Roller Trio, Vortex

MOBO Award and Barclaycard Mercury Prize nominees Roller Trio bring their signature blend of jazz, rock and electronica to the Vortex in Dalston in the run up to the release of their long-awaited second album, Fracture, which the group hope to issue independently, pending backing from a recently announced crowdfunding campaign.

The trio, which features James Mainwaring on tenor saxophone and electronics, Luke Wynter on guitar and Luke Reddin-Williams on drums, met while studying at Leeds College of Music. They won the Musicians Benevolent Fund’s prestigious Peter Whittingham Jazz award shortly afterwards and released their self-titled debut in 2012 to MOBO and Mercury Prize acclaim, earning a nomination for the Best Newcomer category in the inaugural Jazz FM Awards along the way.

With its reliance on hard hitting vamps, driving rock grooves, electronic loops, ambient soundscapes and passages of choppy rhythmic interplay that toy with tempos, beats and barlines, their music is nothing if not contemporary, with influences from reeds player and free jazz pioneer Anthony Braxton, rock band Queens of the Stone Age and hip hop producer J Dilla all in evidence. Mainwaring’s biting tenor is the driving force behind many of the tracks. Dueling with Wynter’s guitar and Reddin-Williams’ blistering drum breaks, the sax player ramps up the energy and whips up the crowds with broken notes, honks and aggressive patterns.

As things stand, Roller Trio have no other London dates confirmed for 2014 so this is could be your only chance to join in the madness for a while.