Matt Holborn Quartet: For Stuff

Matt Holborn Quartet: For Stuff

Date/Time
Saturday 12 July 2025
7:30 pm - 11:00 pm

Ashburton Arts Centre

Categories
Blues


Book here now: £15 full price • £10 or £7 if you prefer – please pay what you can*

A celebration of the great jazz violinist Stuff Smith with some top UK jazz musicians

Join Matt Holborn and his quartet for a concert dedicated to jazz violin legend Stuff Smith. A major figure in jazz from the 1930s onward, Smith played with greats like Ella Fitzgerald, Oscar Peterson, Nat King Cole, and Ben Webster, and appeared in the iconic 1958 photo, “A Great Day in Harlem.”

This set will feature selections from Stuff Smith’s repertoire alongside original music from Matt’s upcoming album, For Stuff, inspired by Smith’s style and legacy. Expect carefully chosen pieces that highlight Smith’s innovative approach to the violin, along with new works that pay homage to his sense of swing and energy. Matt is joined by a stellar, all-star band of some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians.

Alongside Matt in the band will be:
Fraser Urquhart, piano https://www.fraserurquhart.com/
Simon Read, bass https://simonread.bandcamp.com/album/dual-highway
Joe Dessauer, drums

Matt Holborn, a London-based jazz violinist, leads the London Django Collective and has toured the UK and internationally, performing with many of today’s leading exponents of Django Reinhardt’s music. He also hosts The Jazz Violin Podcast and works as a jazz strings workshop leader with Tomorrow’s Warriors.

Listen to Matt’s album For Stuff here on Bandcamp:
https://mattholborn.bandcamp.com/album/for-stuff

“This delightful album sheds a little sunlight on a rather neglected patch of jazz.” Jazzwise magazine

“celestial” and “rapturous” i newspaper

“Holborn’s phrasing and husky sound synonymous with heartbreak and resignation” Jazz Matters

“It’s almost possible to envisage these pieces as previously unknown Stuff Smith takes…” Anthony Barnett (Stuff Smiths Biographer, Jazz Violin Scholar)

Clips

Full Video

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* We usually have three ticket prices – please pay what you can. If you can pay the full price, that’s great. If choosing a cheaper ticket allows you to come to more things, then please do! Ticket receipts are split between the artists (it’s usually their livelihood!) and the arts centre (keeps the place going). Except on the rare occasions when we have a sellout gig on our hands, it’s always better to have someone here in the audience than an empty seat, so genuinely, please pay whatever you can.