Betty Accorsi Quartet
Thursday 14th December 2023
Tickets: £20.00 Seat at a shared Table for 4 /£15.00 Seat – No Table
Doors: 7.30pm
Show: 8:00pm-9:30pm – Single Set 75 min
Please note you can book for dinner either before or after the show.
Join Betty Accorsi in her musical journey at The Hampstead Jazz Club, which will bring you to discover the route of the tea clipper Cutty Sark from China to London, and explore the beauties of Brighton.
Her latest album ‘Growing Roots‘ was released on Friday 15th July 2022 with support from the Help Musicians MOBO Grant. The quartet features acclaimed London musicians Daniel Hewson (piano), Andy Hamill (bass) and Scott MacDonald (drums). Her songwriting uses influences as diverse as Pat Metheny, Björk and the Great American Songbook to transport the audience right into each scene, complemented by Betty’s flamboyant soprano improvisation, blending Coltrane, Garbarek and Surman.
Betty Accorsi is an Italian saxophone player, multi-instrumentalist and composer currently based in Brighton. She studied classical saxophone, piano and composition at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatoire in Milan. In Italy, Betty was involved in projects spanning from contemporary music ensembles with composer Salvatore Sciarrino to the progressive rock band Psicosuono, which released two albums (Eta Carinae, Metropoli).
In 2018, she moved to London and started a Master’s degree in Jazz Saxophone at Trinity Laban Conservatoire with a scholarship. Trinity’s academic environment includes leaders in the London jazz scene such as saxophonist Jean Toussaint and composer Bruno Heinen. Searching for a more open-ended approach to artistry and composition, Betty moved to Goldsmiths University of London in 2019, where she completed her Masters in Performance under the guidance of Mick Foster, Paul Bartholomew and Dr Pete Furniss, graduating with a distinction.
Betty is part of the acoustic duo “Sloth in the City“, formed in 2018 with percussive finger-style guitar player Andrea Martelloni. Their EP ‘Remember Music‘, recorded in 2021 in London, is composed of originals that blend jazz forms with Celtic folk and Mediterranean music.
Betty’s main project is the Betty Accorsi Quartet, founded with pianist Finn Carter and drummer Scott MacDonald, making them the finest musicians in her year at Goldsmiths and very popular in the South East of London. The quartet also features in-demand bassist Andy Hamill (Van Morrison, Martin Taylor, Ibrahim Maalouf). In December 2020 they released ‘The Cutty Sark Suite‘, an album of original compositions that introduced the Quartet’s sound as jazz blending elegant soprano melodic lines with an intense rhythm section that is punk-like at times. The Quartet was also part of the 2021 Brighton Fringe Festival, playing The Cutty Sark Suite in its entirety on a live-streamed gig.
The second album ‘Growing Roots‘ encompasses Betty’s approach as an evolved, refined and evocative musician. Her lyrical jazz consists of blending her many influences into a cinematic style reminiscent of Pat Metheny, John Surman, and Jan Garbarek. In the last two years, the Betty Accorsi Quartet has played in important Jazz venues such as Pizza Express Soho, Jazz Cafè Posk, Hampstead Jazz Club, Verdict Jazz Club and Brighton Jazz Festival.
“Her compositions take you where she says the music belongs” – Simply Jazz Talk
“In a short space of time, Betty Accorsi has staked her claim as a talent to listen out for, forging a quartet that is distinctive and able to interpret her constantly shifting compositions” – Jazz Views
“… simply elegant, superbly crafted, sumptuously melodic jazz…” – All about Jazz
LINE-UP:
Lead – Betty Accorsi (sax and voice)
Piano – Daniel Hewson
Drums – Scott MacDonald
Bass – Andy Hamill
Please note, The Club is not licensed to allow access to Children under the age of 16 after 9pm, so for evening performances, please do not book tickets for children under the age of 16. Children aged 16 and above are welcome at any time.
For £20.00 Tickets:
Seats are not numbered and you will be seated at available tables. Please note tables seat 4 people, so for bookings of less than 4 people, you will be seated and share a table for 4.
For £15.00 Tickets:
This is a fully seated event. Seats are not numbered and will be allocated on a first come first serve basis.
Please note the Jazz Club is situated in the basement of the Duke of Hamilton Pub and access is via a number of stairs. The nearest toilets are situated on the 1st floor of the Pub.
Showtimes
Doors: 7:30 pm | Show: 8:00 pm