Winners of the 2013 Emerging Excellence award from the Musicians Benevolent Fund, Moonlight Saving Time combine bold improvisation with atmospheric grooves and world rhythms to create a unique sound in contemporary jazz. With influences ranging from Chick Corea to Massive Attack, the band offers a strikingly fresh take on established jazz repertoire, as well as thoughtful and melodic original compositions. London based saxophonist Jason Yarde (Jazz Warriors, Manu Dibango, Hugh Masekela) featured on two tracks of the album and will be playing with the band this evening.

Emily Wright is a jazz vocalist with a unique, honest tone, a spirited bandleader and innovative composer with a refreshingly original approach to the jazz idiom. Described by Jacqui Dankworth as an amazing singer…one of the young up and coming singers to watch, Emily forged a unique niche in the South West and is now making a big impression on the national jazz scene.

After studying music at Cardiff University, Emily completed a post-grad in jazz performance at The Royal Welsh College of Music And Drama where she studied with Keith Tippett, Huw Warren and Nia Lynn. With a strong background in classical music, she is influenced as much by Benjamin Britten as by Lionel Loueke, while her formative years growing up in Bristol developed her love of trip-hop and drum and bass. Drawing on these diverse influences in her choice of repertoire and compositional style makes Emily a refreshingly original performer.

Jason Yarde started his playing career with the Jazz Warriors at 16, and has performed in a wide variety of bands including work with Louis Moholo, Afro Blok, Mano Ventura and the big bands of Manu Dibango, Hermeto Pascoal, Sam Rivers, McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Hugh Masekela and many others.

His own bands include the multi-award-winning J-life and Acoutastic Bombastic, and his prolific talents as composer, arranger and producer have led to projects with dance companies and classical orchestras such as the BBCCO and the LSO.

Nick Malcolm is an original, exciting and heart-felt improviser. His rich warm sound and sense of improvisational daring inform each and every musical situation and he plays with a total commitment to the music in the moment, whatever the stylistic context He made a big impression at The Vortex, Manchester Jazz Festival and Ealing Jazz Festival during the summer of 2011 and toured nationally in June 2012. Nick has played at the 606 Club, Brecon, Cheltenham, Glastonbury and Oxford festivals, London Jazz Cafe and Ronnie Scott’s and with musicians such as Gail Brand, Chris Batchelor, Alexander Hawkins, Emily Wright, Nostalgia 77 and BBC Folk Award Winner Jim Moray.

Dale Hambridge graduated from Trinity College music with a degree in classical piano but had always harboured a keen interest in jazz and soon after leaving London for the burgeoning scene in Bristol he found himself working almost exclusively in jazz and soul outfits. Known for his versatility and wide ranging experience, he has been known to play a classical concert, a TV session, Musical theatre, a modern jazz gig and a muddy Glastonbury with a high-life African band – all in the same week. Dale currently plays with Mankala, the Colman Brothers and Sirius B, as well as leading his own trio. His music has taken him all over UK and the world including the US, Europe, and the middle-east.

Will Harris’s dynamic and comprehensive approach to the double bass has put him in high demand as a musician in the South-West. He is a regular member of Andy Hague quartet, Kevin Figes quartet, Michelson Morley, Karen Street’s ‘Streetworks’ and the Colman Brothers. Will has also shared the stage with the likes of Bobby Wellins, Alan Barnes, David Newton, Simon Spillett, Tina May, Anita Wardell, Damon Brown, Ed Jones and LA-based sax player Benn Clatworthy.

Mark Whitlam has worked with many of the UK’s finest musicians including, Tina May, Jim Mullen, Gareth Williams, Mike Outram, Alan Barnes, Chris Biscoe, Dave Newton and John Critchinson. Live appearances include gigs at Brecon, Cheltenham, Manchester and Swanage Jazz Fesivals, Glastonbury Festival, The 606 Club and Glastonbury Festival. Recent recordings include Kevin Figes’ latest album, Michelson Morley and pianist Jim Blomfield’s trio album. Mark is a member of the drum faculty at the music college BIMM Bristol.

Rory Francis is a percussionist with over 10 years experience playing many different types of percussion, specialising in Cuban and Brazilian music. He studied at Dartington College of Arts (BA Hons. Music Performance). in Cuba with teachers including Yaroldy Abreu (Irakere), and in Brasil with members of Monobloco. He has performed and recorded with a wide range of artists, from world music to jazz and pop, including, Toque Tambor, Ernesto Simpson, Roni Size, Joker, Biram Seck, RSL, Sirius B, Dilanga, Jason Rebello, Pete Josef, Tarras, Mankala. As well a working as a freelance percussionist, he is currently playing regularly with future soul act Typesun, Bristol Afrobeat Project, contemporary salsa quintet Timbaterra, Brazilian carnival bloco Ziriguidum.

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