JAZZ ON THE GREEN

Event information

Following a wonderfully received night last month, July's Jazz on the Green promises to be every bit as exciting with the appearance of two of the country’s most stellar Jazz guitarists, Pete Oxley and Nicolas Meier.

The Oxley – Meier Guitar Project is a unique band that successfully melds contemporary jazz with world music. They bring around 10 differing guitars to each concert, including fretless nylon, acoustic and electric 12 strings, sitar-guitar, and 11-string fretless. These instruments, with these players, allow for a huge variety of textures and soundscapes, from Middle Eastern influenced music to raucous Brazilian-inspired sambas.

They have, either in duo or quartet formats, performed hundreds of concerts together in all sorts of diverse venues, including Ronnie Scott’s, The Wigmore Hall, The Sage, Musicport World Music Festival and the London Jazz Festival. They have also toured widely across Europe, presenting the music from their 5 recordings together.

Pete Oxley is a guitarist, bandleader and composer of mainly jazz-related music. He has written for many ensembles over the years and has had his pieces played on National radio, TV and performed by his various projects and by others.

In 2008, Nicolas Meir joined Pete Oxley in the quartet Eclectica!, and from there went on to create the Oxley-Meier Guitar Project.

UK-based Swiss guitarist Nicolas Meier has carved a reputation out as one of the UK’s most original guitarists. Drawing on a love of Turkish, Eastern music, Flamenco, Tango all mix with jazz, Meier has developed his own unique sound with his regular group (latest release was his eight album with his full band.) He is a multiple award-winning performer. Notable outlets for his writing would include his Paris-based band, The New Noakes Quartet, His 5-piece band Curious Paradise and latterly, the Oxley-Meier Guitar Project.

"These are two masterly guitarists, although very different in style. Oxley has been playing on the British jazz scene since 1997, with everyone from Stacey Kent to Gilad Atzmon ... Don’t fall into the trap of assuming that this is something exclusively for guitar buffs, or even jazz buffs. If you love music of any kind you’ll probably fall for this. These two resourceful maestros reach out to a wide audience” - The Guardian

“When it comes to empathy, this duet of guitar virtuosi comes close to perfection” - The Observer

"Not just a guitar album to love, a jazz album to savour but a joyous album of music that reaches toward a goal beyond” – Jazzwise