About

The Shakedown jazz sextet were formed back in 2008 ready for their first gig at Birmingham Jazz festival at the Waters Edge city centre location. Here the lineup was Andrzej Baranek, Paul Bytheway, Hugh Lawrence and Steve Chadwick, then standing in on this gig was Gavin Barras on Double Bass and Steve Band on Alto Sax. The band had an excellent reception and this marked the start of the journey.

Since 2008 Kenji Fenton has been brought in on Tenor Sax which has given a real fire to The Shakedown sound. With the classic and intricate sound of Steve Chadwick on Trumpet the play between the 2 horn players is a real feature of the band.

Nick has a fat sound on double bass and along with Hugh on drums they combine to set down the driving force of the band. Andrzej adds an edge to the band that would be difficult for other piano players to emulate due to his distinctive style. Paul then puts a simple but classic vocal which compliments the musicianship on display.

The whole ensemble knits together to create a distinctive and fresh sound rarely seen on the Jazz circuit today.

Paul at Birmingham Jazz Festival

Paul singing at The Shakedown's first gig in Birmingham's 2008 Jazz festival

Andrzej Birmingham Jazz Festival

Andrzej at the 2008 Birmingham Jazz Festival

The concept behind the band is to involve non-Jazz fans in the cool sound of Bop and Swing. This has been done by choosing songs from a wide range of genres. At gigs some people can at first feel uneasy when their classic songs are changed, but the band win them over with cool grooves and unusual approaches to the songs.

The band is uplifting and energetic to watch and the musicians are usually having as much fun as anyone! At gigs the soloists break out and have some real fun (the solos are contained on the album tracks). The improvisation is direct and meaningful and at no point ambles. This helps to keep the energy rolling throughout the whole gig. There are also a few Jazz battles between the musicians in the band, they are not trying to show each other up or better each other.....honest...

In October 2009 the band went into the studio to record their first album 'Terracotta'. This was the product of gigging material for around a year at Jazz festivals and venues around the country. Andrzej, Paul and Steve worked together and separately on arranging the songs and then the band spent 3 days getting it right in the studio.

Suzanne Fonseca was also brought in on Trombone to add depth to the velvety arrangement on No Doubt's Don't Speak.

The Studio time helped the band to gel together into a driving unit. They had a lot of laughs including Paul and Nick having a full on fight in the corridor just to add an aggresive edge to one of the vocals.

Kenji and Steve having some 'fun' behind their screen in the studio in October 2009

Hugh face

Hugh up against Steve's studio screen
in October 2009

Increasingly a big part of what the Shakedown is about is humour. Taking classic aggressive rock songs like Black Dog and Paranoid (Black Sabbath) and turning them into silky Jazz standards was never meant to be taken too seriously. This humour has started to come out in other ways such as Jazzbos and Jazzcoms.

A Jazzbo is when the band turns up to a venue and tries to play even if the people there don't want music. The more inappropriate the location the better. The band's first attempt at this can be seen on the Jazzbo page.

The other non-music aspect of the band is Jazzcom. Jazz musicians are interesting beings, so the band have started writing a sitcome/sketch show based on the lives of jazz musicians. This is going to be recorded in February 2010 and will be aired here first.....