Award winning alto-saxophonist and MC Soweto Kinch is one of the most exciting and versatile young musicians in both the British jazz and hip hop scenes. Undoubtedly, one of the few artists in either genre with a degree in Modern History from Oxford University he has amassed an impressive list of accolades and awards on both sides of the Atlantic - including a Mercury Music Prize nomination, two UMA Awards and a MOBO for best Jazz Act in 2003. In October 2007, he won his second MOBO Award, at the O2 Arena, London where he was announced as the winner in the Best Jazz Act category- fending off stiff competition from the likes of Wynton Marsalis.
Kinch's projects also extend beyond recorded albums. Writing the score for Jonzi D's Hip Hop Theatre production Markus the Sadist (2010), and Sampad's In The Further Soil (2010), a dance-theatre. Kinch also wrote and acted in the latter piece, which toured throughout India for a month. In 2011, he collaborated with the BBC and Drum and Bass producer Goldie for By Royal Appointment, a 3-part prime time reality music show, following Goldie, Soweto, Guy Chambers and Ms Dynamite as they discovered and coached a group of 12 vulnerable young people towards their first live performance before HM Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace. More Music featured in the show and Jack B, a beatboxer from Morecambe, was one of the musicians chosen. Kinch, described how the programme really allowed him to extended his work as an curator and mentor, "it was a radically fresh approach to discovering and nurturing new talent, and an antedate to the usual pop formulae and manufactured music."
The 'Legend of Mike Smith' tour sees Soweto Kinch presenting all new material in anticipation of a new album of the same name. The performance draws on Dante and The Seven Deadly sins, telling the tale of a young MC caught in a very modern world of temptation. Featuring a core trio including Karl Rasheed Abel on bass and Shaney Forbes on drums, the subject matter allows Kinch to explore the full breadth of human emotion in Hip Hop and jazz form. It will be touring extensively from February 2013 onwards.
'I'm really excited about these shows, the stripped trio format allows me more harmonic freedom and space to deliver lyrics. Moreover, I'm excited about integrating new things into the show, such as tenor sax and live looping' - Soweto Kinch
‘A real tour de force - a contemporary take on The Seven Deadly Sins'. John Fordham - The Guardian ****
