Watermill Jazz

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Tickets - ticketsource.co.uk/watermilljazz

Excellent quality jazz from major UK and international musicians, every Tuesday from 8:30 - 10:30pm (except December). Delicious hot buffet available from 6:45pm - £15.50 (book in advance - see email link)
NOTE: It is with regret that the Hot Buffet served before concerts will not be available from 15 August 2023 until further notice.

14/10/2026

“Keeper & Garland - Mezzo” - 13 October 2026

Photos by Chris Horne & Roger Sanders.

09/10/2026

"Keezer and Garland - Mezzo" are at Watermill Jazz, Reigate Road, Dorking, on Tuesday 13 Oct 2026. Doors open at 8pm, concert starts at 8:30pm.

Get your tickets from www.ticketsource.com/watermilljazz or from the box office 07415 815784 or on the door; tickets from £12 (Students) - £29 (members £24). Easy access from London to Dorking Station; by road on the A25 near the junction with the A24 - extensive free parking on site - Betchworth Park Golf Club, RH4 1NZ.

'Mezzo' is a brand-new acoustic duet album recorded in New York this spring by two Grammy award-winning artists, UK saxophonist Tim Garland, and first-call US pianist Geoffrey Keezer. This transatlantic connection started 25 years ago with Garland’s 'Made By Walking' album on Chick Corea’s label and continued with Tim and Geoffrey recording three albums as part of the Storms/Nocturnes trio which also featured Joe Locke.

Both Tim and Geoffrey are seasoned players who have globe-trotted with some of the most famous players in music. Their sound combines crystalline lyrical maturity with incendiary virtuosity and the music features a rare new instrument after which the album is named – the mezzo-soprano sax.

For this concert featuring mezzo-soprano and soprano sax you can expect stunning originals alongside renditions of famous pieces by the likes of Satie, Cole Porter and New York scene legend Mulgrew Miller.

As Peter Jessen, creator of the mezzo-soprano sax told Tim recently, 'Your sound and feel of it is really the realisation of everything I wanted it to be! Sublime playing and very fine writing.'

'This just may be the best jazz duet I have ever heard' Gary Burton

Tim Garland – mezzo soprano & soprano saxes, Geoffrey Keezer - piano

07/10/2026

Arbenz/Neame/Osby/Churchill : Conversation_LAB - 6 Oct 2026

Photos bt Chris Horne, Brian O’Connor & Roger Sanders

05/10/2026

Programme - November 2026

03/10/2026

The Guardian newspaper each Saturday lists on the Culture page in the colour magazine their recommendations for "Going Out". In today’s edition (3 Oct) John Fordham has selected, as the jazz gig of the week, our concert this coming Tuesday, Arbenz/Neame/Osby/Churchill: Conversation_LAB.

Over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz has consistently demonstrated that he is not only a brilliant player but also has an exceptional instinct for bringing together unusual and compelling combinations of musicians and instruments. This quartet—featuring legendary American saxophonist and longtime Blue Note recording artist Greg Osby, London based piano and keyboard-wizard Ivo Neame, and the young UK vocalist Immy Churchill, daughter of popular jazz musicians Nikki Iles and Pete Churchill—is a perfect example of that gift.

Tickets available from Ticketsource.com/watermilljazz
or on the door. Doors open at 8pm and the concert starts at 8:30pm

25/09/2026

Arbenz/ Neame/Osby/Churchill : Conversation_LAB are at Watermill Jazz, Reigate Road, Dorking, on Tuesday 6 Oct 2026. Doors open at 8pm, concert starts at 8:30pm.

Get your tickets from www.ticketsource.com/watermilljazz or from the box office 07415 815784 or on the door; tickets from £11 (Students) - £27 (members £22). Easy access from London to Dorking Station; by road on the A25 near the junction with the A24 - extensive free parking on site - Betchworth Park Golf Club, RH4 1NZ.

Over the course of his nearly 30-year career, Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz has consistently demonstrated that he is not only a brilliant player but also has an exceptional instinct for bringing together unusual and compelling combinations of musicians and instruments. This quartet—featuring legendary American saxophonist and longtime Blue Note recording artist Greg Osby, London based piano and keyboard-wizard Ivo Neame, and the young UK vocalist Immy Churchill, daughter of popular jazz musicians Nikki Iles and Pete Churchill—is a perfect example of that gift.

Together, the band will take you on a musical journey filled with rhythmic intensity, swinging solos, virtuosic improvisation, and dreamlike soundscapes.

Florian Arbenz and Greg Osby have collaborated in countless projects since 1998, but this exciting tour marks their first collaboration with Ivo Neame and Immy Churchill.

Immy Churchill – vocals, Greg Osby - alto sax, Ivo Neame - piano & keyboards, Florian Arbenz - drums.

23/09/2026

Daniel Herskedal Solo - 22 Sept 2026

Photos by Brian O'Connor & Roger Sanders
…………………..

Fjord every stream

There must be something in the water (or the Fjords).

Horn players and composers have worked with electronics for some time now. Terry Riley was looping Chet Baker in 1963 (Music For The Gift), Miles Davis both live and in the studio with Teo Macero and Jon Hassell continued to explore the possibilities of sound manipulation.

But Nils Petter Molvaer’s groundbreaking 1997 album Khmer on ECM with its bold mix of superlative trumpet, sampling and soundscapes undoubtedly set off a new direction in jazz and ambient music particularly in Scandinavia.

Let’s move to the present, it’s not everyday that we are privileged (yes I use that word a lot but it is very apt), to hear a virtuoso tuba and bass trumpet player who invites us into his soundworld for the evening.

The influence of fellow Norwegian musician Arve Henriksen is evident in both the range of sound and the way the music unfolds. Both horn players share a distinctive lyrical quality to their approach, and it should not be surprising that Daniel’s wife has written lyrics to some of his compositions.

This wasn’t the usual musical fare for Watermill Jazz and the attentive audience were mesmerised.

A piece might start with a valve click or short breath sound, once sampled and looped becoming a beat box rhythm before our ears. A melody would emerge, sometimes becoming a brass choir before Daniel improvised swirling melodies on the bass trumpet. The soundscapes could be dense or open, at one point the Golf Club Trophy cabinet was rattling in sympathy with the thunderous tuba riff.

Daniel explained that some of his pieces were informed by the dread of global events, and the feeling of isolation both physical and mental. But the birth of his second daughter inspired a beautiful song ‘Hope’ as well as his music as a light in difficult times.

As the final notes echoed into silence, the joy of the music was evident in the faces of the audience as we made our way into the moonlit night.

A very special evening.

Review by Ian Watson

17/09/2026

Daniel Herskedal - Solo is at Watermill Jazz, Reigate Road, Dorking, on Tuesday 22nd Sept 2026. Doors open at 8pm, concert starts at 8:30pm.

Get your tickets from www.ticketsource.com/watermilljazz or from the box office 07415 815784 or on the door; tickets from £12 (Students) - £29 (members £24). Easy access from London to Dorking Station; by road on the A25 near the junction with the A24 - extensive free parking on site - Betchworth Park Golf Club, RH4 1NZ.

Daniel Herskedal is a musician and composer of extraordinary ability. Unconstrained by limitations and conventions, the Norwegian composer and brass player has earned a reputation as a musician who has pushed his instrument’s boundaries technically and sonically and who creates spellbinding and mesmerically beautiful music.

In addition to his recorded output, including albums on the UK’s Edition Records label, Daniel has also established himself as a leading composer making a number of commissioned works, including for the BBC Concert Orchestra, Marine Music and the Moscow Patriarchate's Male Choir.

In 2019, Herskedal debuted as a film music composer with music for 'The Last Black Man In San Francisco', produced by Brad Pitt and he has even composed music for a worldwide Coca Cola commercial!

Daniel is meticulously crafting a sound of his own, blending tuba and bass trumpet with classical, world and improvised music and tonight’s solo concert will be a unique opportunity to hear this stunning, original, world-class musician right here in Dorking. Daniel’s ability to coax a wide array of effects from just the tuba and bass trumpet is nothing short of extraordinary.

Daniel Herskedal – tuba & bass trumpet

16/09/2026

Peter Bernstein Quartet feat. Sullivan Fortner - 15 Sept 2026

Photos by Chris Horne & Roger Sanders

………………………..

A, you’re adorable (Kush) Abadey,
B, but you’re beautiful (Peter) Bernstein, see what I did just there?

What an awesome, stunning night of music that was!

Kush Abadey on drums … a relative newcomer to Watermill Jazz, keeping everyone on their toes, rimshots cracking like fireworks, swinging, masterly flipping those fours back at Peter without batting an eye. Never playing the obvious, on sticks or brushes.

Doug Weiss on bass, a Watermill debut appearance, hopefully not his last. A wonderful spirit, always playing for the music, even gently putting down his bass to help stabilise one of the side drums that was on the verge of collapse, then back to his bass with no loss of momentum.

Sullivan Fortner on piano, stunning, slippin’ and a slidin’, peepin’ and a hidin’. Smiling, sophisticated, sublime . An absolute sweetheart, playing cat and mouse with Kush and Doug and the one.

Peter Bernstein on guitar, a magnetic magical player. Like one of his mentors, Jim Hall, creating powerful musical statements not with speed and volume but with soul, quiet fire, tone, wit and his own unique imagination. A wonderful human being too, magnificent.

If you missed this concert I don’t want to rub it in - OK sorry I’m going to rub it in.... That concert was out of this world, the best thing I’ve heard at Watermill Jazz since Sullivan Fortner performed with his trio or when Peter last played with Larry Goldings and Bill Stewart. I think I’m seeing a pattern here.

There were far too many highlights but I’ll settle for the version of ‘Warm Valley’ where Sullivan conjured up the spirits before the others joined him in communion. I thought either the piano or myself was about to levitate. After the last note we were all blessed. A quick ‘Dissipation Blues’ and it was over.

That evening at Watermill Jazz was somethin’ else - phew!

Review by Ian Watson

10/09/2026

The Peter Bernstein Quartet featuring Sullivan Fortner are at Watermill Jazz, Reigate Road, Dorking, on Tuesday 15th Sept 2026. Doors open at 8pm, concert starts at 8:30pm.

Whilst this concert is SOLD OUT you can contact the box office 07415 815784 to be placed on the waiting list in the event of ticket returns. Details are on www.ticketsource.com/watermilljazz. Tickets are from £12 (Students) - £30 (members £25). Easy access from London to Dorking Station; by road on the A25 near the junction with the A24 - extensive free parking on site - Betchworth Park Golf Club, RH4 1NZ.

Peter Bernstein is an iconic US guitarist who has made several well-received appearances at Watermill Jazz with Hammond organist Larry Goldings. For this concert, though, Peter is joined by another stellar group of American musicians. Award-winning pianist Sullivan Fortner delighted the Watermill crowd when he made his debut for us recently, and this lineup featuring Sullivan promises to be sublime!

You can expect a straight ahead romp, a spirit of true adventure and a fantastic chemistry between Fortner and Bernstein. This is an evening not to be missed!

'Few guitarists put as much care, sensitivity and subtle strength into every single note as Bernstein does. Among the finest melodists in jazz, he has a full-breadth command of his instrument, but his biggest assets are his knack for crisp understatement and simplicity.' – New York Times

Peter Bernstein - guitar, Sullivan Fortner - piano, Doug Weiss – double bass, Kush Abadey - drums.

Address

Betchworth Park Golf Club, Reigate Road
Dorking
RH41NZ

Opening Hours

8:30pm - 10:30pm

Telephone

+447415815784

Website

http://www.watermilljazz.co.uk/

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