Music Spoken Here presents… Empirical
Thursday 8 May 2025
8:00 pm - 11:00 pm
Pay what you can on the door (suggested £10-15)
“Still a reliable touchstone of contemporary British jazz at its most sophisticated” – Jazzwise
Empirical exploded onto the UK jazz scene with the release of their debut album “Empirical” in 2007. Former Jazz Warrior, saxophonist Courtney Pine, who released the album on his Destin-e label and also featured on bass clarinet, declared Empirical at the time as “the most exciting new jazz to come out of the UK”. Indeed, the album was awarded Album of the Year (Jazzwise) and Jazz Album of the Year (Mojo), and the band were awarded Best Jazz Ensemble in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards the following year and again in 2016.
The original line-up of Jay Phelps (trumpet), Nathaniel Facey (alto sax), Kit Downes(piano), Neil Charles (bass) and Shaney Forbes (drums) didn’t survive beyond the first album (Phelps and Downes left and Tom Farmer replaced the departing Charles on bass). By the release of their second album “Out ’n’ Out” (2009 on Naim), the core quartet comprised Facey, Forbes and Farmer joined by Lewis Wright on the vibraphone and remained constant up until their 2024 album “Wonder is the Beginning” on Whirlwind Records, which also featured previous Music Spoken Here performers Alex Hitchcock (with Resolution 88 in November 2022 and Dan Lockheart in September 2023) and Jason Rebello (with FNUK in January 2024).
“Wonder is the Beginning” is a mature musical statement that shows the band’s fire is still undimmed and their commitment to maintaining the legacy while forging their own unique path is as strong as ever. Empirical’s trademark combination of complex, thoughtful writing and spontaneous improvisation is enabled by the absolute trust that comes from years of collective music making, and is at the heart of what makes Empirical stand out consistently on the musical landscape.
With Wright since moving to the US, the “Wonder is the Beginning” tour, which brings Empirical to Worcester for the very first time, has seen a couple of different lineups, including guitarist David Preston (who brought his trio to The Marr’s Bar in February last year) and pianist Ivo Neame.
For this performance, we are delighted to feature the vibraphone for the first time on our program in the very capable hands of the young Kenny Wheeler prize winner Jonny Mansfield, along with the core members Tom Farmer and Nathaniel Facey. In a scenario not uncommon with the best jazz bands, Shaney Forbes has other touring commitments in May, so Luke McCarthy (of Jonny Mansfield’s Quartet) will take the throne for this one.
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