SAXOPHONIST Neil Maya comes to Bridport Electric Palace on Saturday 21st March, at 3pm and to Bridport’s Clocktower Records that evening, for two gigs that turn the clock back more than 50 years, to the ground-breaking era of jazz funk.

The two gigs are part of Birth of the Cool, a month-long festival of jazz, sponsored by Clocktower Records and Jazz Jurassica.

Turn the clock (pun intended) back to 1959 – the year jazz tore up the script and swaggered into history. Miles Davis dropped Kind of Blue. Brubeck unleashed Time Out … new grooves, new ideas, new bravado.

Neil Maya brings The Golden Year of Jazz back to life. He and his quartet will tell the musical story of epic tracks like Take Five, So What and Giant Steps, all delivered with crisp sax, slick piano and timeless style.

Between killer tunes, Neil lifts the lid on why ’59 was the moment jazz got fearless, fresh and seriously inventive. Expect bold rhythms, cool curves and off-the-leash improvisation.

The quartet is Neil Maya, saxophones, Tom Ball, keyboards, Kevin Saunders, bass and Gary Evans, drums.

Photograph © Mark Topping