POPPY DANIELS QUINTET, MUSIC SPOKEN HERE, THE MARR’S BAR, WORCESTER, 23/04/2026.

Poppy Daniels – trumpet, flugelhorn, Eddie Lee – keyboards, Kian Cardenas – guitar, Alley Lloyd – electric bass, Lox – drums

An excellent audience turn out at The Marr’s Bar on a balmy spring evening (St. George’s Day by chance) for this latest Music Spoken Here event featuring rising star trumpeter and composer Poppy Daniels.

Nominated in the “Breakthrough Act” category at this year’s Jazz FM Awards Daniels is currently touring, very lucratively, one would hope, as a member of Rick Astley’s backing band, playing to huge audiences on the arena circuit. On her night off she brought her own regular jazz quintet to play to around fifty people in the more homely environs of the Marr’s Bar. I know where I’d rather be.

Daniels is a graduate of Leeds College of Music and also studied in New York. She works prolifically as a session musician and in addition to Astley has also performed with a mix of jazz and non jazz acts including Nu Civilisation Orchestra Orchestra, Jordan Rakei. Daniel Casimir, China Moses, Blue Lab Beats, Celeste, Arlo Parks, Hak Baker, Komodo Horns,  the Latin ensemble Colectiva, rapper Nix Northwest and more.

Her jazz influences include fellow trumpeters Miles Davis, Clifford Brown, Chet Baker and Blue Mitchell, plus pianist Barry Harris and drummer / composer / arranger Bobby Sanabria.

Daniels recorded a version the Chet Baker tune “I’ve Never Been in Love Before” for the album “Chet Baker Re-imagined”, released on Blue Note Records. This was a compilation of interpretations of Baker tunes featuring contemporary jazz, soul, r & b and pop artists from both sides of the Atlantic.

Encouraged by Adam Moses of the Jazz re: freshed  organisation Daniels made her debut as a bandleader at the 2023 Brick Lane Jazz Festival. In April 2025 she released her debut EP “Keep On Going”, which was issued on Jazz re: freshed’s own record label.

2025 also saw Daniels and her quintet appear at that year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival with a performance at the Parabola Arts Centre. This was my first introduction to her music and it was an exciting and enjoyable performance that is reviewed as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/trumpets-tenors-and-voices-sunday-at-cheltenham-jazz-festival-04-05-2025

Tonight’s line up saw just one change from the Cheltenham appearance with Alley Lloyd replacing Patrick Hand (aka Tricky) on electric bass. The pair share bass duties on the “Keep on Going” recording so this hardly represented a dramatic change of personnel.

Lloyd is a bandleader and composer in her own right and also features as a vocalist in her group, with whom Daniels sometimes performs as a guest.  Music Spoken Here promoter Dave Fuller saw the Lloyd sextet, plus Daniels guesting, at the 2025 Brick Lane Jazz Festival His account of that performance can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/sunday-at-brick-lane-jazz-festival-london-27-04-2025

While Fuller is still waiting to bring Lloyd’s own band to the Marr’s Bar he was quick to invite Daniels, whose exciting, high energy performance certainly enlivened the Worcester audience.

Daniels’ show at Cheltenham was inevitably tailored to tie in with festival scheduling restrictions, but in this more relaxed club setting she and the band were able to stretch out more fully over the course of two sets.

Things got under way with “2AM”, the opening track from the “Keep On Going” EP. A deceptively gentle intro featured the sound of trumpet, guitar and bass, subsequently joined by piano and drums. Interlocking melodic and rhythmic motifs made for compelling listening with the leader’s trumpet at the heart of the music but, with Cardenas emerging as a featured soloist, his soaring guitar solo fuelled by Lox’s increasingly dynamic drumming. The recording also features the playing of sxophonist / flautist Allexa Nava, a previous visitor to MSH at The Marr’s Bar.

Also from the recording “Keep On Going Prelude” was segued into the title track itself. As its title might suggest the scene setting “Prelude” section was more atmospheric, with Daniels making a last minute move to flugel to duet with Lee, who adopted an acoustic piano sound on his Nord Stage 4 keyboard. An extended unaccompanied piano passage followed, featuring the hypnotic sounds of arpeggiated keyboard patterns. Daniels eventually returned on flugel before Lox set up an angular funk groove that marked the transition into “Keep On Going” itself. Lee continued to solo, graduating to an electric piano sound as Daniels reverted to trumpet. Cardenas was also featured as a soloist, as was the leader with a trumpet feature that demonstrated an impressive power, allied to the high level of technical skill that has made Daniels such an in demand session player. She then switched back to flugel for the solo cadenza at the close.

The first set concluded with the new, as yet unrecorded, tune “Cellular”, which was again introduced by the combination of piano and flugel. The introduction of the other instruments brought about a rapid acceleration with Lloyd’s pounding bass and Lox’s dynamic drumming fuelling Daniels’ powerful but melodic trumpeting. Changes of moods and dynamics were a characteristic of this piece with a gentler passage featuring the melodic sounds of Lloyd’s six string bass followed by the feverish keyboard soloing of Lee, this underpinned by a staccato drum groove that also fuelled further guitar, bass and keyboard features as Daniels watched on admiringly. The band members’ delight in each others’ playing was obvious throughout, and that sense of fun communicated itself to the audience, who simultaneously appreciated both Daniels’  refreshingly down to earth presenting style and the band’s willingness to take musical risks.

Set two opened with a “cover of a cover”, this being the tune “Oil Fields”, originally by the electronic music producer Mono / Poly and covered by the US jazz / hip hop drummer Mike Mitchell. Taking inspiration from Mitchell’s version this piece represented a tour de force for the flamboyant Lox, whose opening snare crack acted as a real statement of intention. Urged on by his bandmates his two drum features were punctuated by statements from Daniels on trumpet and Lee on electric piano, but really this piece was about the dynamic young drummer, a player of immense technical ability who has been compared to the great Billy Cobham.

Following the introductory fireworks Daniels decided to cool things down a little with the new composition “Just Mourn”, which was being given its first public performance. Introduced by Lloyd’s bass, subsequently allied to Daniels’ trumpet melodies, this piece represented something of a feature for the leader. Ultimately less melancholic than its title might suggest this piece combined the Daniels’ fluent trumpet soloing with syncopated, slyly funky grooves.

A return to the EP repertoire for the hypnotic grooves and near prog rock complexities of the fast moving “Boundaries” with solos coming from Lee on electric piano and Daniels on trumpet, playing first with a Harmon mute and the with an open bell. Finally we enjoyed another kinetic drum feature from the hyper-active Lox. That marvellous old quote from ‘National Health’ Dave Stewart about his late colleague, the great Pip Pyle, came to mind – “playing the drums like an octopus on amphetamines”.

Finally, from the “Keep On Going” EP, we heard the closing track “Feeling Better”. An atmospheric intro ushered in by bass and guitar, with keys and trumpet subsequently added, helped to set the scene. Lloyd then set up the groove that helped to frame a series of dynamic contrasts, with Cardenas soloing in ‘power trio’ mode alongside Lloyd and Lox. This episode then evolved into an extended guitar / drum duet and finally another explosive drum feature. Daniels was quite happy for her band mates to tear it up, watching admiringly from the back of the stage. The trumpeter’s own effervescent playing also helped to lift this funky, uplifting set closer as it progressed through a series of twists and turns towards a rousing resolution.

Unfortunately there was to be no encore as the young quintet were scheduled to catch the last train back from Foregate Street to London but nobody could complain about a lack of value for money following two energetic, exciting and entertaining sets from this excellent young band. Youthful enthusiasm was allied to highly skilled musicianship with the effervescent Daniels setting the tone for the event. Lloyd seemed to have a permanent grin on her face and the energy of the irrepressible Lox was barely containable, particularly during the second set. At the keyboard Lee represented the harmonic glue holding it all together, while Cardenas’ guitar work was inventive and refreshingly cliché free. They really do make a great team, headed by the bubbly Daniels, whose breathless enthusiasm is complemented by a very real playing and composing talent. Her multi-faceted pieces draw on a broad variety of musical sources, including jazz, funk, soul and hip hop.

The quintet went down a storm with the Worcester audience and its easy to see why Daniels and her band are creating such a stir on the London jazz scene. Her star can only continue to rise.

 

 

 

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