Thursday 4th November 2021
First House
17:30
£20.00 - £35.00
Line-up: ALEX HITCHCOCK saxophone; MIDORI JAEGER voice, cello; DESHANEL GORDON piano; FERG IRELAND bass; SHANE FORBES drums
'Hitchcock combines an awesome technical facility with a keen ear to detect and assimilate a range of classic and contemporary influences…’ – Jazz View
‘An incredible saxophonist, with something very unique and original to say’ Walter Smith iii
London-born saxophonist Alex Hitchcock is regarded as one of the UK’s most virtuosic young jazz musicians. His group AuB, which released its debut album on Edition Records in 2020, was described as ‘ready to make cataclysmic waves in the sound of UK jazz’ by Jazzwise.
His quintet’s critically acclaimed 2018 debut on Barcelona-based label Fresh Sound New Talent (home to debuts by artists including Ambrose Akinmusire and Avishai Cohen) was described by All About Jazz as ‘an exquisitely subtle collection of tunes… the clearest indicator to date of the stratospheric trajectory on which this super-talented quintet is indubitably heading’. Their increasingly burgeoning reputation on the international jazz stage was confirmed by a major prize at the 2018 Umbria Jazz Festival, as well as touring to Poland, Spain, Italy and Hungary and performances at legendary UK venues including Love Supreme Festival, the Royal Albert Hall and Ronnie Scott’s.
In 2018 He won the Help Musicians UK Peter Whittingham Award, leading to a 2019 recording and tour featuring Jazz FM vocalist of the year Cherise Adams-Burnett and MOBO-winning drummer Shane Forbes.
Named in 2018 and 2019 as 'one to watch' by Jazzwise magazine, he has performed with Chris Cheek, Soweto Kinch, Mark Lockheart, Nérija, Andrew McCormack, Ashley Henry, Maria Chiara Argirò, legendary American group the Blackbyrds, and Turner Prize-nominated artist Marvin Gaye Chetwynd.
Performing highlights include North Sea Jazz Festival (Netherlands), Jazz à Vienne (France), Fano Jazz Festival (Italy), Festival Mas i Mas (Spain) and Glastonbury Festival (UK) as well as at the Barbican, Cadogan Hall, and Glyndebourne Opera House.