JITR May: Rob Luft Quintet | Rachel Musson | Luke Bacchus

This event is part of:

MONDAY, 27 May, 8:00 PM

The Cockpit

Rob Luft Quintet
Rachel Musson [SOLO]
Luke Bacchus [EMERGENCE]

Rob Luft Quintet - @robluftjazz

Rob Luft is an award-winning jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia. He was the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from the Royal Academy of Music, and he also received the 2nd Prize in the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at Montreux Jazz Festival. His debut album, “Riser”, was released on Edition Records in 2017 to widespread acclaim from the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it’s a “very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”.

On the back of the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – Breakthrough Act in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards. In May 2019, Rob was selected as a BBC New Generation Jazz Artist. His eagerly-awaited second album, “Life is the Dancer”, was released in April 2020 on Edition Records to critical acclaim. Despite the intermittent global lockdowns of 2020, Rob made his debut appearance on the legendary German jazz label ECM Records with the album “Lost Ships, a collaborative effort with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, and this was nominated in the ‘International Album of the Year’ category in the 2021 German Jazz Prize.

Concert highlights for Rob include performances with artists including Django Bates, The Cinematic Orchestra, Arve Henriksen, & Manu Katché. Rob is a regular member of a multitude of some of Britain’s finest modern jazz groups, such as The John Surman Quartet, Byron Wallen’s Four Corners & the Iain Ballamy Quintet. Additionally, his playing has been documented on a wide variety of albums over the past five years on famed jazz labels such as ECM Records, Edition Records, Ropeadope, Linn Records, anmongst others.

Rachel Musson - @rachelmussonmusic [SOLO]

Rachel Musson is a saxophonist, improviser and composer based in the UK. She has spent the last decade immersed in improvised music, and has also gradually been introducing composed elements into her work, drawing on text, field recordings and processing sounds. She is involved with a variety of improvisation projects, and works regularly with Mark Sanders, Pat Thomas, Hannah Marshall, Julie Kjaer, Corey Mwamba, Olie Brice, Alex Ward, Alex Hawkins amongst others. She features on several releases, including a nonet featuring her composition 'I Went This Way' (577 Records), two with Shifa, feat. Pat Thomas and Mark Sanders, (577 Records), one with Mark Sanders and John Edwards (Two Rivers Records), trio with Liam Noble and Mark Sanders (Babel), and Corey Mwamba (Takuroku).

Luke Bacchus - @6acchus [EMERGENCE]

A finalist in BBC Young Jazz Musician 2022, Luke Bacchus is one of the most exciting emerging jazz musicians on the UK scene. Born and raised in London to Guyanese parents, Bacchus musically explores his Caribbean heritage as one of his major sources of inspiration. This coupled with his education in jazz piano at Trinity Laban Conservatoire has given him a distinct sound, pairing entrancing rhythms from the Caribbean with Jazz harmonies in his originals, as well as a unique approach to playing standards. Bacchus’ performances always promise to be both inspiring and enriching, guiding listeners on a journey through the vast history of African people in the Americas.

TICKETS

**Half price tickets for full-time students and Musicians' Union members**

All acts are subject to contract and may sometimes change.