Renowned as one of the top British jazz trumpet players both at home and on the international scene, Steve began his career while studying at Trinity College of Music, playing with the European Community Jazz Orchestra and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Since then, he has worked regularly on the British and European jazz scene with John Surman, Andy Sheppard, Tony Coe, Carla Bley, Don Weller and many others.

Tom Walsh, b. 1991,  graduated from the Royal Academy of Music’s Jazz Course in 2013, and since then has gone on to work with artists such as Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau & Randy Brecker. Tom has played with some of the premier large ensembles and orchestras in Europe, including WDR Big Band, BBC Big Band, Philharmonia Orchestra and the English National Ballet Orchestra. Alongside his role of Professor of Trumpet at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Trinity College of Music, he is an active session musician and arranger, having recorded on over 1000 tracks from his home studio.

Malcolm is a highly regarded educator with 30 years of experience working in primary and secondary schools, adult education, summer schools and higher education. He has been Lecturer in Jazz at Trinity Laban since 2005. As a teacher, Malcolm has been involved in primary, secondary and adult sectors as well as with all the major music colleges. He also teaches for the University of Glamorgan and Wavendon Jazz Summer Schools, and runs workshops for the Associated Board.

Trevor Mires has been at the forefront of the London music scene for the last fourteen years.

His performing credits are wide ranging. He has performed with, among others, George Benson, recorded and toured with multi-instrumentalist James Morrison, toured with Sam Rivers Big Band, Michel Le Grand, and recorded with Pat Metheny, Toots Theilmans and David Sanborn.

Trevor was a member of jazz funk band Jamiroquai, and Incognito, recording and touring with both for a number of years. Maintaining a healthy balance between commercial and more creative projects, recording in studios for TV and film, Trevor is currently Trombonist/arranger for Sir Tom Jones, and recently toured with Randy Brecker’s European Big Band, as well as recording with Radiohead, and performing with the likes of Alicia Keys, Beyonce, and recording and performing with Mark Ronson.

Julian Siegel is an in-demand saxophonist on the European Jazzscene. In 2007 he was awarded the BBC Jazz Award for Best Instrumentalist. His current bands are the Julian Siegel Quartet featuring pianist Liam Noble, the Julian Siegel Trio with US Improvising stars Drummer Joey Baron and Bassist Greg Cohen and the influential band Partisans, co-led for the last 14 years with guitarist Phil Robson. Julian has played in large ensembles led by Andrew Hill, Mike Gibbs alongside Bill Frisell, Steve Swallow and Adam Nussbaum, the Hermeto Pascoal UK Big Band, Django Bates Delightful Precipice, John Taylor, Jazz Jamaica, Kenny Wheeler, Colin Towns with the NDR big band, Hans Koller New Memories Band with Steve Lacy and with Jason Yarde’s ‘Acoutastic Bombastic’.

Originally from St. Thomas in the US Virgin Islands, saxophonist Jean Toussaint left Berklee College of Music, Boston in 1982 to join Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. It was the beginning of an inspired four and half years spent with musicians including Terence Blanchard, Mulgner Miller and others. While in New York, Jean also worked with Gil Evans, McCoy Tyner and Wynton Marsalis. In 1987 he left Blakey to come to England for a few months. He stayed. Jean has since toured with many visiting American bands including Max Roach, Cedar Walton and David Murray as well as with his own bands. The Jean Toussaint Trio, Quartet and Quintet play swinging, surging straight-ahead contemporary jazz with a strong emphasis on melody. Nazaire, his electrocute band, plays a blend of jazz funk and club music.

Dominic Ashworth studied guitar at the University of Toronto, Canada, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is an active freelance player who has worked with Carol Kidd, Jacqui Dankworth, Dave Cliff and Janette Mason. Dominic is also a composer, and has written and recorded many original works for radio and television and performs with orginal guitar trio Digtal Moves. He performs in London with groups such as Julian Stringle’s Pathfinder, the Mick Foster Group, Digby Fairweather’s Half Dozen and Michael Garrick’s Big Band & Quartet.

Phil Robson is a guitarist/composer based in London, UK. He is internationally regarded as a highly versatile and creative player who appears in all kinds of diverse settings. Born in Derby in 1970 Phil had already enjoyed music from the age of 14 onwards and rapidly became part of the house rhythm section in the local club with such visiting musicians as John Etheridge and Bheki Mseleku as well as with his clarinettist father, Trevor Robson. As band leader, Phil has received commissions for his octet from Birmingham Jazz and Derby Jazz. Phil co-leads Partisans with Julian Siegel (sax, bass clarinet) featuring Gene Calderazzo – drums and Thad Kelly – bass. Partisans was formed around gigs in London’s Vortex jazz club in 1996 and are considered one of the most important bands in the new jazz scene in Europe. They have recorded 3 CDs including the second Sourpuss on Babel with the bands latest , Max nominated for the album of the year in the 2006 BBC Jazz awards and for Best Ensemble in the 2008 Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Phil is also a member of the Liam Noble quartet with pianist Liam, drummer Tom Rainey, bassist Drew Gress. Alec Dankworth Trio with Alec – bass, Julian Arguelles – sax; Gerard Presencer Quartet and the BBC Big Band.

Since arriving in London (via studies in Amsterdam) in 2006 Austrian-born guitarist Hannes Riepler has become an integral part of the London jazz scene. Passionate about forging new musical friendships and creating performing opportunities he established the Vortex Downstairs Jazz Night held every Sunday at the renowned Vortex Jazz Club. This weekly gig has attracted international attention not only for the incredibly high standard of music making but also as the place to “hang” for jazz musicians not just from London but any jazz musician passing through the capitol. One of these nights featured a set including New York saxophonist Chris Cheek and London based drummer James Maddren with bassist Oli Hayhust sitting-in. The energy and chemistry between the four musicians was so natural it led to a European tour (2015) and Riepler’s second album as a leader ‘Wild Life’ on the UK label Jellymould Jazz (2016). His first album ‘The Brave’ has earned international acclaim.

World renowned bassist Orlando le Fleming was born in Birmingham but spent most of his early childhood living in Exeter, Devon. Both of his parents are professional musicians; his mother a cellist and his father a composer. His first ambition was to become a professional cricketer, an aim that was realized when he played for five years in the minor counties. 

Calum Gourlay was born in Glasgow and grew up playing in Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra, The National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland and Tommy Smith’s Youth Jazz Orchestra, in which he was the very first bassist selected from across Scotland at the age of 16.

In 2004 he was the only bassist enrolled that year for the BMus Jazz course at The Royal Academy of Music. He graduated with first class honours in 2008.

He has since gone on to establish two residencies at the Vortex Jazz Club, London – Thelonious from 2015 to 2017 presenting the entire catalogue of Thelonious Monk with Martin Speake and Hans Koller; and a monthly big band residency playing his own music starting in February 2017.

Steve Watts has been playing jazz on the British scene for over 25 years, during which time he has worked with many musicians of international stature, incuding: Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Julian Arguelles, Kenny Wheeler, Stan Sulzman, Jim Mullen, Joe Lovano, Kirk Lightsey, Richard Rodney Bennett and many more. He is a member of the influential Loose Tubes jazz orchestra and “The Printmakers “- a band featuring Norma Winstone, Nikki Iles and Mike Walker. He has made numerous broadcasts for radio and television and has recorded widely.  Live work has taken him all over the world and his playing can be heard on the soundtracks of many films.

He is a committed educator and currently teaches at Trinity Laban and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He has previously taught at the Royal Academy of Music and for the National Youth Jazz Collective as well as teaching and leading workshops in schools across the country.

Born in Santiago de Cuba, Omar learned his love of violin from his father. As a student at Esteban Salas, Santiago’s finest music school, Omar studied classical music under world renowned professors. At the age of 12, Omar left his family to travel alone to Havana and take up his place at the Escuela Nacional de Arte. The next six years were spent studying classical music by day under Russian and Cuban masters, and Cuban music by night in Havana’s famous music Halls. After graduating from the Instituto Superior de Arte (Cuba’s university for the performing arts), Omar joined the José María Vitier band and toured Cuba, Mexico, and finished up at the New York Jazz Festival. He joined the National Symphony Orchestra of Cuba (NSOC) where he progressed to first chair. During this time he continued to play with other bands and made an operatic tour of Italy, played at Club Tropicana, made tours of Europe with Rubén González and Latin America with Guillermo Rubalcaba. He also began to develop a recording career, working with the likes of Orquesta Revé, Charanga Habanera, Pablo Milanés, Leo Brouwer and Silvio Rodríguez.

Lauren Kinsella performs in a range of diverse projects as a band leader, side-woman and collaborator. Using her voice as an instrument, her work encompasses composition and improvisation across several genres including jazz, alternative folk, experimental and contemporary classical music. Awarded UK vocalist of the year (Jazz FM 2016), she has received many accolades to date including the Arts Foundation Fellowship in jazz composition (2017), THSH Jazzlines Fellowship (2015) and the Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize (2013). Kinsella’s performances and music are reviewed worldwide and she regularly features on radio stations including BBC Radio 3 and Radio 6 and RTÉ Lyric FM. To date, she has released several critically acclaimed albums on Edition Records, WideEarRecords, Diatribe and Two Rivers Records. 

Brigitte Beraha, improvising vocalist and composer, is one of the leading talents on the UK jazz scene. Embracing a wide variety of influences and genres, Beraha’s sound is free and spontaneous with an emphasis on exploration, expression and fearlessly testing the limits of the voice as instrument. Alongside original contemporary jazz and the core jazz and latin repertoires, she is increasingly involved in exciting cross-genre projects, such as the recreation of Basil Kirchin’s music as part of Hull City of Culture 2017 or Raising Hell with Henry Purcell led by Ethan Iverson at Kings Place in 2018.

Beraha has recorded a number of critically acclaimed albums, both as leader and as part of collaborative projects such as Babelfish, Solstice and Red Skies Trio. The latest under her name, Lucid Dreamers, introduced a new electronic dimension to her work proving once more the agility, adventurous spirit and limitless imagination that have marked her out as a truly exciting and versatile artist with a huge range of experience and creative scope.

‘One of the most adventurous vocalists around, a musical explorer…’  The Jazzmann

‘Brigitte is someone who concentrates on the music’s core values: imagination, individuality, improvisation.’ Jazz Review
‘Possessed of Norma Winstone-like subtlety and precision.’ The Guardian

‘Beraha scats with a daydreaming quality that is both engaging and never distracting.’ John Fordham

Cleveland was born in Hackney, East London to a Jamaican family. At age 16, he won twice in a local singing talent competition, hosted by “FatMan” of FatMan Sound System (North East London Based Roots, Reggae & Dub Sound System). Later he studied music at the London School of Singing and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama thereafter. He was taught by the most respected coaches in the industry.

He has worked closely and performed together with the diverse range of artists across the world, including Stevie Wonder, The Who, Richard Spaven Trio, Louis Moholo, Bobby McFerrin, Goldie, Björk, Talvin Singh, Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Abdullah Ibrahim, Shabaka And The Ancestors, Nigel Kennedy, George Martin, Black Top, William Parker & Hamid Drake, Branford & Wynton Marsalis +JALC, London Community Gospel Choir, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Chamber Orchestra and many others.

Pianist and composer Andrea Vicari was born in Miami (Florida) and grew up in Birmingham (England). Educated at Cardiff University (Bmus(Hons) PGCE) she won a scholarship to study at The Guildhall School of Music in London. Andrea has to date eight albums in her own name and two musicals; and has contributed to others such as ‘Round Trip’ and “East and West’ with Jazz Extempore plus ‘The Vortex Foundation Big Band’; Claude Deppa and Trudy Kerr. She played a successful season at London’s ‘Bass Clef’ club with the late US sax innovator, Eddie Harris and gigged with US trumpet legend Art Farmer.

After studying music at Oxford University, and jazz at the Guildhall in London, Liam Noble started to build a reputation of note playing with Stan Sulzmann, Anita Wardell, John Stevens and Harry Beckett. His first CD, a solo entitled “Close Your Eyes” was released in 1994, and contained a mix of standards, originals and improvisations. This mixture of approaches has characterized his music ever since.

Kit Downes is a BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated, solo recording artist for ECM Records. He has toured the world playing piano, church organ and harmonium with his own bands (‘ENEMY’, ‘Troyka’ and ‘Elt’) as well as with artists such as Squarepusher, ‘Empirical’, Benny Greb and Sam Amidon. He has written commissions for Cheltenham Music Festival, London Contemporary Orchestra, Ensemble Klang at ReWire Festival, the Scottish Ensemble, Cologne Philharmonie and the Wellcome Trust.

Described by the Guardian as “eclectic, eccentric, and unobtrusively erudite”, Bruno Heinen is a London-based contemporary improvising pianist, composer and educator.

Research interests and areas of supervision:

• Using twentieth century classical works as a springboard for new improvised jazz composition 
• Improvised counterpoint: counterpoint as a route to the surprising 

Research interests and areas of supervision:

• Jazz performance
• Composition
• Jazz theory
• Improvisation

New York drummer Gene has established international jazz career.

Notable performances include working  with Sting, Radiohead, James Moody, Phil Woods, Benny Golson, Ulf Wakenius, Gary Husband, Wayne Krantz, Bobby Watson, Eddie Gomez, Evan Parker, Randy Brecker and brother Joey Calderazzo, Bheki Mseleku, Hans Koller, Crass Collective, Phil Robsons’ Six Strings and the beast among others.  He has recently toured with Partisans,  Zoe Rahman, and the Julian Siegel quartet.

Gene is also a visiting tutor at The Royal Academy of Music and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Gareth Lockrane started playing at the age of 10 and after raiding his dad’s record collection discovered jazz at 14. Early influences included Cannonball Adderley, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Bill Evans and Stan Getz on the jazz side whilst also being transfixed by the great blues-rock guitarists of the 60s and 70s as a child – Jimi Hendrix, Albert King, Eric Clapton and Buddy Guy continue to be major influences. On flute the initial main inspirations were saxophone “doublers” like Frank Wess, James Clay, Roland Kirk, Bobby Jaspar and James Moody and later on he fell under the spell of flute visionaries like Jeremy Steig, Eric Dolphy, Hubert Laws, Paul Horn and Eddie Parker amongst many others.

Berlin-born, London based, from a young age SAHRA was totally immersed in all things music having been through Aldeburgh Young Musicians program and later accepting a scholarship to study at Trinity Laban. Growing up she was happiest listening to her dad play Somalian music at home and now she’s most comfortable when surrounded by her musical community which she holds close to her heart. To this day she is still working and playing with the musicians she’s known since day one and intends to bring everyone along with her for the ride. SAHRA can proudly call herself a vocalist, composer and arranger, an artist in the truest sense of the word who you will find either performing on stage or teaching singing part-time at the prestigious Trinity Laban.