Upcoming Performances
- October 21st, Bloomsbury Festival, Jazz in the Square hosted by MCE (www.bloomsburyfestival.org.uk/event/id/328)
- November 25th, 69 Colebrooke Row (www.69colebrookerow.com)
- December 9th, 69 Colebrooke Row (www.69colebrookerow.com)
About us
With musicians hailing from three corners of the world (almost), the Maria Chen Ensemble is a hotbed of far-flung influences, specialising in 1930s – 1960s jazz, blues & latin in their signature playful yet intimate style. New Zealand pianist John-Paul Muir is an international award-winning classical pianist who has a not-so-secret illicit love for jazz. British bassist Thomas ‘In The Lab’ Bartlett, who is researching cancer genomics, has performed professionally for many years around the London area. Canadian vocalist Maria Chen, like Snow White, whistles while she works, directing a jazz choir (not dwarves) and plotting new music and projects for her ensemble.
The Maria Chen Ensemble is the final line to this: ‘A historian-singer, a classical-but-secretly-jazz pianist, and a mathematical-biologist-double-bassist walk into several jazz, blues, and soul bars.’ But they don’t joke around. They take themselves seriously. Very seriously, indeed.
