SEBASTIAN ROCHFORD – DRUMS
Seb Rochford is a celebrated bandleader, drummer and percussionist. He studied at the Newcastle College of Music and originally started performing with a punk band in Aberdeen. He then became the leader of the experimental jazz band Polar Bear whose albums Held on the Tips of Fingers and In Each and Every One were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and 2014 respectively. He has also drummed for several groups like Sons of Kemet and Bojan Zulfikarpasic’s Tetraband, and worked with artists like Andy Sheppard, Joana MacGregor and Herbie Hancock. In 2016 he toured with Patti Smith, and since late 2018 he has been playing with his new band Pulled by Magnets. Their sound has been described as inspired by “drone-rock, hardcore and Indian spiritual trance music rather than jazz” (Jazzwise, 2020).
Between September and December 2021, he played a series of monthly collaborative concerts at East London’s Servants Jazz Quarters that have featured award-winning saxophonist Lara Jones and Sons of Kemet bandmate Theon Cross, among others.
KIT DOWNES – PIANO
Kit Downes is widely regarded as one of the UK`s outstanding jazz artists. His accolades include the BBC Jazz Award and a nomination for the Mercury Prize . His new trio album Vermillion has just been released on ECM Records. His music offers a unique range of sounds and colors ,and shows him as an improviser of subtle sensibilities.
Downes’ work spans from solo over large ensemble up to choirs. Some of his earliest musical experiences were as a church organist, and in recent years he has been exploring the possibilities and idiosyncrasies of the church organ in improvisations and compositions both melodic and textural. Downes is bringing a new and highly personal approach to an instrument steeped in history and tradition – a tradition that he loves but is also seeking to explore and abstract.
