Biography of Troyka

Troyka are Chris Montague (guitars and loops), Joshua Blackmore (drums) and Kit Downes (organ), three young musicians based in London whose intense live shows have seen them hotly tipped to follow in the foot steps of Polar Bear & Portico Quartet & become the next young band to explode from the capital’s fertile jazz scene.

A multi-textured trio with a febrile imagination where no role is pre-defined, their music twists and mutates in an ongoing dialogue inspired by a shared love of Aphex Twin, the angular world of iconclastic New York saxophonist Tim Berne and the blues-jazz-rock groove of legendary Steely Dan and Billy Cobham guitarist Wayne Krantz.

Review:

“Vortex Double Bill Showcases Hard Edged New Bands”

“Trio VD and Troyka, part of a burgeoning wave of new Brit jazz-rock bands emerging on the twenty-something UK jazz scene shared a double bill at the Vortex last night…. acknowledging the influence of NYC improv jazz-rock guitar master Wayne Krantz, Troyka combines biting angular melodies with fractured rhythmic figures that once again blur the line between the composed and the improvised.. it was he (Chris Montague) who combined stunning technique tempered by a masterful sense of melody and the guitar’s multiple tonalities. With several emerging jazz rock and fusion bands bubbling under on both the London and Leeds jazz scenes expect further sightings of Marshall amps in jazz clubs near you”. Mike Flynn (Timeout / Jazzwise)

Influences:

Tim Berne, Wayne Krantz, Heernt, Wayne Shorter, Aphex Twin, Soundgarden, Rage Against the Machine, Keith Jarrett