SHAKATAK

 

Shakatak have enjoyed a level of success and career longevity rarely paralleled in contemporary music but then Shakatak is a particularly unusual group. Because of the nature of their music their fan base is one that is far reaching while always retaining an “underground” element. This paradox sees the band, who are known primarily for their musicality, enjoying both high “cult” status and instant recognition as a household name due to their numerous hit recordings.

 

Recent festival performances include headlining at the Bratislava Jazz Day in 

October ’10 which was filmed for Slovakia NTV, the Kutchan Jazz Festival in Japan, the Hua Hin Jazz Festival in Thailand and the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. Previously the band played two headlining nights at Jakjazz, the Jakarta International Jazz Festival plus an appearance at the Bangkok International Jazz Festival. Shakatak have also played at the UK’s Wigan International Jazz Festival and the Midsummer Music @ Spencers Festival.

 

In the past 18 months the band have performed concert dates in the UK, Azerbaijan, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Slovakia plus club dates at the prestigious Billboard, Blue Note & Cotton Clubs in Japan. In December 2011 Shakatak headlined at the Penang Island Jazz Festival and played a concert date in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

 

In 2012 there were a number of headlining Shakatak dates in the UK supported by Alexander O’Neal & Aswad and in the summer the band played at both the Sapporo White Rock and Hayama Festivals in Japan. After further dates in the Tokyo and Osaka Billboard clubs they performed at a concert in Kaliningrad, Russia and in the Autumn/Winter period Shakatak played concert dates throughout the UK.

 

April 2013 saw the release of a new CD “Once Upon A Time – the Acoustic Sessions” on JVC Records and there will be numerous UK dates with concerts in St Petersburg and Keiv and tours of Japan in July and Germany in October. Throughout their 31 year career Shakatak have released over 50 CDs plus 3 DVDs and most of the band’s extensive back catalogue is now available world-wide on iTunes.

 

For live performances the band consists of the four original members Bill Sharpe (keys), Jill Saward (lead voc, perc & flt), Roger Odell (drs) & George Anderson (bs gtr), augmented with a guitarist and a backing vocalist/saxophonist, producing a musically dynamic and entertaining show from the 6 piece line-up.