Take the Chops home with you ... get a copy of the latest CD from the Smokin' Chops - "The Chops Are Cookin" -
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The Smokin’ Chops Jazz Quintet presents their varied and extensive repertoire with humour and with a strong emphasis on Jazz as music for dancing. A frequent performer at festivals and events including The Central Coast Jazz League, Jazz in the Park, Newcastle Jazz Festivals, at A Taste Of Maitland Festival, and in 2014 at Morpeth Chapel Jazz Festival.
With all of its members mastering more than one instrument, the band creates a rich and intriguing ensemble performance. Equally adept vocally as it is instrumentally, with solo singing and vocal harmonies of classic jazz standards represented in much of its repertoire. A unique aspect of The Smokin' Chops is its involvement in cabaret. Two critically acclaimed jazz cabarets were presented in 2013, Tramp Steamer Tramp, at The Royal Exchange, and The Boulevard of Blood and Dreams* at the Newcastle Jazz Festival and The Royal Exchange..."The Boulevard of Blood and Dreams" is a jazz cabaret being staged by the Smokin' Chops, a group that has mastered the art of combining a tongue in cheek tale with dazzling musical numbers..Ken Longworth, Newcastle Herald. An audience is clearly having a good time when its members clap hands and tap feet in time with the rhythms of songs being performed by a jazz band as part of an amusing story. That happened frequently when I saw "Boulevard of Blood and Dreams"... Ken Longworth, Newcastle Herald. In 2015 The Chops presented yet another well appreciated jazz cabaret, The Speakeasy*, with the help of Toni and James Beech, which will again appear at the Unorthodox Church of Groove as part of the Newcastle's Fringe Festival in late January and February (see "What's On" page) *The Boulevard of Blood and Dreams won the Award for Best Special Theatrical Event at the CONDA (City Of Newcastle Drama Awards) in 2013 AND The Speakeasy won the CONDA again in 2015. |