East Grinstead Jazz Club is pleased to welcome from London,
Jazz Vibraphone Player Nathaniel Steele
Show starts at 7.30pm, Doors at 7pm
In 2017 he launched his debut album, “Portrait of the Modern Jazz Quartet” on Trio Records, with a sold-out album release concert held at Ronnie Scott’s, followed by 2 years of touring the UK with the quartet. The album was awarded “Jazz Album of the Month” by BBC Music Magazine, with a plethora of positive reviews in the jazz press, including 4 stars in The Observer and Jazzwise Magazine. It even made it into the top 10 in the jazz charts in Japan. In 2019 he was invited by Grammy-award winning pianist, arranger and composer Alan Broadbent to give the world premier of a new work celebrating the 25th anniversary of Watermill Jazz. In 2020 – just before the pandemic – he completed an 18-date Arts Council funded tour of the UK with the MJQ band featuring guest tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, who came from New York for 2 weeks to play. Post-pandemic, he started a new group with Mark Crooks, the Nat Steele/Mark Crooks Sextet, celebrating the music of Stan Getz and Cal Tjader, and has just recorded 2 new albums, one as a follow-up to the MJQ record, this time featuring special guest Scott Hamilton on tenor saxophone, and one as a tribute to Milt Jackson which was recorded in New York at the van Gelder studio with musicians who used to play with Jackson.
As well as working as a performer, Nat has been very actively involved in promoting jazz and founded a jazz festival, BopFest, in 2015 with saxophonist Allison Neale. The annual festival, initially just long weekend, has grown into a 7-day long extravaganza of bebop and straight ahead jazz in London featuring some of the best musicians from the UK, Europe and America, with the festival attracting both private and Arts Council funding and getting significant audience numbers and press attention.
At his arrival on the scene, he quickly gained a reputation as a talented musician to watch out for, described by Clark Tracey as “one of the best vibes players this country has ever produced.” Principally self-taught and following in the style of Milt Jackson, Nat takes a two mallet approach to improvisation, focusing on melodic interpretation over chordal playing. His “Nat Steele Quartet” is regularly featured at the Late, Late show at Ronnie Scott’s and as a result he has attracted compliments for his playing from the likes of Benny Green, Joe Locke, Jason Marsalis, Harold Mabern and Eric Alexander. He has studied with Mike LeDonne and had the good fortune to sit in with both Benny Green and Wynton Marsalis.
