ARTIST IN RESIDENCE

soweto kinch

Soweto Kinch

Soweto Kinch is multi award-winning saxophonist, MC and composer specialising in a trademark style of Jazz, Rap and Spoken Word unlike that of any other performer in the world. Revered among both musicians and rappers alike, Soweto has amassed an unprecedented array of accolades including two MOBO awards, two Urban Music Awards, BBC Rising Star Award, BBC Best Jazz Instrumentalist, BBC Best Jazz Band, Montreux Jazz Festival Award, Peter Whittingham Award for Jazz innovation, Winner of the White Foundation World Sax competition and a nomination for the much coveted Mercury Award. He now hosts his very own weekly BBC radio show ‘Jazz Planet’. Growing up with a playwright for a father and an actress for a mother, performance has always been in Soweto’s blood and has over the years become an ambassador of urban culture as well as a British jazz institution with achievements ranging from the curation of several large international festivals to the production and scoring of various highly acclaimed music-based theatrical works to starring in a reality show series which followed him and other music figureheads like Goldie and Ms Dynamite as they each mentored and coached 12 vulnerable youths ahead of their live performance before HM Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace.
Soweto Kinch is currently touring his new album ‘Nonagram’ in trio/quartet format with saxophone/vocals, drums, bass and piano – Expect scalding hot hard bop jazz/hip-hop grooves spliced with free flowing fiery lyrics of the likes you’ve never heard before!

“Gangsta Rappa or Jazz Supremo? Both” - Jazzwise
“Hyper-talented saxman/rapper” - Evening Standard
“An amazing display of verbal and musical virtuosity” - Telegraph
“Kicks pure Jazz and authentic rap into a brave new world.” - Guardian
“Hip-hop militant and exploratory jazz astronaut” - Rochester City Newspaper
“One of the most eminent saxophonists on the British scene today” - Music OMH
“Combines rap, spoken word, electronics and raw, high-energy jazz” - All About Jazz
“Soweto Kinch adapts hard-bop sax to hip-hop rhythms and is a sharp MC” - Metro
“Jazz and hip-hop are seamlessly blended without Kinch ever compromising either style” -Time Out
“A distinct and commanding way of looking at jazz, at hip-hop, and at the whole performance situation” - New York Times
“Contemporary and classic styles. It's difficult to think of anyone currently able to produce a more convincing and engaging mix than Soweto Kinch” - BBC Music

www.soweto-kinch.com