Bellingen Memorial Hall on Thursday, April 24.

This visit to Bellingen is a part of the 7th Australian tour by the acoustic guitarists, Nigel and Ian Date.

‘Bach to Bud’ is a wonderful selection of music from Johann Sebastien Bach to Bud Powell that spans 300 years and comes from North and South America, France, Scotland and Norway.

Beautiful melodies, original arrangements and improvisations played with passion and great style on acoustic guitars. In addition, this concert showcases the depth of Gypsy Jazz and features much material not usually associated with this idiom.

The Date Brothers are masters of Gypsy Jazz Guitar, a style pioneered by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s and 40s. Ian Date is a virtuoso and is regarded as the finest exponent of this style of guitar playing from Australia. He has been playing guitar professionally for close to 40 years and has performed and recorded with many of Australia’s jazz greats, written music for television and film and appeared on more than 70 albums.

Equally at home on the acoustic and electric guitar, Ian’s playing is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition.

He has his own engaging style and he brings his intelligence, craft, musicality, skill and humour to all his projects. Critics have described his playing and performances as lyrical, endlessly inventive, masterful and his live performances as thoroughly entertaining. Since 2002 Ian has based himself in Ireland. He will be playing an original Selmer guitar #861.

Nigel Date is well-known for his appearances at the Bellingen Jazz Festival and Global Carnival. He is a Sydney based professional guitarist, composer and teacher. Originally from Byron Bay, Nigel has been playing guitar for over 25 years. He has performed at festivals and concerts in Australia and overseas, made TV appearances, radio shows, countless weddings, bars, cafes, corporate gigs, residencies and recording sessions. Nigel enjoys playing a wide variety of musical styles with lots of different musicians and is highly respected as one of the most gifted of Jazz guitarists on the scene.

The combination of live guitar music from two master musicians at the top of their game, in the intimate surroundings and wonderful acoustics of the Bellingen Memorial Hall, makes for an exciting and highly engaging experience for the listener and offers a rare opportunity to hear guitar played at this level.

This is a night not to be missed. Thursday, April 24. Tickets at door $20; time 7:30pm.

For more information visit: www.datebrothers.com

Other links: www.youtube.com/user/datebrothers or www.youtube.com/watch?v=ko6_c39Ufds