';
Wobbly
Rail Five!
Friday
16th October 2026
Bar 7 pm
/ music 8 pm
Tickets
£15 on the door and Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/wobbly-rail-five-tickets-1999932156918?aff=oddtdtcreator
Wobbly Rail Five will play compositions by Pete Hurt, Chris Biscoe, Liam Noble and the ever inspiring Thelonious Monk!
Line up:
Chris
Biscoe – alto and soprano saxes and alto clarinet
Pete Hurt
- tenor and soprano sax
Liam
Noble - piano
Steve
Watts – bass
Sophie
Alloway - drums
Co-led by
Chris Biscoe and Pete Hurt, the Wobbly Rail Five features compositions by Pete,
Chris, Liam Noble and the always inspiring Thelonious Monk. The band's name is
inspired by steam trains and a Cecil Taylor composition, which gives a clue to
the band's eclectic approach. The emphasis is on melody, rhythm, dynamics and
an openness to exploring contrasting musical areas.
Pete Hurt
and Chris Biscoe have played together, toured and recorded in the George
Russell Anglo-American Orchestra, the Andy Sheppard Big Band and many small
groups, including the Liam Noble Band. Chris also appeared on Pete's first big
band record, 'Lost For Words', while Pete played on Chris's 'Profiles of
Mingus', so this co-led band is a logical outcome of a long and varied musical
partnership. Some new compositions by both leaders are featured, but some older
pieces re-appear, such as the delightfully lyrical 'Lost for Words' in small
band guise, and arrangements from Liam’s ‘In the Meantime’
Chris
Biscoe has been featured in many bands, including Mike Westbrook projects from
trio to big band, the George Russell Anglo American Orchestra, Hermeto Pascoal
Big Band and David Murray Band. He has recorded with Westbrook, Russell, Liam
Noble and Pete Hurt. Records under his own name explore the music of Charles
Mingus with Henry Lowther and Pete Hurt, Eric Dolphy with Tony Kofi, and Gerry
Mulligan/Paul Desmond in ‘Two of a Mind’ with Allison Neale. ‘Oh Pioneers’ by
The Wobbly Rail Five features original compositions, while ‘Music Is’ presents
music and songs by Mike Westbrook re-imagined for instrumental small ensembles.
Pete Hurt
is equally respected as a saxophonist and composer/arranger. His big band
records ‘Lost for Words’ and ‘A New Start’ have earned high praise and he
writes for the London Jazz Orchestra, the BBC Radio Big Band and Norma
Winstone. Pete is featured with Still Waters, led by Henry Lowther, and
contributed to the Still Waters CD ‘Can’t Believe, Won’t Believe’. Pete was a
long-term member of the George Russell Anglo American Orchestra, The Carla Bley
Orchestra, and The Andy Sheppard Big Band and ‘Big Commotion’.
Liam
Noble is an inventive and original player whose playing includes shades of Stan
Tracey and other rarely heard influences without losing his very personal
touch. As bandleader and writer he has led several important bands, including
the quintet which recorded ‘In The Meantime’, featuring Chris Biscoe, and
recorded with Tom Rainey, Drew Gress, Stan Sultzmann and Shabaka Hutchings. His
Trio recording ‘Brubeck’ prompted this response from Dave Brubeck: ‘This CD
will be an inspiration for me’. Other projects include ‘Pigfoot’ with Chris
Batchelor, the Julian Siegel Quartet, ‘Tapestry Unravelled’ with Christine
Tobin and two solo albums.
Steve
Watts came to prominence in Django Bates‘s Human Chain and has gone on to play
with many leading contemporary bands, including The Impossible Gentleman with
Mike Walker. Steve has been working on the European Jazz scene for over 25
years, playing and recording with many musicians of international stature,
including Norma Winstone, Joe Lovano, Peter Erskine, Kirk Lightsey, Adam
Nussbaum, and Kenny Wheeler. A long-term member of the innovative big band
Loose Tubes, Steve has stayed closely associated with its leading figure,
including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Julian Arguelles, Chris Batchelor and
Mark Lockheart.
Sophie
Alloway’s many and diverse credits include Chihiro Yamanaka, Jason Rebello,
Yazz Ahmed, Laurence Cottle, George Melly, Shez Raja, Geoff Eales, Nigel Price,
Tony Allen, Tony Kofi and Roots Manaya. Her own projects include The Lydian
Collective, playing original fusion music, which has received more than six
million Spotify streams, and The Sophie Alloway Quartet featuring Mornington
Lockett and Flo Moore.
„Biscoe
is a saxophone virtuoso of great lyricism, passion, stamina and considerable
versatility. He is steeped in the jazz tradition and his conception embraces
everything from blues and gospel roots to free improvisation and jazz rock” - Ian
Carr, The Rough Guide to Jazz
„There's
no aimless filling from Noble; he prefers dense, angular finger-butts, distant
salsa chord structures hazily definable at times, Monkish ringing apparent at
others, with even some moments of Stan Tracey jabbing or Howard Riley bebop
transmogrification” - Martin Longley, Birmingham Post
www.triorecords.co.uk/pete_hurt.html
www.editionrecords.com/artists/liam-noble/
www.fleetjazz.wordpress.com/steve-watts/
https://chrisbiscoe.bandcamp.com/album/wobbly-rail-five
Video 1
(Chris Biscoe's Mingus Profiles Sextet – live): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yj-hV_dRHpI