Burns Night 2010 - Jim Mullen Organ Trio:

Jim Mullen is a truly original voice in contemporary jazz guitar. His distinctive “thumb” attack on the instrument gives him a unique style and sound on the instrument which is as admired by his peers as it is by his most diehard fans (as testified to by the fact that he was named ‘Best Guitar’ at the British Jazz awards in 2000, and has also twice achieved the same accolade at the BT Jazz awards.)
Jim’s musical approach encompasses not only a thorough knowledge of jazz, but a wellspring of experience which nods towards blues, soul, funk, rock and traditional Scottish music. As well as his legendary association with Dick Morrissey in the band Morrisey-Mullen, Jim has, over the years, worked with an impressive roster of artists, including Gene Harris, Jimmy Smith, Jimmy Witherspoon, Percy Sledge, Teddy Edwards and Terry Collier, to name a few.

Mike Gorman has established himself as one of the UK’s busiest pianists and organists, who has worked with artists as diverse as Marlena Shaw, Incognito, Us3, Van Morrison, Georgie Fame, Gwen McCrae and Jimmy Witherspoon. On the organ, Mike tends not to rely on stylistic cliches of the traditional organ trio sound, instead, anchoring the group with more subtle textures and clarity of line.

Matt Skelton’s breadth of stylistic approach to the drums has seen him playing for orchestras like The Halle and The Britten Symphonia, while at the same time holding down the drum chair in jazz ensembles such as The Back to Basie Band, and Stacey Kent’s Band. He has also worked with artists such as Scott Hamilton, Bucky and John Pizzarelli, Conti Candoli and Harry Allen and was the drummer on the recent Kevin Spacey film “Beyond The Sea”.

Reviews 01/01/2007 Peter Vacher, Jazz UK: Guitarist Jim Mullen’s trio, with the admirable Mike Gorman on Hammond B-3 and drummer Matt Skelton, is quite a fixture on the circuit these days and a welcome one too.