Saturday 1 June from 1.00 pm and throughout the afternoon
We are delighted to be able to present free live music in the Theatre foyer and Spinning Top cafe/bar before each main performance in the Beveridge Suite. This has been made possible by funding from SCOPS Arts Trust.
From around 1.00 pm, and again at around 3.15 pm, ensembles from the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra will provide the entertainment. Then, from around 5.30, Richard Michael will play with our special guest from Australia, blues vocalist Peter Jackson.
Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra is a unique youth music initiative which combines high-quality music education with all the fun, freedom and creativity of jazz. FYJO is the place for anyone aged between 8 and 24 who plays a musical instrument and wants to play jazz with other young people. FYJO’s philosophy is Mistakes are cool! and there are no auditions or formal requirements for new members.
Kirkcaldy resident Richard Michael BEM is one of Scotland’s best-known musicians. An outstanding pianist, composer, teacher, tutor, founder of FYJO, Honorary Professor of Music at St Andrews University – the list of achievements just goes on and, in his mid-70’s he shows no sign of slowing down or losing his love of inspiring others to play and enjoy great music.
Peter Jackson began performing professionally at the age of 16. During the 90’s, Peter performed with his popular Soul and Funk band , Sticky Soul, across Victoria, and with a string of Melbourne’s top Soul, RnB, and Jazz groups. He also worked as a producer and sound engineer with many classical, jazz, rock, and folk acts for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) as well as a freelancer on singles, EP’s, and albums.
In 2013 Peter formed ‘The Jackson Four’, a Hammond organ-based classic RnB, Blues n Groove quartet, a mix of Georgie Fame and The Blues Flame with the New Orleans Blues of The Meters, The Neville Brothers, Dr John and Latin rhythms.
In 2018, alongside the Blues line up, a new collaborative project was formed, the Jackson Combo – Jazz, featuring one of Australia’s most talented and virtuoso Hammond organ and piano players, Jon Wade. The quartet set out to explore and interpret the songs of some of the greats like Mel Torme, Lou Rawls, Nat King Cole, Joe Williams, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughan, among others.