Doors 7pm, music 7.30pm
Line-up
Xhosa Cole – Saxophone & Flute
Mark Sanders – Drums
Neil Charles – Bass
About
Led by Xhosa Cole, a night of improvised ensemble playing featuring 3 duos and a trio made up of 3 Black British Improvisers featuring Mark Sanders and Neil Charles.
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’, completed a 22 date UK tour, all along side his studies as a scholar at Trinity Laban Conservatoire. Xhosa Also received the Parliamentary Jazz Award for ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2019 and Jazz FM ‘Breakthrough act of the year’.
Mark Sanders has had a career taking in many styles and genres, this history informs his now mainly Free Jazz/Free Improvisation based work, but he also works in theatre, dance, contemporary classical and conceptual art situations, performing in countries around the world including Japan, USA, Morocco, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Mozambique and Brazil. He has worked with many major US based improvising musicians including Henry Grimes (Monk, Rollins), Roscoe Mitchel (Art Ensemble of Chicago), Roswell Rudd (Steve Lacy), Elliott Sharp, Bill Laswell, and Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) and has a duo with Nicole Mitchel (Black Earth Ensemble). Recent work in the groups of Evan Parker, Shabaka Huthchins, Seb Roachford, Trevor Watts and John Butcher has taken Mark to concerts and festivals in the UK, Europe and Lebanon. Mark has featured playing on BBC’s ‘The Stuart Lee Show’ and in the film ‘Taking the dog for a Walk’ and features on 160 CD and vinyl releases.
Neil Charles is a bassist, electronic producer and composer. He regularly performs, records and tours with numerous jazz, classical and contemporary music bands and ensembles such as Alex Hawkins, Mingus Big Band, and has played with Terence Blanchard, Black Top and is a member of the electro-acoustic jazz trio, Zed-U. Charles also collaborates with a vast range of UK based artists from both the jazz and pop genres.