WEDNESDAY MAY 20th, 8pm - MORNINGTON LOCKETT ALL STAR QUARTET @ARTS WING, GRAND THEATRE

Ross Stanley is a pianist and organist who was born in 1982 in Frimley, England. Beginning piano at age 4, by a teenager, he was awarded an organ scholarship to Marlborough College. Upon leaving Marlborough, Ross was invited to study for his music degree at several renowned institutions including Trinity College of Music, Guildhall School of Music and a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in the USA. He decided to stay in London, however, and completed a BMUS in classical and jazz piano at Guildhall in 2004. Since leaving, Ross’s musical skills have kept him in high demand, seeing him play with jazz names such as Will Vinson, Dennis Rollins, Guy Barker, Michael Janisch, Joel Frahm, Liane Carroll, Stan Sulzman, Steve Arguelles, John Paracelli, Bobby Wellins, Clark Tracey, as well as being a regular member of the Jim Mullen Organ Trio, the Mark McKnight Organ Quartet and the Jacqui Dankworth band and performing in many small and large ensembles – Nostalgia 77 Octet, The Heritage Orchestra. Ross has also toured with Steve Howe Trio, Deodato and has recorded for Goldie, US3, Trevor Horn and Simply Red among others. Ross is a Hammond endorsee.

Sophie Alloway is in demand on the London jazz scene where she has played with the likes of Jason Rebello, Mornington Lockett, Yazz Ahmed, Laurence Cottle, George Melly, Guthrie Govan, Shez Raja, Vimala Rowe, Geoff Eales, Nigel Price, Tony Allen, Wild Card, Tony Kofi, Jay Rayner, US actor/comedian Jason Kravits, among many others. She played for Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace shortly before he became King.

She has toured with rapper Roots Manuva, pop singer Gala, Blue Note pianist Chihiro Yamanaka, and the Michael Jackson musical ’Thriller’. As a session drummer she has recorded at top studios including Abbey Road, AIR and Angel.

At the rockier end she plays with Paul Stacey (Oasis/The Black Crowes) and John Hogg (Roger Daltrey), and backs soulful singers including Leee John (Imagination), Kenny Thomas and David McAlmont.

For a decade she has been the drummer in original fusion band Lydian Collective, with over six million Spotify streams and more than two million YouTube views.
TV credits include Later with Jools Holland, Glastonbury, the MTV Video Music Awards, Mercury Music Prize, a Sky advert, Gareth Malone’s Christmas specials, BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year, and all episodes across two series of Adrian Dunbar’s ITV/PBS drama ‘Ridley’. 

Sophie’s featured tracks on ‘Abbey Road Masters: The Drum Sessions’ have been used on radio and TV across the world.

She played the drums for all the finalists in the BBC Young Jazz Musician 2024. The concert, at London's Queen Elizabeth Hall, was broadcast on BBC TV and BBC radio.

Laurence Cottle is a Welsh bass guitarist and composer.

His solo recordings have been mostly in jazz and jazz fusion. He was a member of the fusion quartet The Fents and appeared on their second album, The Other Side, released on the Passport Jazz label in 1987. He played with The Alan Parsons Project on Gaudi, their final album for Arista Records, and on Freudiana, Parsons's final collaboration with Eric Woolfson. He is the brother of Richard Cottle (also a musician), playing with him during his time with The Alan Parsons Project.

Shortly after, he was hired by British heavy metal band Black Sabbath to play bass on the studio sessions that would become their 1989 album Headless Cross. Cottle wrote and played all the bass parts for the album and appeared on the music video for the song Headless Cross but didn't perform live or tour with the band.

In the 1990s, he produced three albums for guitarist Jim Mullen and recorded with British jazz musicians Mornington Lockett, Tim Garland, Django Bates, Gerard Presencer, and John Graham. From 2003–2006, he was a member of Bill Bruford's Earthworks. In 2009, he produced albums for Claire Martin, Gareth Williams, and Mark Nightingale. He leads his own Laurence Cottle Big Band playing a variety of standards and his own material.