Kit Downes
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 - and has played with Joe Locke, Gilad Atzmon, Empirical, Gerard Presencer, Seb Rochford, Ian Ballamy, Peter Ind, Gwyneth Herbert, John Warren and Eugene Skeef. He has also performed with leading British bands Fraud, Asaf Sirkis’ Inner Noise, Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble, Acoustic Ladyland, Nostalgia 77, 2000 Black, Silhouette Brown and Dennis Rollins’ Badbone and Co. He has also worked with up and coming Composer / Songwriter Micachu, with whome he recorded in Abbey Road for Matthew Herbert, recorded for BBC Radio 6 and played at the Sonar Music Festival ’07 in Barcelona. Kit’s work with Empirical has taken him to The North Sea Jazz Festival, The JVC Festivals in New York, Montreal and Newport, and Vancouver Jazz Festival. Empirical won ‘Best Album of the Year 2007’ in Jazzwise and the EBU Award at the North Sea Festival. Kit won the BBC ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2008 and was nominated for a British Jazz Award in both 2008 and 2009, he also won one of 'Yamaha Jazz Scolarship' Awards in 2009.
Having been together since their first year at the Royal Academy of Music, the 'Kit Downes Trio' have been playing together since 2005. Their music concentrates on walking the fine line between improvisation and composition through an eclectic mix of influences
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Album Review
- Tomato Brain by Bruce Lindsay
- Speak Low II by Friedrich Kunzmann
- Warmer Than Blood by Friedrich Kunzmann
- Warmer Than Blood by Chris May
- Dreamlife of Debris by Karl Ackermann
- Obsidian by Mark Sullivan
- Obsidian by Karl Ackermann
- Such A Sky by Bruce Lindsay
- Vyamanikal by Duncan Heining
- Vyamanikal by Bruce Lindsay
September 10, 2010
Mercury Prize-Nominated Pianist Kit Downes Interviewed at All About Jazz
“Downes seems to have become everyone's favourite young pianist. These eight, slightly impressionistic originals are unpretentiously brilliant and full of subtle touches. Downes, bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren are all players to watch.” - Dave Gelly, Observer
“Golden is striking not only for his playing, but also for his compositions.
Primary Instrument
Keyboards
Location
London
Willing to teach
Beginner to advanced
Credentials/Background
Private only £20 an hour
Photos
Kit Downes Concerts
Date | Detail |
---|---|
Apr18Sun |
Sarah Gillespie, Kit Downes, Emma Divine, James Maddren,...Ronnie Scott'sLondon, UK |