KIT DOWNES TRIO

Kit Downes
Kit Downes

Having met in their first year at the Royal Academy of Music, The Kit Downes Trio have been playing together since 2005. Their music walks the fine line between improvisation and composition through 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 always been interested in making its music accessible, whilst not sacrificing any of its intellect - and doing so through new and original music.

Together, they have performed at festivals including London Jazz Festival 2008 and 2009, Ronnie Scott’s British Jazz Festival, a BBC Radio 3 Live Broadcast, Glasgow Jazz Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Inspired by a wide range of influences, ranging from Bela Bartok to Keith Jarrett to Rufus Wainwright, the trio endeavours to both celebrate the classic piano trio tradition as well as develop it. They released their first album on Basho Records in November 2009.

After studying at both the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, Kit now plays regularly with his own trio, Stan Sulzman, Troyka, The Golden Age of Steam, Sam Crockatt and Clark Tracey. He has also played with Joe Locke, Gilad Atzmon, Empirical, Gerard Presencer, Acoustic Ladyland, Ian Ballamy, Peter Ind, Gwyneth Herbert, Fraud and Dennis Rollins’ Badbone and Co.

Kit’s piano playing has taken him to The North Sea Jazz Festival, The JVC Festivals in New York, Montreal and Newport, and Vancouver Jazz Festival. With British band Empirical he won ‘Best Album of the Year 2007’ in Jazzwise and the EBU Award at the North Sea Festival. He also won the BBC ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2008 and was nominated for a British Jazz Award in both 2008 and 2009, as well as winning one of the 'Yamaha Jazz Scolarship' Awards in 2009. 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.

Press

"a breathtaking improviser, and weaver of magical piano soundscapes, Kit Downes is world class" - Helen Mayhew, Jazz FM

'A very skilled and fluid pianist, Downes is not only bursting with fresh ideas but has that rare ability to carry them off." - Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise

Dates

15.03. München - Unterfahrt
16.03. Berlin – A-Trane
17.03. Hamburg - Birdland
18.03. Dortmund – Domicile
19.03. Köln - Stadtgarten
20.03. Karlsruhe - Tollhaus
22.03. Linz - Oxymoron
23.03. Frankfurt - Brotfabrik
24.03. Mannheim - Feuerwache
25.03. Innsbruck - Treibhaus
26.03. Passau – Neues Theater