A WORLD music outfit that helped bring bhangra and Madchester influences to the club scene, a former Style Council drummer and a nine-piece funk band are among the acts heading to Mossley this autumn.
The Vale has announced a packed live programme for the coming months, with music, comedy and family theatre set to take over the arts centre.
Steve White Trio, led by the legendary drummer who found fame with Paul Weller’s Style Council between 1983 and 1989, will perform on Saturday, October 31.
White was the youngest drummer to perform at Live Aid in 1985 and went on to co-found The Jazz Renegades following the Style Council’s split.
He has also performed with the likes of Galliano, The Young Disciples and JTQ, while continuing to work with Weller during the early decades of his solo career.
They will be promoting their latest album Soul Drums, released through Acid Jazz Records.
The following day, Sunday, November 1, will see family theatre come to the venue with The Magic Stick.
The show combines Indian dance, music, storytelling and stage magic in a story centred around compassion, selflessness and generosity. It is suitable for children aged six and over.
Music fans can then look forward to one of the more unusual comedy acts on the programme when Mr. B The Gentleman Rhymer brings his Probably Accurate Hip-Hop History Show to Mossley on Saturday, November 14.
The alter ego of Jim Burke, formerly of band Collapsed Lung, Mr. B mixes comedy, storytelling, rap and banjolele.
Burke began performing as the character in 2007 and has since released 15 albums and amassed millions of YouTube views, as well as taking Mr. B to the Edinburgh Fringe.
Then comes one of the biggest names on the programme when Transglobal Underground arrives at The Vale on Saturday, November 21.
The band burst onto the club scene in the early 1990s with Temple Head, drawing on the UK’s bhangra scene while blending influences from Madchester and dance music.
Now 12 albums into a career that has crossed musical and geographical boundaries, the BBC Radio 3 World Music Award winners will perform material ranging from their 2022 album Sitar Monday back to their debut Dream of 100 Nations, released in 1993.
The autumn programme will close out with a dose of northern funk from The Haggis Horns on Saturday, December 12.
The nine-piece outfit mixes breakbeats, funk, soul, hip-hop and Afrobeat with jazz musicianship and has been a major presence in the UK funk scene for more than 20 years. The group originally made a name for themselves as the horn section of The New Mastersounds before becoming a full band in 2004.
Members have since played and recorded with artists including Jamiroquai, John Legend, Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Martha Reeves, Roots Manuva, Kano and Morcheeba.
Johnny Clifford, programming manager at The Vale, said: “We’re really excited about this autumn and winter programme, which brings together some genuinely distinctive acts and gives audiences the chance to experience live music that they might not normally get to see in Mossley.”