Alexander Hawkins Trio

Alexander Hawkins is a pianist, organist, composer and bandleader who is ‘unlike anything else in modern creative music’ (Ni Kantu) and whose recent work has reached a ‘dazzling new apex’ (Downbeat). Self-taught, he works in a vast array of creative contexts. His own highly distinctive soundworld is forged through the search to reconcile both his love of free improvisation and profound fascination with composition and structure.

Hawkins was named four times in Jazzwise magazine’s ‘who to look out for in 2010’ feature. In 2012, he featured on the official ballot for the 75th Annual Downbeat Reader’s Poll in the organ category (as he had in 2010). The journal El Intruso voted him #1 in the keyboard category, and #5 in the piano category, in its 2010 poll; he also placed #4 in the keyboard category in 2011. He is increasingly also known for his writing, and in 2012 was chosen as a member of the first edition of the London Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Soundhub’ scheme for young composers.

Although audiences are more familiar with his Ensemble - 'one of the most distinctive in modern jazz' (The Jazzmann), this evening he presents a much newer project: in fact, one only previously heard at the Kings Place Festival in 2012. The trio features Hawkins alongside two musicians with whom he has built up a striking rapport in recent times: Neil Charles (double bass) and Tom Skinner (drums).