Led Bib Shortlisted For The 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Jazz Mann favourites Led Bib have been shortlisted for the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize. Congratulations to the guys in the band and the best of luck.

Jazz Mann favourites Led Bib have been shortlisted for the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize. Congratulations to the guys in the band and the best of luck. Perhaps this year the “token jazz act” will actually win!

Let’s hope so as this would greatly raise the profile not only of Led Bib but of improvised music in general. There’s no doubt that the Mercury prize is hugely influential and whatever the result Led Bib will benefit enormously from the attention they are about to receive. Just remember you read about them here first! Seriously, all the best guys and good luck from all here at The Jazzmann.

Here’s a full press release:

Young British jazz band Led Bib were today announced as an ‘Album of the Year’ in the 2009 Barclaycard Mercury Prize. Led Bib are creators of a new euphoric jazz-rock sound that’s as brutal as it is seductive. They caught the ear of the Mercury judges with their latest album and third studio recording ?Sensible Shoes’, which was released through Cuneiform Records on May 4th 2009.

The group’s bandleader and drummer Mark Holub gave this statement: ?It’s all still sinking in and I don’t think anyone of us can believe it’s real. To be nominated for an award like this when you create more esoteric music, which usually operates out if the mainstream feels almost incomprehensible. We are just so overwhelmed and pleased and want to thank everyone who has supported us over the last five years!?

An unassuming quintet of Walthamstow based twenty-something friends, Led Bib is comprised of bandleader Mark Holub on drums, Liran Donin on electric and upright bass, Toby McLaren playing Fender Rhodes and piano and Chris Williams and Pete Grogan up front as the two duelling alto sax players.

Over the five years the group have played together they have torn apart the jazz world with their avant-jazz-euphoric-rock explosions of improvisation. Although they have received massive critical acclaim, larger recognition and a crossover into the mainstream has until now eluded them.

Their album Sensible Shoes expresses the realities and dreams of life living in London, seen through the prism of the member’s different cultural heritages from Edmonton and New Jersey to Israel. Their individual references peer out from the record with Metallica-like riffs and Northern Soul licks meeting New York Downtown influenced improvisation.

By making the Mercury shortlist the army of ardent fans who have championed Led Bib from inception can feel that justice has at last been served for the hard working quintet. And with an esoteric choice like Led Bib being nominated, dangerous music is back on the pop agenda. 

A recent prediction in the Sunday Telegraph has proven to be somewhat prescient: ?And if the Mercury Prize judging panel gives them the token jazz-act nomination- which is the least reward their third album Sensible Shoes deserves ? bigger stages will certainly beckon.? 

Led Bib Live Dates:
*August 2009 London date to will be announced imminently
8 September 2009 Mercury Prize announcement ceremony
2 October 2009 The Vortex. London, UK
14 October 2009 The Queens Theatre, Barnstaple, Devon
23 October 2009 Derby Jazz, Derby, UK
10 December 2009 Nottingham Jazz, Nottingham, UK

Links:
http://www.ledbib.com
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com (high res. band images available here)
http://www.mercuryprize.com