Glasgow Jazz Festival: Jazz Tour featuring guest musician Joe Williamson

We have a real treat in store for you!  The guitarist Joe Williamson —”Outstanding musicianship and breathtaking improvisation” Tommy Smith — will perform a short set at the beginning of our jazz tour on Saturday 24th June commencing the Scottish Music Centre at 2pm. Join us for a refreshment and some great music before we set off on a gentle stroll around the Merchant City.  Purchase of a ticket entitles you to one half price ticket for the concert celebrating the centenary of explosive drummer and bandleader, Buddy Rich, with the SNJO featuring Alyn Cosker on drums.

We’d love to see you there, get the lowdown on Glasgow Jazz Festival with our walking tour on Sat 24th June:bit.ly/2qLqnvx 

Joe Williamson hails from the North East of England, and recently graduated from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland with first-class honours. Known for his melodic and creative improvising, Joe performs regularly across the Scottish jazz circuit.

Joe is a founding member of award-winning quartet Square One known for their free-spirited original music and energised live performances. In December 2015, Square One became the proud recipients of the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award, administered by Help Musicians UK. This prestigious prize allowed Square One to record their debut album, In Motion which was released in October 2016 along with a tour of the UK and Poland.

In May 2015, Joe toured with the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, alongside Kurt Elling and Tommy Smith. He is a member of Spark Trio, featuring distinguished organist Paul Harrison and drummer Stephen Henderson; Graham Costello’s STRATA, exploring radical possibilities in rhythmic jazz; and the Tommy Smith Youth Jazz Orchestra.

Joe is a prolific composer, writing much of the music for Square One, as well as pieces for larger ensembles that have been performed live on BBC Radio Scotland, and featured in the Royal Conservatoire’s festival of original music. In 2016, he was commissioned by the Glasgow Jazz Festival to write a new piece celebrating the festival’s 30th anniversary, and was featured in the festival’s ’30 under 30′ showcase. Upon graduating from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Joe was awarded the Joe Temperley Prize for Jazz Arranging. In January 2017, he was a finalist in the Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year competition.