Maureen Lipman, Jeremy Robson , Jacqui Dankworth and

Butterfly Wing, featuring pianist David Gordon, cellist Ben Davis and violinist Chris Garrick

Acclaimed actress Maureen Lipman joins poet Jeremy Robson to read from his new collection, interlaced with music from the acclaimed jazz singer Jacqui Dankworth and the fabulous Butterfly Wing group . . . plus a sprinkling of Lipman’s own witty monologues and humour.

A well-known poet and publisher, Robson initiated and was a regular participant in the highly popular Poetry and Jazz in Concert events that featured such leading poets as Ted Hughes, Laurie Lee, and Dannie Abse, as well as a number of great jazz virtuosi (led by the late composer/pianist Michael Garrick, Chris’s father). He has published a number of collections of his own poetry and edited several anthologies of conmtemporary verse. Robson’s powerful, moving and often witty new collection, Blues In the Park, has just been published. Lipman describes it as ‘a marvellous wry observation of the sweet, sour, and savoury in life’.

Olivier-award-winning actress Lipman recently starred in the West End production of Daytona where her brilliant performance was described in The Independent as ‘utterly mesmerising’. Versatile, witty, and greatly loved, she has played many leading theatrical and televison roles, as well as being the author of a number of bestselling books. Her most recent, which includes some of the monologues she will be reading here, is I Must Collect Myself: Choice Cuts From a Long Shelf-Life.

The Grammy-award-winning singer Jacqui Dankworth is one of the UK’s most highly regarded vocalists. Primarily a jazz singer, she also draws on folk, soul and blues influences. Four outstanding musicians, unique in their respective fields, come together to create the unmistakeable soundworld of Butterfly’s Wing, in which Dankworth is joined by three of the country’s leading creative instrumentalists: David Gordon piano, Chris Garrick violin and Ben Davis cello. Their repertoire includes quirky, hauntingly beautiful material written by Dankworth and Gordon, together with a multi-lingual feast of songs from around the world. 

This event lasts two hours including a 20-minute drinks interval.

Sponsored by The Oxford Times.