Tuesday 5 October 2010
Look out for the first gig of our Latin American band, North of Havana (see below) at The Grove Inn, Back Row, Leeds on Sunday 10 October 2010. For full details follow this link.

Monday 8 June 2010
Here I am again at last. Not much of a blogger I guess, but I really want to tell you about a new project which we have been rehearsing for a couple of months now. Called North of Havana, it's a little acoustic Latin outfit playing material loosely in the traditional Latin American style, but with an unusual line-up. The rhythm section consists of Chris Sykes playing combinations of congas, bongos, cajon and hand percussion, sometimes all at once it seems, while Kevin is playing a nylon string acoustic guitar covering both the guitar and bass parts. I'm on lead vocals (and shakey shaker) singing lyrics mostly in Spanish, not surprisingly, with backing vocals from the other band members. The solo chair is occupied by the virtuosic flute player Simon Prince, who you've just got to check out.

The sound is stripped out, groovy and kinda jazzy. As yet I don't know what it'll be like to listen to, but I tell you what, it's great fun to be in. We're recording next week, so I hope to be uploading demos asap. Hey, I might even make a MySpace page for it, if I can bear to. Watch this space!

By the way, incase you are looking for or know anyone who needs a party band, our Party Animals (5 or 7 piece) playing pop music for functions, weddings and corporate occasions, is available for bookings. Check out the link www.partyanimalsband.co.uk or drop us an email: kevindearden@me.com. Look forward to hearing from you.

Saturday 21 November 2009
Here we go then - this is my first attempt at a blog. It's taken me this long to work out what a blog is. Anyway I've crawled out of the garden (away from the dry stone wall I'm building) and into the 21st century. So here we are, Kevin and I, almost 10 years down the line - that's 10 years in February 2010, our first jazz gig together, and 10 years in April when we became an 'item' as they say.

So what has happened this last ten years, jazzwise? In a nutshell, 3 CDs, nice reviews, Michael Parkinson, Humphrey Lyttelton, Jazz Services funding, gigs from Scotland to London, lots of festivals, a few trips to Spain, Kev swapping from saxophone to guitar. But hey, you probably know all that lot already.

For the benefit of those of you who haven't heard me prattling on to about this, after almost 10 years of chasing the gig, we played to a full house at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield last Saturday. They don't often book local players, not least because they reckon, not unreasonably, that nobody's going to pay £13 to go and see Julie Edwards & Kevin Dearden, when they catch 'em for free at the Head Of Steam or other local jazz spots. Fair point, and we've had to deal with that one before - Wakefield Jazz in particular comes to mind (pretty good turn-outs there too).

The last time we played for Huddersfield Jazz was in March 2000, I think, when they were based at the Crag Rats venue in Holmfirth - it was one of the first ever 'serious' jazz gigs I'd done after Leeds College and one of the earliest with Kev. Prior to that I count Scarborough Jazz Club - me and Andy Cholerton (on keys) did a gig with Dennis Hitch and John, I think it was, on bass, in summer 1999 in the Club's temporary home in the Red Square bar at Beiderbecke's, when Mike and Marion were away in Greece. I also count Hulljazz in Feb 2000 - Ken Ford was brave enough to give me a go, with Andy C on piano, Richard Hammond on bass and Chris Sykes on drums - man, that seems a long time ago. That was the day I met my soon to be close friend and tireless promotor of the music, Gerry Moore, or Gerry Leaflets as he is sometimes known.

Anyway, back to the LBT. Weren't the guys fantastic (Hugh, Geoff, Eddie, Kev)? We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!

Our good buddy, Dave K, a guitarist, one of Kevin's ex-1900 Club members, and a real sweetheart, has sent me a review of the gig etc, which I have included below, because it made my day when I read it. Since then our friend John has also added his very kind ten penneth.

December is buzzing with Christmas party gigs for our function band Party Animals, so I'll talk to you again when the turkey (or the nutloaf) is all gone.

Julie

Want to comment or add to this blog? julieedwardsmail@tiscali.co.uk

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"Well, I've known Kev and Julie for about 7 years. They already had a great set in those days but their musicianship and performances have just kept improving. If you're looking at this site then you'll probably know the biogs and history. These are people who don't stand still. It's no surprise they now play top jazz festivals, get airplay from venerable broadcasters and are are planning their expansion into Europe... more

"I had the great pleasure recently of attending a jazz gig at the Lawrence Batley Theatre in Huddersfield. The band playing that night was the Julie Edwards/Kevin Dearden Quintet and what a wonderful performance they gave to the packed house. Julie and I have been friends for over twenty years now and in that period I have watched her grow as a vocalist and musician; it has been a source of great delight to me. Then she teamed up with Kevin in the year 2000 or thereabouts and it was a dream team as far as I was concerned. Both Julie's singing and Kevin's playing on the alto saxophone and their sensitive treatment of a song were reminiscent of Billie Holiday and Lester... more