Saxophonist Riley Stone-Lonergan brings his quartet to the festival for the first time, a stunning group of emotional breadth and intensity. His name is one the world will hear much about for many years to come.
In the last few years Riley has been a part of two co-lead projects who have both self-released an album and toured extensively:
Perpetual Motion Machine is a rock and metal inspired twin guitar and twin saxophone sextet made up of Jazz musicians who want to explore sonic realms outside Jazz while still preserving its improvisatory nature. The music is entirely written by the members of the band. PMM recorded their debut Iginition in 2017 and followed this up with a 15 date tour of every corner of the UK.
Family Band is a chordless trumpet and tenor quartet brought together by a love for late 60’s free Jazz in the vein of Ornette Coleman, Dewey Redman, Don Cherry and John Coltrane, but their music has evolved into its own beast, with spoken word and political themes woven in. They self-released Board of Origin in 2018 and embarked on a month long UK tour.
Riley also leads his own quartet and gigs regularly in London, throughout the UK and Europe. He performed.as a featured soloist at Bergamo Jazz Festival in Italy and has toured throughout Ireland, Germany, Poland and Ischia, an island off the coast of Italy, as well as all the most prestigious festivals in the UK including Manchester Jazz Festival, Edinburgh Jazz Festival and London Jazz Festival. In March 2019 Riley did Riley did a week long tour of France under his name with French pianist Fabrice Tarel. This was such a success that he is going again in August for more concerts and to record a video, and in October for a further week-long tour. They are planning to record the project in the near future.
Riley’s primary focus as a music creator is improvisation, the element of Jazz that brings him the most joy. Riley’s entire life and career is driven by the desire to both improvise and hear other people improvise, it is the highest level of creativity and artistic expression.
Eddie Myer, Jazzwise
“…his sincerity, and his affection for the material, impress as much as his comprehensive technique.”