Kit Downes Trio

Although still relatively new to the UK jazz scene, this multi-award-winning pianist has already made quite an impact. His fluent, highly creative, focused playing has been heard with the likes of “Troyka”, Clark Tracey, Seb Rochford, Gilad Atzmon, Fraud and Acoustic Ladyland. He first came to prominence, while still a student, with the highly successful band “Empirical” that led to international recognition as one of the finest pianists of his generation. Since leaving Empirical at the end of 2008, Kit has gone from strength to strength, winning the BBC ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2008, being nominated for a British Jazz Award in both 2008 and 2009 and winning a 'Yamaha Jazz Scholarship' Award in 2009. A reflection of just how good he is can be seen from his trio’s nomination for the highly prestigious Mercury Prize in 2010, a rare honour for a Jazz trio and his latest CD "Light from Old Stars" (2013) is a fantastic addition to his already brilliant catalogue, receiving 4/5 stars from The Guardian. Tonight, just for the London Jazz Festival, Kit will be leading his International trio performing a mix of his own compositions and arrangements along with some classic Jazz standards, featuring one of Sweden’s outstanding musicians, Petter Eldh on bass and the UK’s James Maddren on drums. Kit has been a regular at the Club since he was a (highly talented) student and is a firm favourite here so it is with great pleasure that we welcome him to the Club tonight.

"One of the finest pianist of his generation" Time Out;
“Downes..a formidable force…his originals were haunting, and his hypnotic playing fizzed with ideas” JazzUK