Partisans can rightfully be cited as the godfathers of the new wave of Brit-jazz, who, since their formation in 1996 have always embraced Coltrane, electric Miles and Hendrix in equal measure, and countless points in between.
Visionary free jazz drummer, conceptualist and educator John Stevens was a larger than life character.
The name Dennis Rollins has become synonymous with not just one of the finest British trombonists of the last quarter century, but with an attitude and presence not often associated with such an unwieldy instrument.
Saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s path to becoming one of the jazz greats was seemingly preordained.
Drummer Dylan Howe has always walked a fine line between his love of hard-bop and rock, as both the son of guitarist Steve Howe and a long-standing member of The Blockheads and the Wilko Johnson band.
Pianist Andrew McCormack has come a long way since he received the ‘Rising Star’ BBC Jazz Award in 2006 thanks to his debut album Telescope.
With a combined musical history that connects free flowing improvisation, Jamaican dub and avant garde electronica, multi-instrumentalist conceptualists Orphy Robinson and Pat Thomas are a wholly contemporary duo.
Right from her student days at Boston’s Berklee College of Music some 10 years ago, when she also recorded her debut album Brain, Hiromi Uehara always stood out from the crowd with her molten mix of classical technique, compositional daring and rock-edged-fusion, all delivered with sky-high energy levels.
Pianist Keith Jarrett and bassist Charlie Haden initially played together in the pianist’s first trio in 1966 and subsequently in his ‘American Quartet’, alongside drummer Paul Motian and saxophonist Dewey Redman, and while their work together since has been intermittent they’ve retained the strongest of musical bonds.
Ginger Baker is quite simply one of the most influential drummers of all time – from his days with the Graham Bond Organisation and as a founding member of blues-rock improv giants Cream, to his subsequent high-level jazz-influenced collaborations and groups – as well as his 18 solo albums and work with Afro-beat king, Fela Kuti.
