An all-star line-up to open the 2026 Guildford Jazz and Soul Festival!

This year marks the centenary of the birth of Miles Davis, one of the most iconic and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz. Celebrating the influence of Miles’ legacy, the  Steve Waterman Octet presents a selection of music from Miles’ complete career, from Birth of the Cool through to Porgy and Bess and the Miles Ahead Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaborations, including Steve’s own arrangements of Miles’s compositions.

 The band feature some of the UK’s finest and most popular jazz musicians, including Steve Waterman (trumpet) , Mark Nightingale (trombone), Alan Barnes (alto sax), Dave O’Higgins (tenor sax), Karen Sharp (baritone sax), Gareth Williams (piano), Marianne Windham (bass), Clark Tracey (drums)

Pre gig menu from Mandira’s Kitchen (please see the Event Info tab for the menu)

Please click the tabs for more information

The performance is upstairs in Guildford Pavilion, The Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road, Guildford GU1 4RP

Please note there are no physical tickets, just give your name on the door when you arrive. There’ll be seating reserved for you.

Doors open and supper available from 7pm, music 8pm to approx 10pm. Licensed bar. Seating is cabaret style and there is a lift for disabled access.

Pre-gig Menu from Mandira’s Kitchen:

Mains

• Murgh Angara (Smoky chicken cooked over hot coals, deep with spice)

  OR

• Malai Paneer (Paneer in a gentle creamy gravy)

  WITH

• Yakhni Pulao (Basmati rice slow cooked in spice stock)

Accompaniments

• Vegetable Samosas (Crispy handmade pastry filled with spiced potatoes)

• and Beetroot Raita (MK’s signature refreshing beetroot raita with creamy yoghurt) and Green Chilli Chutney (Zesty chutney made with fresh green chillies and herbs)

Full Price £22* /Guildford Jazz Members £20

Students (Under 25) £10* / Student Members (Under 25) £7

Meals £15.50

*Ticket price includes £2 temporary membership of Guildford Jazz for this event

By purchasing a ticket, you confirm to Guildford Jazz that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by our terms and conditions which are available here

Steve Waterman - trumpet

Alan Barnes - alto sax

Dave O’Higgins – tenor sax

Karen Sharp – baritone sax

Mark Nightingale – trombone

Gareth Williams – piano

Marianne Windham – bass

Clark Tracey – drums

The performance is upstairs in the Pavilion building at the Guildford County Cricket Club, The Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road, Guildford GU1 4RP

For sat navs please check the postcode takes you to Wharf Road. There’s a car park alongside, entry from Wharf Road. If you’re approaching from Guildford town centre, Wharf Road is on the left just before the Sports Ground. If you’re approaching from the A3/Ladymead there’s no right turn into Wharf Road, but continue to the next roundabout to double back.

The car park next to the Pavilion holds about 40 cars (to enable emergency access, cars can only park in the marked bays). Unless it’s very wet, the overflow car park at the far end of the Cricket ground will be open.

To access the overflow car park, turn left as you come out of Wharf Road and carry on along Woodbridge Road towards the railway bridge, and the entrance to the ground is just before the end of the green fence that runs along the perimeter of the ground, next to the Woodbridge Café.

You might prefer to use one of the larger public car parks which are just a few minutes walk away: the open air Mary Road Car Park (GU1 4QU) or multi-storey Bedford Road Car Park (GU1 4SJ)

Seating is either in front row settees/armchairs, central round tables, or rear high chairs/tables. Seats will be reserved for you when you book. If you’re a Guildford Jazz member, please let us know if you have a seating preference in on the booking form.

Notes on the layout:

Front row: Seats 1 to 5 are sofas or armchairs

Middle tables: Tables 6 to 23 and 31 to 33 are small round tables , each seating 4 (for bookings of 1 or 2 seats, we’ll seat you at a table with others, please let us know if you have friends coming who you’d like to sit with!).

Rear tables: Tables 24 to 29 are tall tables with high stools.

Groups: If you have a group of 4 or more please let us know and we will try to seat you together

“The UK’s best and most convincing take on Joni Mitchell” ~ The Guardian

Hejira is a formidable, highly successful 7-piece touring band, set up in 2023 to celebrate the ‘greatest’ songs of Joni Mitchell.

In particular, the band performs the masterpiece works that Mitchell recorded from ‘Court & Spark’ to ‘Wild Things Run Fast’; expect to hear such classics as ‘Amelia’, ‘Help Me’, ‘Hejira’, ‘Song For Sharon’, ‘A Case Of You’, ‘Free Man In Paris’, ‘Coyote’ ‘Hissing of Summer Lawns’ etc..

The band has produced 10 high-quality videos for Youtube, amassing more than 1,500,000 views and garnering thousands of glowing comments. World-renowned musicologist and critic, Ted Gioia recently included Hejira in his list, ‘My Favourite Videos on YouTube’

They have, in their short history, played more than 140 shows in the UK and Ireland, including headline features at The EFG London Jazz Festival; Musicport World-Music Festival; Brecon Jazz Festival; Mosely Folk Festival; Lincoln Jazz Festival; Scarborough Jazz Festival; Oxford Festival of the Arts; Salisbury International Arts Festival; Buxton International Festival.

This year, Hejira will be embarking on their first tour of the USA, including a headline slot at the 40th Syracuse Jazz Festival. They will perform 9 concerts in the north-east across 5 states, between the 7th and 17th July, 2026.

They produced a live album in 2024 which has received much critical acclaim; for example:

“…buy this album, and if you get the chance, see them live in concert – just remember to book early. This is most definitely an album of the year for me” ~ Jazz Views, July 2024

Musician and drummer extraordinaire (of Yes, King Crimson, Genesis etc.) Bill Bruford, wrote of the band: “If you’re looking for a great evening with the music of Joni Mitchell, Hejira is a top-drawer band. Run, don’t walk, for tickets.”

Early booking highly advised

Please click the tabs before for more details

Evening Performance 8pm to 10.00pm

The event is at the Performing Arts Studio at the University of Surrey.

Doors open from 7.15pm. Please note there are no physical tickets, just give your name on the door when you arrive. There’s a bar available beforehand and at the interval.

Tickets: General admission £22 (Guildford Jazz members £20)

If you have any questions please contact us by emailing info@guildfordjazz.org.uk

General admission £22

Guildford Jazz Members £20

Students (under 25) £10

Student Members (under 25) £7

All prices include booking fees

By purchasing a ticket, you confirm to Guildford Jazz that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by our terms and conditions which are available here

Personnel

Hattie Whitehead: vocals and guitars

The band is fronted by the extraordinarily talented Hattie Whitehead, who not only sings masterfully with Joni’s pitch-accuracy, poise, and dignity, but she also plays guitar much with the mannerisms of Mitchell (incorporating various open tunings - which lend an instant authenticity to the colour of the songs). Hattie grew up surrounded by music and musicians - her father is the outstanding saxophonist, Tim Whitehead - and has a career as a singer/songwriter outside of this band. In 2016, she won the ‘Emerging Talent’ competition at the world-famous Glastonbury Festival. Her original songs have been listened to hundreds of thousands of times on various streaming platforms.

Pete Oxley: guitar

Pete grew up in a family of classical musicians, fell for jazz in his late teens, went on to study jazz at the Leeds College of Music, then moved to Paris in his mid twenties. It was there that he began gigging intensively and developing his career as a guitarist, composer and bandleader. He has produced 16 albums of critically acclaimed original music (including 7 with the Swiss guitar virtuoso, Nicolas Meier) and is one of only a handful of British composers to have their works included in the ‘European Real Book’ (Sher Publications). The Oxley-Meier Guitar Project continues to record and tour extensively throughout the UK and Europe.

 Ollie Weston: saxophones

Since graduating from Leeds College of Music, Ollie has had a diverse career which has included education, session work and live performance. In the former of these, Ollie teaches at the Guildhall (London) and has major tutorial books published by Schott Music under the heading, ‘Exploring Jazz’. In the latter, Ollie has toured all over the world with such outfits as Amy Winehouse, Tim Minchin, Bonobo and the Nelson Riddle Orchestra. He has also worked extensively in the West End, performing in Chicago, Dream Girls and in two critically acclaimed seasons at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Chris Eldred: piano and keyboards

Chris first came to prominence while playing in the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), from 2008 to 2014. In the midst of that period, he was winner of the 2011 Yamaha Scholarship Award for Outstanding Jazz Musicians and graduated in the same year from Trinity College of Music with first class honours. With NYJO, he performed many high-profile gigs (such as at the Albert Hall Proms) and came to the attention of such established masters as Mark Lockheart, Jean Toussaint and Salena Jones, with whom he subsequently worked. He is now a regular performer at Ronnie Scott’s and is one of London’s most in-demand pianists.

 Dave Jones: electric basses

 Dave is one of the most brilliant bass players - on both electric and acoustic basses that the UK has produced! His deep musicianship has led him to work with, amongst others, John Etheridge, Bill Bruford, the BBC Big Band, Jacqui Dankworth, Willard White and Scott Hamilton. He is bandleader, arranger and composer of the ‘Dave Jones Nonet’, comprising the creme de la creme of UK jazz musicians. Dave is continually active in jazz education leading many courses at Richmond Jazz School where he also previously led the faculty and he is also regularly invited to teach on a number of international jazz summer schools.

 Rick Finlay: drums

 Rick’s career has seen him being perpetually occupied, dividing his time between London’s West End, education and performing as a jazz musician. In the former, Rick held the drum chair at Blood Brothers for twenty years and also played for The Little Shop of Horrors and Chess Time. As a freelancer, Rick has performed on many prestigious TV shows, including Parkinson, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and The Late Show.  Rick has, for several years, been hosting the ‘Just East Jazz Club’ in North London, where he has accompanied most of the UK’s jazz glitterati!

Marc Cecil: percussion

Marc Cecil is a musician whose career has seen him work in myriad styles, performing at all sorts of premier venues, such as The Royal Opera House, Wembley Arena, The 02, Glastonbury Festival, The Jazz Cafe - Camden and Ronnie Scott’s. He was a member of  "King Salsa”, the UK’s premier 12 piece salsa band for 17years. His extensive theatre work includes seasons with: Blood Brothers (west end), Billy Elliot (west end), Saturday Night Fever (west end), Footloose (tour), Streisand The Story (tour), The Chicago Blues Brothers (tour), Million Dollar Quartet (west end) and The Carpenter’s Story (tour).

In the jazz arena, Marc has worked with a ‘who’s who’ of top UK musicians, including: Jason Rebello, Neil Angilly, Nigel Price, Art Themen, Jim Mullen, Picante, Jacqui Hicks, Noel McCalla, Liane Carol, Lily Dior, Geoff Gascoyne, Laurence Cottle, Alan Barns, Henry Lowther, and the Derek Nash Quartet.

Marc’s extraordinary drive, groove and use of sonic colours is an essential element of the whole Hejira soundscape

Performing Arts Studio (PATS), University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey.

All car parks on campus after free after 7pm.

There’s a car park on the left as you drive onto campus (car park 7 on the map below. and the Performing Arts Studio is building 29 on the map  .

Download campus map (PDF)

There’s also a large car park along the perimeter road – drive straight on at the roundabout once you get on campus and it’s signposted on the left after a little way. There’s a footpath to the PATS that runs from the this car park, between Stag Hill House and Austin Pearce Building (buildings 35 and 3) – turn right at the top, over the mini roundabout, and the PATS studio is along the road on the left.

If you require a disabled parking bay please let us know.

Seating is unreserved, please select your seats when you arrive.