Dennis Rollins’ Badbone & Co
Dennis Rollins - trombone, electronics
Jay Phelps - trumptet, flugelhorn
Johnny Heyes - guitars
Chris Gulino - keys
Alex Bonfanti - bass
Jack Pollitt - drums
Top of everyone’s jazz artist list is multi-award winning British jazz star, Dennis Rollins. An acclaimed musician, composer and educator, Rollins is well-known on the British and international jazz scene, and is celebrated for his versatility and unique approach to the underrated trombone. His mighty sound can be heard to full effect in his award winning band Badbone & Co which the jazz artist lists as a repertoire of groove-based, funky dance music with jazz overtones. Alongside Dennis you can hear Empirical star Jay Phelps on trumpet and flugelhorn, Johnny Heyes on guitar, Alex Bonfanti on bass, Kit Downes on keys and Vidal Juba on drums.
In May 2007 Dennis was awarded Trombonist of the Year at the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Awards; he was also nominated in the Educator of the Year category in this year’s Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Dennis Rollins’ Badbone & Co won the prestigious BBC Jazz Award for Best Band, and Dennis picked up the Marston’s Pedigree British Jazz Award for Best Trombonist; he was also nominated in the Best Jazz Act category at the Urban Music Awards 2006.
Born in 1964 in the Midlands to Jamaican parents, and raised in South Yorkshire, Dennis cut his teeth at the age of 14 studying and performing with The Doncaster Youth Jazz Association. After years of study, Dennis moved to London and began playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) and the legendary all-black jazz big band The Jazz Warriors. Over the years, Dennis, now based in Doncaster, has established a reputation as an artist of excellence and has lent his unique and stylish talents to some of this country's, and indeed the world's, top jazz and pop personalities such as Courtney Pine, Baba Maal, Jamiroquai, US3, Brand New Heavies and Blur.
Dennis is also recognised as an effective and inspirational educator. His Rhythms of Fire project won the 2006 Arts & Kids Award, part of the regional Arts & Business Awards. Rhythms of Fire was a commission from Doncaster’s first annual HotHouse Festival and involved 180 children from Doncaster primary schools producing poems on the theme of ‘hot’. The poems were then used by Dennis to inspire a suite of compositions.
Dennis Rollins' Badbone & Co has released three critically acclaimed albums: Badbone, Make Your Move, and last year’s Big Night Out! which is classic Dennis Rollins, but with extra funk.