From Friday 17th June - Sunday 19th June, Essex on Tour, Essex County Council and Maldon District Council are having a fund raising event in aid of Farleigh Hospice called Maldon Music Weekend Maldon's Promenade nPark Amphitheatre.

The weekend will consisit of three shows.  The first is Jeff Short's Big Swing Band on the Friday evening.  This consists of 16 musicians, including 5 saxes, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, piano, bass, drums and both a male and female vocalist.  This should prove to be a great night of swing classics including favourites such as Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw.

The Claire Harper Quartet is your treat for Saturday evening!  Claire is a critically acclaimed Jazz vocalist and pianist who already has 3 albums behind her.  For this show she goes back to her first love by performing a whole host of great jazz classics from the Great American Songbook including Summertime, I Get A Kick Out Of You and Cry Me A River.

Making up the quartet is a superb line-up including Steve Creese on percussion, Jonty Fisher on double bass and Maldon boy Zak Barett on saxaphone.

On the Sunday come and experience The Ric Sanders Group featuring Fiddler player Ric Sanders who hails from one of the biggest folk groups in the world, Pairport Convention, Ivor Novello award winner Catherine Howe, Vo Fletcher who is a songwriter of the highest quality and renown percussionist Micheal Gregory.

 In Concert they draw their repertoire from the greatest contemporary composers of popular music, crossing bounderies and defying categorisation.  The group puts no restriction on where they draw their material, using it as a springboard for collective improvisation that's always engaging and entertaining.

No two performances are the same, as the musicians respondto the audience and their surroundings to make each concert a unique event.

Tickets are available from Essex Live on 01621 890153, Maldon Tourist Office on 01621 856503 or online on the Essex Live Website.