"What a brilliant club" - Forbes 2025
THE VERDICT
APPJAG Jazz Venue of the Year 2024
The Verdict is a multi award winning grass roots music venue, the only full time Jazz venue outside of London in the south of England, it has been named as one of the best jazz clubs in the World by Star Insider. Weekly hosting the best in jazz music with Top International acts, playing blues, swing, funk, Latin Jazz and fusion.
Out Front feat Jason Yarde
Nick Malcolm – Trumpet
Jason Yarde – Alto Saxophone
Jake McMurchie – Tenor Saxophone
Olie Brice – Double Bass
Will Glaser - Drums
Out Front is a leading UK jazz supergroup whose music bridges tradition and innovation with striking originality. The band was initially formed to explore the work of two of jazz’s most visionary ‘inside-outside’ composers, Booker Little and Andrew Hill. Drawing inspiration from their fearless approach to harmony, structure, and improvisation, Out Front developed a shared language rooted in deep listening, spontaneity, and creative risk-taking.
While these influences remain at the heart of the group’s identity, Out Front has evolved into a vehicle for entirely original music. Composed collaboratively by members of the band, their repertoire reflects a wide spectrum of contemporary jazz expression — from driving, straight-ahead grooves to abstract, open-ended improvisation. This balance of structure and freedom gives their performances a sense of momentum and unpredictability, where each piece unfolds as a unique musical journey.
Featuring a rich and expansive line-up of three horns, bass, and drums, the ensemble brings together some of the UK’s most accomplished improvisers. With years of experience across the international jazz scene, the musicians combine technical mastery with a shared commitment to exploration and collective interplay.
Their debut album, Buried Webs. This release captures the band’s distinctive sound and collaborative spirit, showcasing compositions that are both intricate and deeply expressive. As a live act, Out Front offers an immersive listening experience that moves fluidly between intensity and space, structure and abstraction — inviting audiences into a bold and evolving sonic landscape.
Alex Hitchcock Quartet
Alex Hitchcock - sax
Will Barry - piano
Freddie Jensen - bass
Ananda Brandão - drums
Alex Hitchcock is a London-born, New York-based saxophonist, composer, and arranger working at the forefront of contemporary jazz. Drawing as much on political as musical influence, he engages deeply with the radical tradition of Black American music, taking inspiration from figures such as Archie Shepp, Cecil Taylor, Hazel Scott, Ma Rainey, and Max Roach. His work reflects an ongoing dialogue with jazz as a site of resistance, reinvention, and collective expression.
Hitchcock has released four critically acclaimed solo albums, earning praise from The Guardian, which described him as a “virtuoso,” while BBC Jazz World noted he is “leading the charge” in new UK jazz. His music has been broadcast internationally on BBC, France Musique, WDR, JazzFM, and Worldwide FM, and featured in leading publications including DownBeat, MOJO, and Jazzwise.
A two-time Ivor Novello Composer Award nominee and winner of the Peter Whittingham Award, Hitchcock foregrounds musical form as a space for experimentation and disruption. His compositions often begin with structures designed to be reshaped in performance—grooves unravel, harmonies shift, and improvisation pushes the music into unexpected territory. Rather than resolving tension, his work embraces it, creating performances that are dynamic, exploratory, and alive in the moment.
He tours internationally with his quartet, appearing at major venues and festivals including Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, Barbican Centre, Royal Albert Hall, Bimhuis, North Sea Jazz Festival, and Love Supreme Festival.
A sought-after collaborator, Hitchcock has worked with artists including Cherise, Chris Cheek, Shai Maestro, and Jeff Ballard, and has recently performed with the quartet of Detroit piano legend Kirk Lightsey. His recent and upcoming projects reflect a transatlantic perspective, bridging the creative communities of London and New York.
His latest work, Letters From Afar (2025), captures this dual identity—music shaped through distance, connection, and exchange—continuing his exploration of jazz as both an artistic and social practice.
