Soweto Kinch
Soweto Kinch-alto saxophone/rap vocals
Abram Wilson-trumpet/vocals Femi Temowo-guitar/vocals
Michael Olatuja-double bass Troy Miller-drums
Mercury Prize Nominee 2003, MOBO Award 2003
“Kinch's debut CD, Conversations With the Unseen, demonstrated that hip-hop and DJ culture could mesh with the fluency of contemporary bebop, and makes him the most significant offspring of the black British jazz scene since Courtney Pine.”
- The Guardian
- Factory Space, Sligo (Wed 21, 8pm) €12/10 tel 071 917 0431
- Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray (Thu 22 8pm) €15/ 12 tel 01 272 4030
- The Sugar Club, Dublin (Fri 23 8pm) €15 tel 01 670 3885
- Garter Lane Arts Centre ,Waterford (Sat 24 8pm) €12.50/10 tel 051 855 038
- Triskel Arts Centre, Cork (Sun 25 8pm) €18 tel 021 4272022
- The Trinity Rooms, Limerick (Mon 26 8.30pm) €12/7 tel 061 452 170
- North Down & Ards Institute, Bangor (Wed 28 8pm) £6/5 tel 028 9127 1200
- Down Arts Centre, Downpatrick (Thu 29 8pm) £7/5 tel 028 4461 5283
- Island Arts Centre, Lisburn (Fri 30 8pm)£8/6 tel 028 9250 9254
- Market Place Theatre, Armagh (Sat 31 8pm) £8 tel 028 3752 1821
- Flowerfield Arts Centre, Portstewart (Sun 1 9pm) £9/7 tel 028 7083 1400
Out of the firmament of the rejuvenated UK jazz scene, a prodigiously gifted saxophonist has emerged at the vanguard of the new generation. Its been a meteoric twelve months for 25 year old Soweto Kinch, feted at home and abroad with a nomination for the prestigious Mercury Prize, best jazz act at The MOBO’s, Rising Star at The BBC Jazz Awards and International Saxophonist of The Year at Montreaux Jazz Festival.
Soweto’s debut cd Conversations With The Unseen (Dune), was the catalyst for this acclaim, with its savvy convergence of urban street culture and the rigorous demands of contemporary jazz, anchored by a flinty alto ringing the changes from be bop to hip hop. His playing bristles with energy and invention, inviting comparison with Ornette Coleman, Jackie McLean and appropriately, the enigmatic Jamaican altoist Joe Harriot, a seminal figure in UK jazz of the 60s.
If his abilities as a player indicate a potent understanding of jazz and its history, its by embracing hip hop’s spoken word that Kinch satisfies his appetite to forge an individual identity, and its one where both Charlie Parker and The Roots can be formative influences, to very convincing effect.
Kinch has gathered around him an equally impressive quintet of young musicians with common purpose, and their vitality invests the music with a sense of adventure and curiosity that is hard to resist.
