This December The Frootful Art Ensemble is going on a whistle stop tour, bringing their unique brand of 60s inspired soul jazz to London, Cornwall, Bath and Liverpool. Expect sharp suits, a knockout vocalist, and a swinging soul / jazz / R&B / Latin / ska set aimed squarely at the dance floor.
Frootful’s debut album Colours was released earlier this year on Freestyle Records (produced by Lack of Afro) and received high praise from critics and DJs across Europe. The band played sell out album launch shows and were invited to perform at Port Eliot Festival and the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this summer.
The latest Frootful single (released on 7th November 2011 on Freestyle Records) features a Latina version of the album track Slowtime with vocals from Angeline Morrison, Latin Strut and an instrumental remix of Slowtime by Lack of Afro.
The Frootful moniker extends beyond just music, as Nick Radford has been working under this name professionally as an illustrator for over ten years. Keen to fuse his two passions Frootful will be exhibiting a collection of his artwork and that of illustrators Bobby Telegramme and Millie Marotta in the howies store on Carnaby Street, London during November 2011 which will move to the Hand Bar in Falmouth, Cornwall for December. The collection includes limited edition screenprints of tour posters by each artist.
Frootful aka musician and illustrator Nick Radford commented:
“I’m incredibly lucky that my work allows me to indulge and mix my two passions; music and illustration. I’ve always produced the cover artwork for my releases but this tour is the first time that these two elements have truly come together and I am very excited to see the response.”
The Frootful Art Ensemble tour kicks off with the howies exhibition in November. The first live date is at The Bowery in London on 7th December 2011.
Frootful’s fantastic debut album is a mixture of many different styles of music from ’60s soul/jazz, Latin, ska and R’n’B, all shot through with Nick’s Grant Green and Kenny Burrell-influenced guitar playing.” Jazz FM
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