For the second year in a row, the Boxford Fleece Jazz Club in Boxford, UK, will host a One World Beat event! This historic and friendly pub, for 12 years a prime modern jazz venue, will feature the Nikki Iles Trio on March 18th at 8:30pm. This jazz-vocal trio features Nikki Iles on piano, Duncan Hopkins on double bass, and Anthony Michelli on drums & cymbals. Nikki herself is a top British pianist, and Duncan Hopkins and Anthony Michelli are two talented Canadians.

Their new album, "Everything I Love" (due for release in April 2004), pays homage to some of the composers that have influenced Nikki's playing and helped to create her own unique style. They include guitarist John Abercrombie, and songwriters George and Ira Gershwin, and Cole Porter. Her renditions of the work of the great Bill Evans, and the hugely admired John Taylor, demonstrate that she is capable of handling the material of her mentors with as much confidence and sensitivity as they themselves.

The album also demonstrates her own talents as a composer, with two compositions which were originally recorded on the album "Secret", in the fall of 2000. The recording quartet featured the same line-up augmented with the masterful British altoist Martin Speake. They played two British tours to great acclaim in 2000 and 2002, and more recently the Nikki Iles Trio has played in both Canada and the UK to enthusiastic audiences. The empathy between Nikki and her collaborators is evident in both albums, and despite their geographical separation, they very much inhabit the same musical space.

Nikki is also a widely-respected teacher, acting as a tutor at summer schools and in workshops worldwide, and maintaining close contacts with a number of London colleges. This trio represents the best in international cooperation and music-making, and we applaud them and also the Fleece for making a difference globally while providing outstanding entertainment locally.

See the Event page...