Jay at the Live Box tonight

Jay Phelps, the punchy young Canadian-born trumpeter who first came to our attention as co-leader of the first incarnation of Empirical, leads a red-hot band at the Live Box at The Drum this evening. On saxophone and clarinet is Shabaka Hutchings, on biano is Jonathan Gee, on bass Karl Rasheed-Abel and on drums Gene Calderazzo.

Phelps started out in Vancouver and became the youngest artists to led his own band at the Vancouver Jazz Festival. Since coming to the UK he has studied at Trinity College, and as well as Empirical, he has played with Dennis Rollins’s Badbone & Co, Andrew Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Brown, Jon Hendricks, George Benson and Jamie Cullum. Recently he has been playing with Cuban band SkaCubano.

The Live Box gig starts at 7.45pm this evening and tickets are £5 (£3 concs) on the door. For more information go here.