Project Jam Sandwich, devised of five highly accomplished, award-winning musicians who met whilst studying at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, are a ‘world music’ outfit, a dynamic collaboration of instruments, interests and genres adding their own individual stamp to folk music from all over the globe.
Their explosive live performance and captivating collection of influences and inspirations have immediately situated Project Jam Sandwich as rising stars in their field. Exhaustingly energetic and refreshingly open-minded, they draw on musical avenues such as classical, rock, world and jazz to deliver audiences a journey around the world.
Ranging from the music of Bulgaria to South Africa to Scotland, Project Jam Sandwich concoct their own charismatic arrangements to create a captivating, varied acoustic show of exhilarating improvisation, scorching rhythms and beautiful melody. A blend of funk grooves sifted by eastern european melodies mixed by afrobeat and spiced with celtic reels, they sandwich together genres from all over the world and make them their own.
This cocktail of electrifying violin (Katie Foster) and virtuosic cello (Abel Selaocoe) playing is galvanized by the driving rhythm section of double bass (Ali McMath) and a global palette of percussion instruments (Delia Stevens), plus Henry Alexander jamming away on guitars and lead vocals.
Rising stars in their field, Project Jam Sandwich have performed and been interviewed live on BBC Radio 3’s In Tune Programme and are also featured artists in the 2015 RNCM Day of Strings, Percussion and Chamber Music Festivals. They have been invited to perform at a range of prestigious music festivals across the United Kingdom in 2015, highlights including Fishguard International Music Festival, Swaledale Festival (Top 10 UK Festivals – The Guardian), Music Port Festival and Ireby Folk Festival. They have also been selected as part of the highly competitive audition process to play their own Bridgewater Hall Concert as part of the Manchester Midday Concert Series. They were recently selected to perform at the Threshold Festival in Liverpool out of 1, 750 applicants.
The band has enjoyed much success including winning the 2014 RNCM Cross-School Chamber Music Award and Elizabeth Warren Award in the RNCM Salon Prize Competition. They also reached the 2014 Finals of the Danny Kyle Open Stage Competition at Celtic Connections (performing live on Celtic Music Radio Station) and the New Roots Competition.
Project Jam Sandwich champion outreach work, ensuring their music is accessible for any audience, and are currently working for ‘Music in Hospitals’ and ‘Lime Music for Health’, where they are the House Band in Manchester Royal Infirmary. They also work as Live Music Now artists, a prestigious scheme devised by Yehudi Menuhin aiming to give a platform to emerging young musicians as well as bring live music to those who would not usually have access to it, such as special needs schools, retirement and nursing homes, hospitals and prisons.