There’s an interesting night coming up for jazz lovers.

Birmingham Jazz will be presenting Dave Manington’s Riff Raff at the Barton Arms, Newtown, on Friday 11th July.

This London based super group has developed organically over the past ten years. Riff Raff mix the leader’s clever composing with a formidable lineup, including John Turville on piano, the articulate Tomas Challenger on tenor, and the excellent Tim Giles on drums. Add John Scofield-like guitarist Rob Updegraff and softly surefooted vocalist Brigitte Beraha, and the soundscape embraces a 21st century sax-led cool school sound, raw guitar-fusion, diffident Wayne Shorteresque lyricism, and vocals that showcase Beraha’s eloquent lyrics and inventiveness as a wordless improviser.

The starting point for the music is collective improvisation but compositionally it draws on as wide a range of styles as possible. Folk, electronic music and contemporary classical influences are added to the mix with complex jazz harmonies and rhythms. Often the music has been rewritten many times after rehearsals sent the music spinning off in different directions. Most of the material is through-composed with the themes re-emerging in different forms, different keys, or time signatures.

Riff Raff features the highly acclaimed musicians Brigitte Beraha (Paul Clarvis/Chris Laurence, Kenny Wheeler, Henry Lowther, L.J.O.), John Turville (Tim Garland’s Lighthouse Trio, Tim Whitehead, Guillermo Rozenthuler’s), Dave Manington(Gwyneth Herbert/Mark Lockheart/Gwilym Simcock), Tom Challenger (Outhouse/Red Snapper), Rob Updegraff (Ronnie Scotts All Stars, Zigaboo Modeliste) and Tim Giles (Iain Ballamy/Stan Sulzmann/Kenny Wheeler/Art Farmer).

Admission £14 (members £11, students £5).