Owing to his combined role as vocalist & guitarist Vernon is naturally a focal point within So What Now. His smooth easy going style which is very much in the mould of George Benson makes him a favourite with any audience. Also influenced by Stevie Wonder, Al Green and Bill Withers his expressive soulful delivery, combined with infectious facial and body mannerisms (he can’t stop dancing) has earned him a wide following.

His relationship with the guitar started in London where he cut his musical teeth playing reggae & jazz in such prestigious venues as Upstairs at Ronnie Scott’s. After moving to the midlands in the late 80’s,he became involved in the local R’n’B and Jazz Fusion scene playing regularly at the Rep Theatre Café Bar in Birmingham and at the Birmingham Jazz festival as part of the Bean Machine (jazz fusion band).

Now based in the North West, Vernon who is a self taught musician, has pursued his love of jazz academically as well as creatively by studying at Wakefield College and the North Wales International Jazz Guitar Summer School.

Noteable performances as a solo artist have been opening for Liverpool’s Gary Potter and Ron Anthony ( Frank Sinatra’s last guitarist) who said of Vernon- “a tasty player who will only get better”..praise indeed.

He is a versatile player within other modes of jazz having involvement with Twin Frets, Afro Blue and latterly, Smooth Groove..How does he fit everything in ?
Twin Frets is a smooth duo where he shares the playing with Willie Fleuss, North West maestro originally from Italy.Afro Blue specialize in versatile, classy dinner jazz and include trumpet & female vocals. Smooth Groove combines keyboard, drums & female vocals ( not forgetting Vernon) and they present “smooth jazz with a hint of funk in a cocktail of standards & soul”…and that could very adequately describe Vernon !

Paul‘s presence in So What Now is particularly important for at least two reasons and the first is that he brings the average age down considerably !..The second is of course his considerable keyboard skills.

Not always is the combination of piano and guitar in a sextet considered ideal but in our case it works superbly well. This is due in part to the individual skills of Paul and Vernon but enhanced greatly by the empathy between them..They are a great team.

Paul studied music at Salford University for four years, obtaining a BA Honours degree in Band Musicianship and was pianist in the University big band which reached 3rd place in the BBC Big Band of the Year competition (1999). Classical music formed part of his education and often in breaks between sets treats us to excerpts of the works of the great composers. As with many of the great jazz pianists this love and understanding of the classics is a strong influence in their playing. In Paul’s case I feel this is relevant because of the calm ,measured approach he takes when soloing or simply “comping”..

He displays a maturity and jazz feel beyond his years and provides the perfect support for other player’s improvisation.

He is fortunate that his musical career has allowed him to travel extensively, playing in many parts of the world and the recent past has seen him in various guises. His musical preferences vary as do his involvements in the North West scene and he can be seen gigging regularly with soulband Goodfellas. You will also catch him playing in a hard driving blues band , Nickles & Dimes. On the jazz front, he is a regular with Opus De Funk and is always in demand by local and Manchester jazz combos.

His contribution to any line-up can be quite varied – sometimes he’ll be delicately tinkling the ivories and on another night he’ll switch to a big Hammond sound on another outfit..Great guy to have in the band.

For over fifty years Ken has been a well known and highly respected figure in the North Wales jazz scene and there seems to be no sign of that diminishing. He is in as much demand now as in the early days when he started his musical career in the big bands which were all the rage in those post war days.

A regular in the theatres and dance halls ,he quickly built up a reputation as a strong lead player and always demanded the highest standard from whatever sax section he was in at the time.

If pushed on the issue, I think he would describe himself as an alto man first and foremost but that does not diminish his skills on tenor, soprano, flute and clarinet. It actually goes further than that because when he took up music as a hobby, his first instrument was trumpet followed by drums and bass guitar. He often says today, his biggest regret is that he didn’t take up the piano but how on earth would he find the time?

His range of playing experience would be envied by many of today’s players. The advent of rock and roll in the 1950’s saw a steady decline for big bands and Ken found himself backing the solo pop stars of the day and many a tale he can tell about strange keys and incidences!

When these solo artists started to be pushed out in the 60’s by the explosion of pop groups then Ken simply formed smaller bands and supported many of the soon to be famous groups such as the Beatles. His longest association in recent times has been 12 years with the Bill Basey Big Band in the Wrexham area where many fans of Bill have enjoyed his playing.

To his eternal credit, one of his passions these days is “putting something back” and whether it’s sitting in with a band of children or helping a struggling adult he is always to be found dispensing advice and practical help. There must be many who can look back and be thankful that Ken took them under his wing.

His contribution to So What Now is considerable with his lyrical solos a real delight. He considers that “good sound” is the main ingredient that everyone needs and whether he’s blowing out or laying back – this is what you first notice. He is the consummate professional and a joy to play alongside.

In many respects Des’ experiences follow a similar path to Ken’s and at one point they coincide. As well as occupying the bass seat with So What Now, he fulfills the same role with the Freddy Smith Big Band on the Wirral and has had many years with the Bill Basey Big Band but with a difference. Here, he is part of the trumpet section and it is interesting to look back to his first involvement with the horn.

An early starter, he began to take piano lessons at the age of four but when ten years old heard an American big band at a camp near Wrexham. A trumpet player fronted the band and at that moment he was hooked. After trumpet lessons at Wrexham School of Music he was involved in brass bands and then dance bands, spending time on tour with the Royal Kiltie Junior Show Band which included three months in Barcelona. National service with the R.A.F led inevitably to the camp band and a season at Butlins, Skegness!

Back on civvy street he was soon involved with various bands before starting his own “Des Haywood & his music” (Haywood ?), playing at all the local venues including the North Wales coast. Also at this time he spent several years as resident at a leading Liverpool restaurant.

His path was soon to cross with that of Ken Morris and they spent several years together in the Skyliners Big Band. Since then, they have played intermittently together and today of course in So What Now.

Des’ role is vitally important, providing the anchor for everything else that’s going on and his wide ranging experience allows him to lay down solid, yet lyrical lines. As well as providing support he is a skillful improviser and is happy to admit that “I am still learning something new every time I play ! “

Brian, with his many years of experience, is the engine of So What Now and his effortless accurate playing drives everything along in the desired way. His light touch combined with a great swing feel perfectly complements the subtle playing of Paul and Vernon, particularly on Latin grooves which feature frequently in the set.

This feel is understandable when you consider his love of Brazilian percussion and samba. He recently completed a three year study of conga’s and Brazilian music with Dudu Tucci who teaches throughout Europe and performs worldwide.

Brian organizes and runs samba band “Oxiris – Wirral School of Samba” who were involved in a scene from a film called “Fated” which was released in December 2006. The stars are, BAFTA winning actor Brendan Mackay, Craig Charles, Lee Boardman, Michael Angelis and Kate Robbins. 'Oxiris' perform regularly throughout the North West and have also performed on BBC North West Tonight.

Brian is a freelance drum teacher, in the Merseyside area and as well as teaching regular drumming delivers samba workshops to schools and various youth organizations.

As a working drummer, he has played in numerous theatre productions over many years including West Side Story, Guys & Dolls, Jesus Christ Superstar, Wizard of Oz, Copacabana, Sweeney Todd, Fiddler on the Roof, The Boyfriend and others.

A festival regular, he has played at Wirral guitar festival, Hamilton Quarter Jazz festival, Nantwich Jazz festival, Warrington music festival, Matthew Street Festival and Corwen festival.

Every band needs a leader and this dubious task falls to Louis. In truth, he revels in it and it comes naturally to him. His other passion apart from music is fishing and inevitably he ends up as association secretary, editor or whatever.

Living in Wrexham and regularly supporting events of the North Wales Jazz Society, I suppose it is natural that he is a committee member and as such, supports Trefor Owen & Maureen Hopkins as they regularly present top class jazz in the area.

Having close contact also with Alexander’s Jazz Theatre in Chester, Louis became a Director of CHESTERJAZZ and is concerned with the promotion and organization of jazz in the area.

This involves the Chester Jazz Festival in July and allows him close involvement with artists and all other aspects, something that he greatly enjoys. Before mentioning Louis’ actual playing there is one more organizational feat to mention and that is the Jam Session held monthly at Alexander’s. Now in it’s third year it came about in a strange way. The current band So What Now is a reincarnation of the original So What which broke up three years ago and Louis, deciding against starting another band, thought he would concentrate his playing at various jam sessions in whatever towns they existed. The problem he soon found was, that apart from a couple of “off the wall“ Manchester sessions, that none existed so what was he to do?

You guessed it – start his own, and this is what he did with the cooperation of Alexander’s and it has become a rallying point for local musicians.

So that’s the organizer but what about the musician ?…….

Starting in his youth Louis has been involved in various band situations and has played in three blues bands learning blues harp along the way, also combining singing. In the early 60’s when pop changed to soul, he became a self taught sax player in a large soul band. A lengthy break then followed until he took up his horn again to play in a Manchester based band which played only for charity but all this did was to rekindle the flame of regular gigging and the search was on.

To cut a long story short, he joined the legendary Zoot Serious & the Bellyful of Bop on alto sax where he has been for the last 9 years, playing “rampant rhythm & blues with soul”.

With a long interest in jazz and blues it was natural to want to play jazz sax so he attended courses at Arden College in Manchester and having gained a grounding, formed the original So What with a class colleague “ to allow further learning”. Further learning be damned – let’s get some gigs was the cry and the rest is history.

After the eventual breakup, the need for a band still lurked within Louis so out of the friends who helped him with the jam sessions was born So What Now. Within the band he gets great satisfaction from sharing the front line with Ken and admits that he is totally committed to developing a similar sound and style to his idols Lester Young and Dexter Gordon.

Email Louis - saxylouis@aol.com