Roger Beaujolais Quartet

Event information

Featuring Roger Beaujolais on vibraphone, Robin Aspland on piano, Simon Thorpe on double bass and Milo Fell on drums.

Roger started playing vibraphone aged 24 and first played in public aged 28. He is completely self-taught. Aged 30 he turned professional and became the first person to be able to make a living from solely playing vibraphone in the UK.
 
He originally gained recognition with 80’s jump jive favourites The Chevalier Brothers (also featuring Ray Gelato) whose musicianship and anarchic brand of humour took them all over the world. Ignored by the jazz scene in the UK they played at the Montreux Jazz Festival, North Sea Jazz Festival, Stockholm Jazz Festival and jazz festivals in Belgium, France, Italy, Finland and Norway. They also played on numerous TV and radio shows in the UK (including “The Old Grey Whistle Test”) and many others around the world in Japan, Switzerland, Denmark and France.
 
After a brief spell with chart topping Fairground Attraction in 1989, Roger formed latin-jazz outfit the Beaujolais Band who released 2 top selling albums on Acid Jazz Records. These were outsold by his jazz/funk/soul albums as Vibraphonic released on Acid Jazz again. Vibraphonic were then signed to Disney’s Hollywood Records in USA for 2 more albums before Roger concentrated on writing and performing acoustically with his Quintet/Quartet.
 
Roger has worked as a sideman in many projects and has played alongside many of the top jazz musicians in the UK including Pete King, Jim Mullen, Denys Baptiste, Cameron Pierre, Tony Remy, Jason Yarde, Mark Lockheart, Gwilym Simcock, John Etheridge, Alan Barnes, Tony Kofi, Tommaso Starace, Dick Pearce, Ed Jones, Simon Spillett, Seb Rochford, Pete Long, Gilad Atzmon, Trevor Tomkins, Simon Allen, Mornington Lockett, Theo Travis, Zoe Rahman, Brandon Allen, Alex Garnett, Jay Phelps and many more. He also played with Slim Gaillard in the 1980’s.
 
Roger has so far released 23 albums and is also a prolific writer with over 250 tunes recorded and released over the years.
 
He has played on numerous pop sessions including with Robert Plant, Morrissey, Kirsty MacColl, Roni Size, Paul Weller, Guy Chambers, Fairground Attraction, Alexander O’Neal, Omara Portuondo, Tony Allen, 4 Hero, Ed Motta, Brian Kennedy, Duffy, Rumer, Mary Coughlan, Graham Coxon, Shola Ama and Alison Limerick.

Roger has been involved with the reformed Fairground Attraction and toured Japan with them in June/July 2024 and was part of their 14 date UK tour in the autumn. He is also featured on their new album which was released on September 27th last year.