Biography of Kit Downes

After studying at both the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music - Kit now plays regularly with his own Trio and Quintet, Stan Sulzman's 'Neon', Troyka, The Golden Age of Steam, Sam Crockatt Quartet and Clark Tracey Sextet- and has played with Joe Locke, Lee Konitz, Paul Rogers, Seb Rochford, Ian Ballamy, Mark Lockhart, Gwyneth Herbert and Eugene Skeef. He has also performed with leading British bands Fraud, Asaf Sirkis’ Inner Noise, Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble, Acoustic Ladyland, Nostalgia 77, 2000 Black, Silhouette Brown and Dennis Rollins’ Badbone and Co. He has also worked with up and coming Composer / Songwriter Micachu, with whome he recorded in Abbey Road for Matthew Herbert, recorded for BBC Radio 6 and played at the Sonar Music Festival ’07 in Barcelona. Kit’s work with Empirical took him to The North Sea Jazz Festival, The JVC Festivals in New York, Montreal and Newport, and Vancouver Jazz Festival. Empirical won ‘Best Album of the Year 2007’ in Jazzwise and the EBU Award at the North Sea Festival. Kit won the BBC ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2008 and was nominated for a British Jazz Award in both 2008 and 2009, he also won one of 'Yamaha Jazz Scolarship' Awards in 2009. In 2010 Kit's debut album 'Golden' was nominated for a Mercury Music Award. Kit is also a member of the F-IRE Collective, an initiative set up by Barak Schmool, which is a musician-led collective to encourage shared learning and sharing of resources. He enjoys the music of Bill Frisell, Bjork and Bela Bartok, the films of jim Jarmusch and David Lynch, the artwork of Alberto Giacometti and Joan Miro and the Strawberry Laces of Service Stations.

Kit Downes Quintet -

At once both dark and detailed, colourfull and chaotic, this Quintet is the new project from UK pianist and composer Kit Downes. It features the talents of Calum Gourlay (bass), James Maddren (drums), Lucy Railton (cello) and James Allsopp (bass clarinet). Musically placed between an abandoned pirate ship and an unmanned pet-shop (lopsided blues and speedy corners), the band have enjoyed many trips to Europe and beyond (such as Jazz Festivals in London, Trondheim, Tel Aviv and Bremen Jazzahead) and are set to release an album in 2012 (on the Basho label).

Kit Downes Trio -

Having been together since their first year at the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Kit Downes Trio' have been playing together since 2005. Their music walks the line between the improvised and the composed using an eclectic mix of influences. The band, featuring Calum Gourlay (Tommy Smith, Martin Speake, Tom Cawley) on bass and James Maddren (Marc Copland, Stan Sulzmann, Gwilym Simcock) on drums, has played at the London Jazz Festival 2008/09/10/11, Ronnie Scotts British Jazz Festival, BBC 2, BBC Radio 2 and 3 Live Broadcasts, Nattjazz Norway,Tel Aviv Jazz Festival, Coutances Jazz Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festivals 20010/11 and have toured extensively throughout Germany and Austria. Their influences range from Bela Bartok to Bill Frisell to David Lynch, the trio celebrates the classic piano trio tradition as well as perform dangerous experiments on it. They released their first album on Basho Records ('Golden') in November 2009 which was subsequently (and surprisingly) nominated for Mercury Music Award in 2010. Their second album 'Quiet Tiger' was released in March 2011, and was voted no. 4 in Jazzwise's Albums of the Year in 2011 as well as having extensive radio play on BBC Radio 2 and 3.