Byron Wallen’s Hurricane Bells

Thursday 18th February 2022

The Spin is delighted to welcome back one of the UK’s great trumpeters, Byron Wallen, with a brand new project featuring the cream of the UK's young-generation players.

The works that the band will perform are the result of a commission, in response to the artist Peter Shenai’s ‘Hurricaine Bells’, following the tragic Hurricane Katrina. Byron states: "My piece is an exploration of the socio-political economic climate where their sound resonates. The reason "Hurricane Katrina" incurred such a huge loss of life and destruction was not because of the winds, but because of the subsequent flooding, due to insufficient levy infrastructure and the pathetic response of the US federal government.”

Byron has won numerous prestigious awards for his playing and writing alike, including the BBC’s 'Innovation In Jazz’ award, 'Best Band & Best Album’ and MOBO’s ‘Best Jazz Act’.

Widely recognised as a seminal figure in Jazz, Wallen is an acclaimed writer and producer whose original scores have been commissioned by the Science Museum; PRS, The BBC, Jerwood Foundation, Southbank
Centre, National Theatre, Arts Council, FIFA and Sage Gateshead. He has also composed soundscapes for Universal Pictures, Warner Bros and Game of Thrones.

With a huge spectrum of styles and influences, Byron has garnered great critical acclaim from the media, such as this from The Guardian:

"Byron Wallen sometimes suggests an absorbing fusion of the fragmentary lyricism of late period Miles Davis and the spiky euphoria of Don Cherry. Just as frequently he will seem closer to Asian or North African music, or reveal an informed appreciation of some of the earliest trumpet pioneers in jazz."