Three very distinctive jazz talents come together under the banner of eXplorations to play Kings Place in London over the next three nights beginning this evening. Trumpeter Jay Phelps, alto sax player/MC Soweto Kinch and pianist Alex Wilson will offer a unique insight into both their separate approaches to composition and performance, and by joining in collaborative numbers demonstrate the interplay between the three players as each lead on the different nights.

Phelps, a Canadian who is very much at the heart of the contemporary UK jazz scene, brings to mind on the one hand a figure like the late Freddie Hubbard who during his long career managed to be both part of the experimental free jazz scene and the exciting end of everyman hard bop. Phelps when he was a member of Empirical was clearly one of the fast generation of UK-based players making their mark, and with original first album members Kit Downes, Neil Charles, Shaney Forbes and Nathaniel Facey, seemed to come out of nowhere and get there mighty fast.

Splitting from the group Phelps made a debut LP called Jay Walkin’ (again the comparison with Hubbard and even earlier trumpet heroes like Rex Stewart spring to mind) which was remarkable for channelling the consensus retro hip currents of the time without seeming dated. So old jazz heads, who might have cut their teeth in the golden age of the 1940s and 50s with a taste for bop and beyond, could nod along contentedly, while more impulsive younger heads schooled on M-BASE and hip hop could appreciate the craft of Phelps and dig the message. Phelps often plays at the Late Show in Ronnie Scott’s and during Avishai Cohen’s storming stint at the club last year came on, after Cohen cleared the stand, in the company of drummer Matt Home and Tim Thornton to jam in a relaxed setting. The pair appear here with pianist Jonathan Gee and Phelps to complete the quartet. But the evening also features Phelps’ big band for which he has written a special suite 'Movements For The Modern Artist' and he’s also joined tonight by co-curators Kinch and Wilson for a few numbers plus singer Gwyneth Herbert fresh from her fine Fran Landesman tribute at Pizza Express Jazz Club earlier this month. Michael Mwenso will also join, adding to the mix of great talent. Phelps is also incidentally a band member, in a playing and acting role, in Dancing On The Edge, currently in post-production, a Stephen Poliakoff written and directed drama set in the early-1930s following the fictionalised fortunes of the Louis Lester Band (a nod to the world of Ken Snakehips Johnson and Jiver Hutchinson).

Tomorrow Phelps returns the favour by joining Birmingham’s Soweto Kinch as a guest with Zurich-based Alex Wilson appearing on stage too, continuing the collaborative spirit of the three-day series. Kinch previews tunes from new CD The Legend of Mike Smith, based on the Seven Deadly Sins and Dante’s Inferno and is expected later this year. Saturday’s show is a complete contrast, with collaborations led by the fine AfroCuban stylist Wilson who brings his trio to play a suite for piano, string quartet and kora player Kadialy Kouyaté, with Phelps and Kinch returning for some numbers.

- Stephen Graham

Jay Phelps (above)

For tickets go to www.kingsplace.co.uk

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