Jazz breaking news: Kairos 4tet Win Jazz Act MOBO
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
At the SECC in Glasgow tonight Kairos 4tet won the MOBO for best jazz act.
The band, led by Adam Waldmann, released Statement of Intent for the Cardiff-based Edition records in December, the follow-up to their promising 2009 debut Kairos Moment.
Fronted by saxophonist Waldmann the line-up on this album differed slightly from the earlier band with pianist Ivo Neame (replacing Rob Barron) coming in, as well as double bassist Jasper Høiby, who together make up two-thirds of the high flying trio Phronesis, along with drummer Jon Scott, plus singer Emilia Mårtensson on two vocal tracks.
Waldmann’s mentor at Trinity College of Music, as Selwyn Harris described in Jazzwise, was ex-Loose Tubes saxophonist Julian Argüelles and like him he favours a folky lyricism and song-like expressivity. The band appeared at August’s Brit Jazz Fest in Ronnie Scott’s to positive reviews in a double bill with Manchester young guns Beats 'n' Pieces.
The other nominations this year were previous MOBO winner Denys Baptiste; Mercury nominee Gwilym Simcock; Mancunian trumpeter/DJ Matthew Halsall; and jazz-rock fusion band Usonic.
Adam Waldmann on Twitter reacting to the win said: "Um... It seems we've just won a MOBO award! Wowzers."
– Stephen Graham