Simon Spillett

 

"Simon's virtuosity is staggering throughout....The Right To Love is simply magnificent"

 

LES TOMKINS - THE JAZZ RAG Spring 2008 (Review of "Sienna Red")

 

"His sound is his own, as is his approach to phrasing.....he operates in the same high energy hard bop territory that Hayes did"

 

PETER VACHER - JAZZWISE May 2008 (Review of "Sienna Red")

 

"This new CD has Simon doing what he does best.....in his own muscular yet lyrical style. Recommended? I should say so."

 

DEREK ANSELL - JAZZ JOURNAL  April 2008  (Review of "Sienna Red")

 

"This young tenor saxophone virtuoso proves that he was not just a passing sensation"

 

DAVE GELLY - THE SUNDAY OBSERVER March 23rd 2008 (Review of "Sienna Red")

 

"Spillett blows up a storm"

 

PHIL JOHNSON - THE INDEPENDENT March 21st 2008 (Review of "Sienna Red")

 

"Simon Spillett has commanded a great deal of press attention lately and the word had clearly spread. Nobody was disappointed.....quite simply a superb saxophonist... the sharp-suited Spillett exudes an air of charisma and proved to be an entertaining interlocutor between numbers. Such is the buzz about Spillett that two other great tenor players were in the audience checking out the new kid on the block. These were Danny Moss and Art Themen. 'He's got it all' was Themen's endorsement. Which says it all, I think"

 

IAN MANN - Review of 2007 HSBC Brecon Jazz Festival

 

"He is the Lewis Hamilton of the tenor saxophone, and other players gulp when they hear him"

 

DAVE GELLY - THE SUNDAY OBSERVER

 

"It is a joy to discover Simon Spillett! He is to Bebop what Harry Allen and Scott Hamilton are to Mainstream. Quite how he got to be 32 without becoming famous I can't imagine. Spillett kicked off into Ian Hamer's All At Once with instant authority and one knew from the power of his playing that it was going to be a special night."

 

STEVE VOCE - Scratching The Surface - JAZZ JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE

 

"Though born in 1974, a year after Hayes death at 38, Spillett has absorbed the master's saxophone style to an uncanny accuracy. Hearing them play Hayes originals such as Off The Wagon and Song For A Sad Lady was like time-travelling back to the future.Oleo, Sonny Rollins high-speed version of I Got Rhythm produced a whole compendium of high-precision Hayesian licks".

 

JACK MASSARIK - THE EVENING STANDARD (Review of Simon's Quartet at The Bulls Head, Barnes)

 

"Spillett loves nothing better than to embark on blistering runs across standards, wresting every ounce of juice from the harmonies, his instrumental facility and creative fecundity startlingly like that of his erstwhile mentor."

 

JAZZ UK

 

"I have heard no-one in years who compares to tenorist Simon Spillett, a miraculous player who sounds like a reincarnation of Tubby Hayes but with his own personality. Catch him wherever he is. Astounding!"

 

JOHN MARTIN - THE JAZZ RAG

 

"Those of us who have caught him at local clubs have been left blinking in disbelief. It's not just his mastery of the tenor saxophone, phenomenal though that is, but the absolute conviction of his playing that is so impressive"

 

DAVE GELLY - THE SUNDAY OBSERVER

 

"He's stood old head and young shoulders above many of his contemporaries as a live performer for several years. Five stars for knowing how to play jazz when so many of his generation think they can but can't."

 

BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE

 

"This is saxophone playing of the highest order. Consistency of tone throughout the range of the tenor, the infallible note production irrespective of tempo and the ability to think a long way ahead so there are no loose ends to Simon's improvising. "

 

ALUN MORGAN - JAZZ JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL

 

"A rare modern instance of a player who studied records, sat in and gigged instead of attending college, Spillett is a bruising, scruff-of-the-neck hard bopper who has examined and absorbed all the giants but plumps for Tubby Hayes as chief role model. With Ronnie Scott's final rhythm section behind him, the tenor player generates huge excitement, passion and swagger"

 

MOJO MAGAZINE

 

"Whether ripping along at a merry pace or adding some wide vibrato to a ballad...he's an extraordinary player and certainly one to watch"

 

THE BIRMINGHAM POST

 

"Superabundance of ideas tumbling out so fast they can hardly wait to be expressed. The point of it all is that he has the imagination and the technique to do it brilliantly"

 

THE IRISH TIMES

 

"A player with bebop running under his fingers like water"

 

THE OXFORD TIMES

 

"Such a terrific tenor player. I was astonished by what I heard. At times, it was like Tubby coming back!".

 

TONY HALL, (Veteran club compere and DJ, Hall produced Tubby's Hayes recordings for the legendary Tempo label from 1955 to 1959)

 

Spike's Place Jazz Club, Brentwood, Essex, March 2010 (photograph; Jerry Storer)

 

The Belvedere Jazz Club, Billericay, Essex, November 2009 (photograph; Jerry Storer)

 

Southport Melodic Jazz Club, January 2010 (photograph: Alan Smith)

 

(photograph; Lance Liddle)

Colston Hall, Bristol (photograph; Keith Fussell)

The Railway, Leyland (photograph; Martin Cahill)

Simon at Swanage Jazz Festival, July 2009 (photograph; Christopher Love)

 

The Belvedere Jazz Club, Billericay, Essex, November 2009 (photograph; Jerry Storer)

2009 (photograph; Rebecca Baines)

Thame Jazz Club, February 2007 (photograph; Christopher Love)

 

 

Brecon Jazz Festival, August 2007 (photograph; Christopher Love)

 

Simon at Goring Jazz Club January 2008 (photo; Christopher Love)