BBC Jazz Album of the Year 2003 winner, Gilad Atzmon, will be playing, for one night only, at Sheffield University’s Firth Hall.

Gilad Atzmon, described as “an astonishing musician with a seemingly effortless ability to demolish and rebuild any old tune he chooses to play” (John Lewis, Time Out), has won numerous Jazz awards for his formidable talent and his highly acclaimed latest album, Exile. With musical influences from Italy, Romania, Britain, Palestine and Israel, Gilad has created an album rich with original music.

Highly involved in politics, Gilad’s “self-appointed mission to restore to jazz a cultural-political clout it had in the first bop era and in the free-jazz of the 1960s, makes him something considerably bigger” (John Fordham, CD of the week, The Guardian).

An Israeli Jew, Gilad is currently living in self-exile from Israel as condemnation of the Israeli government’s handling of the Palestinian problem. With his music, he tries to remove the unnecessary boundaries between Jewish and Arab cultures, and actively campaigns for justice and peace for both Palestinians and Israelis.

This charity concert, (proceedings going to Palestinian schools in refugee camps in the Gaza Strip), is a must see for anyone interested in music and jazz, and in the politics and culture of the Middle East.