The Jazz Podcast

Guitarist, producer, composer & arranger Greg Sanders is an integral part of the UK’s alternative world & jazz scenes. Greg was a founding member of three influential underground world/jazz/fusion groups that formed studying at London's SOAS  University from 2008 - 2011:     

   - alternative afrobeat / post-punk trio Ruby & The Vines with bassist & vocalist Binisa Bonner   (Ata Kak) and drummer Ben Assiter (James Blake);
   - London latin cult legends Wara (with Eliane Correa);
   - and psychedelic jazz / live hip-hop collective FUR

Greg went on to create the jazz / world ensemble Teotima, releasing two critically acclaimed LPs on First Word Records (Counting The Ways, 2013 & Weightless, 2019).

As a collaborator, Greg is sought out for his deep musicality and versatility, and has performed and recorded with Senegalese kora master Kadialy Kouyate, Zambian singer-songwriter Namvula, Portuguese singer-songwriter singer Inês Loubet, jazz bass bandleader Jonny Wickham, Brazilian jazz artist BABO MORENO, Brazilian MPB party favourites Big Ben Jorge, as well as Samba Azul, Irini Arabatzi, Hannah Brine and others.

From 2016 - 2018, Greg completed an MA in Jazz Performance & Composition at London’s Royal Academy of Music, studying with UK jazz legends including Chris Montague, Mike Walker, Pete Churchill and Nick Smart.

Greg works closely with Congolese-Argentinian singer-songwriter Juanita Euka, and co-wrote, produced and arranged Juanita’s debut LP 'Mabanzo' (Strut Records, 2022), and is the musical director for live shows.

The trio LP Eight Songs (2022) (with Tom Herbert and George Bird) was Greg's first small-group jazz project as a leader. 

Today he joins the show to preview his new album, Perfect Strangers. 

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John founded Crown Lane with his wife, back in 2007, and has ensured the business stays ahead of changes in the industry. He loves eating out and spending time with his boys and foster daughter. Today he joins the show to tell us about how he set up and sustains the studio as well as all the brilliant events he runs in the community. 

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Robin tells us about his new single, I'm Coming Home, which is out now! 

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Winner of the 2018 BBC Young Jazz Musician of the year, Xhosa Cole is an embodiment of the success of numerous community arts programmes in Birmingham including the Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra, Jazzlines Ensemble, and Birmingham Music Service. Having grown up in Handsworth and first played the Tenor at Andy Hamilton's Ladywood Community Music School, he's now among a long legacy of Birmingham Saxophonists including Soweto Kinch and Shabaka Hutchings. Xhosa has performed twice at the BBC Proms, composed music for the Ripieno Players - a Birmingham-based string orchestra, recorded saxophone for Mahalia’s debut album ‘Love and Compromise’, and completed a 22 date UK tour. Xhosa Also received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2019 and Jazz FM 'Breakthrough Act of the Year'. 

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As a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year 2020, winner of the Rising Star category in the 2019 British Jazz Awards and three-time nominee in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards, Alex is known to be one of the most in-demand and versatile saxophonists to have emerged on the British jazz scene.

Praised for her intelligent ear for harmony and a deep knowledge of repertoire across a broad spectrum of styles, Alex's sound is steeped in the tradition of bebop. Her total respect for the heritage of the music can be heard in a fiery, melodic approach inspired by the likes of Phil Woods, Cannonball Adderley and Vincent Herring. 

As a bandleader, Alex's quartet features some of the UK’s finest musicians: David Newton, Dave Green and Steve Brown. In summer 2022, she released her latest album “Only A Year” and since then, her quartet have toured extensively around the country, appearing at jazz clubs and festivals including Swanage Jazz Festival and Scarborough Jazz Festival.

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Hailing from the North Coast of Scotland, bassist/composer Ali Watson journeyed to London to pursue his studies in music, returning to his homeland in 2022 to establish himself in Glasgow’s vibrant jazz scene. 

Driven by a desire to craft music that served as an escape and antidote to the relentlessness and overstimulation of modern life, his debut album ‘Terrarium’ is set to release on November 26th.

Watson describes his music as ‘complex yet melodic’; drawing on Contemporary Jazz, Scottish Folk, Impressionist Classical music and his heroes in Aaron Parks, Kit Downes and Larry Grenadier to make his own distinctive imprint on modern Scottish Jazz. 

Beginning most of his compositions on the upright piano in his mother’s home, Watson finds the safety and seclusion he experiences there enables him to enter an uninhibited and spontaneous state of mind, unaffected by the rest of the world. 

Led by lyrical folk melodies, colourful harmony, intimate instrumental textures and gently propellant grooves, each of Watson’s nine deeply personal compositions are interpreted and performed by his quartet with maturity, personality and feeling. 

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Tigran Hamasyan is considered one of the most remarkable and distinctive jazz-meets-rock pianists/composers of his generation. A piano virtuoso with groove power, Hamasyan seamlessly fuses potent jazz improvisation and progressive rock with the rich folkloric music of his native Armenia.

In addition to awards and critical acclaim, Hamasyan has built a dedicated following worldwide, as well as praise from Herbie Hancock, Brad Mehldau and the late Chick Corea. “With startling combinations of jazz, minimalist, electronic, folk and songwriterly elements…Hamasyan and his collaborators travel musical expanses marked with heavy grooves, ethereal voices, pristine piano playing and ancient melodies. You’ll hear nothing else like this” (NPR)

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Tom is based in Manchester, UK. He studied Saxophone and composition at the Royal Northern College of Music and the University of Manchester. His classical training from Rob Buckland (saxophone), Camden Reeves and Gary Carpenter (composition) continues to inform all of his original work, which blends his distinctive voice as an improviser, with a characteristically genre bending compositional flare that absorbs the language of contemporary classical, popular and jazz styles.

He studied Jazz with Steve Berry and Tim Garland under a scholarship kindly granted by The Kinder Family Trust and with sponsorship from The Royal Society of Musicians.

Tom now works internationally as a performer and composer of Jazz, Classical and Commercial Music. Tom has performed at venues which have included The Royal Albert Hall, Royal Exchange Theatre, Colston Hall, Glastonbury Festival, King’s Place London, Band on the Wall, The Royal Philharmonic Hall and the world famous 100 Club as well as for various TV/Radio platforms. His professional life involves work in a variety of disciplines such as session touring and studio work, theatre pit work, multi-instrumental positions and original jazz projects. He accepts commissions from Classical performers for new works, as well as composing for commercial briefs including Film/TV and arranging.

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