Isle of Purbeck Golf Club bar begins to fill up ahead of a sellout night
An array of world class jazz
Mayank Patel said:
“I was extremely excited when we first came up with the idea of launching a dedicated monthly jazz club at the Isle Of Purbeck Golf Club, and want it to support the best musicians in Dorset, giving them an opportunity to play with the creme de la creme of the jazz world.
“I launched Hampstead Jazz Presents in 2022 to bring some of the best artists to other venues across the UK and internationally – there have been performances at Ronnie Scott’s in London, in New York, Dubai and Las Vegas, and now Swanage can also become part of that circuit.
“So in partnership with Hampstead Jazz Club, which has become one of the most prestigious jazz venues in London in the last four years, we will be presenting a series of monthly shows featuring an array of world class homegrown and international jazz musicians.”
Swanage bassist Joseph Limburn on stage with virtuoso pianist Paul Edis
“Sharing this joyous music”
Mayank Patel added:
“We wanted to give local bands and musicians a unique opportunity to perform to broader audiences and to work with some of the very best jazz artists in the world. It’s all about sharing this joyous music and passing the torch on from musician to musician.
“Swanage Jazz Club will be presenting an eclectic range of first-class music which goes from the great American songbook all the way through to classic bebop or blues with a dash of soul.
“As Duke Ellington once said: ‘There are simply two kinds of music – good music and the other kind.’”
Jazz FM host Nigel Williams officially opens the debut concert for Swanage Jazz Club
Opportunities for local talent
Officially opening the debut concert at the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club, Nigel Williams said:
“This is the start of a series of concerts in partnership with Hampstead Jazz Club in London, Swanage will get a chance to see world class jazz artists and there will be opportunities for local talent to play alongside them, as Joseph Limburn is tonight, a proper local lad.
“Paul Edis is our musical director, an incredible composer and has a writing partnership with Jo Harrop, which really started during lockdown – one of the few great things that came out of the pandemic.
“Jo, as a singer, decided she should try songwriting and did an amazing job of putting her emotions down in words, and Paul is just brilliant at setting those words to music.”
“Jo has a style where she sings straight from the heart and international producers are taking notice of her.”
Singer songwriter Jo Harrop is taking the USA by storm, and it’s easy to hear why
On the cusp of something special
Nigel Williams added:
“She is on the cusp of something special – her next album, The Path Of A Tear, is produced by Larry Klein, who is an ex husband of Joni Mitchell and produced her later recording of Both Sides Now for the film Love Actually.
“Jo has just come back from the States, where they absolutely loved her, she played New York and San Francisco and went down so well – it is amazing to welcome her to Swanage.”
Future jazz evenings at the golf club will feature rising local stars The Jazzknots – Oscar Brady, Jude Brady, Mason Arnold and Joe Marlow – on Saturday 6th April 2024, and the multi award winning duo Alan Barnes & Dave Newton on Saturday 4th May 2024.
Rising Swanage stars The Jazzknots will take centre stage at the next Swanage Jazz Club night
Further information
- Watch for the latest news from Swanage Jazz Club on its website
- More than just 18 holes – see what other events are on at the Isle of Purbeck Golf Club
