Are vibes your vibe? Check out Roger Beaujolais

VIBRAPHONE player Roger Beaujolais is the special guest at Pangbourne Jazz Club on Sunday (April 6).

The club, which meets at the Rosewood Hall in Whitchurch Road, has a great atmosphere, great audience and great guests - why not go down and enjoy the company and the jazz.​

Roger Beaujolais is completely self-taught. He started practicing in earnest when he was 26 and his first gig was when he was 28, three days after buying a car to transport the vibraphone.

He was a founder member of jump/jive band The Chevalier Brothers and toured the UK and Europe extensively in the 1980s, playing at jazz festivals including Montreux and North Sea as well as trips to the US and Japan.

When The Chevalier Brothers split up in 1988, Roger joined Fairground Attraction until 1989 and played on their number one single Perfect as well as their debut album.

A five-year collaboration with Acid Jazz Records followed, with two Latin jazz albums by the Beaujolais Band released as well as two soul jazz albums by Vibraphonic.

In 1996 Roger signed with Hollywood Records, the audio arm of Disney and made two albums.

In 1999 he started to move in a slightly different direction using an acoustic vibraphone instead of a Deagan Electravibe, recording a jazz album as the Roger Beaujolais quintet. Despite this, another Vibraphonic album followed in 2000. Three other Roger Beaujolais Quintet albums were released in 2002, 2005 and 2008. This band became The Roger Beaujolais Quartet in 2010 with new albums in 2013 and 2017.

Since 2009 Roger has been making regular trips to Rimini in Italy playing gigs with Alessandro Pivi and Giacomo Dominici, recording an album in 2019.

Over the years Roger has been in sessions with many musicians including Suggs, Arthur Brown, Rico, Nelson Rangell, Paul Whitehouse, Edgar Broughton, Slim Gaillard, Jocelyn Brown, Maysa Leak, Big Jay McNeely, Sean Young & Johnny Clarke.

Jazz@pjc Sunday, April 6, 7.30pm start. Tickets £12.50.