On Saturday, 20th October, Bristol-based jazz group, Ishmael Ensemble, were invited to record a live session for BBC Radio 6 Music at the legendary Maida Vale Studios.

The four band members are all local to the Midsomer Norton and Radstock area, with three of them having attended Somervale School. The band consists of Pete Cunningham and Stephen Mullins, from Paulton, Jake Spurgeon, from Holcombe, and Rory O’Gorman, from Ston Easton.

The group were invited to record the session as part of the UK Jazz Special from Maida Vale show, hosted by Gilles Peterson, who the group had met previously at WOMAD festival.

The band performed recent singles, ‘The Chapel’ and ‘Tunnels’, which were self-released on their newly-founded Severn Songs record label.

Other performances came from Joe-Armon Jones, Nubya Garcia, Oscar Jerome and one-off collaborations with Fatima, Hak Baker and the All Star House Band.

Maida Vale Studios is located on Delware Road, London, and is known for its A-list guests, such as John Peel (who recorded his famed John Peel Sessions there from 1967-2004), Led Zeppelin, David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Genesis, Joy Division, The Fall, The Smiths, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Nirvana and many more.

The three-hour show is available to listen for a limited time on BBC iPlayer. Ishmael Ensemble’s songs can be heard from the two-hour, 25-minute mark: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0000w02