Denys and Gary

We are massively honoured to be welcoming Denys Baptiste and Gary Crosby, truly totemic figures in British jazz, as they mark the 100th anniversary of John Coltrane’s birth with a special and bold interpretation of his colossal masterpiece A Love Supreme.

Blessed with a powerful technique and an ability to improvise fluently and effortlessly across a wide range of musical styles, Denys has played/recorded with some of the biggest names in jazz and other genres including: McCoy Tyner, Andrew Hill, Ernest Ranglin, Bheki Mseleku, Marvin “Smitty” Smith, Frank Lacy, Donald Harrison, Courtney Pine, Manu Dibango, Jason Yarde, Martin Taylor, Jerry Dammers, Jason Rebello, Marlena Shaw, Juliet Roberts, Incognito, Jason Moran, Cymande, Chaka Khan, the Jazz Warriors and Jazz Jamaica, Cymande, and Chaka Khan.

In 1999 his acclaimed debut album Be Where You Are earned him a Mercury Music Prize nomination for Album Of The Year and a MOBO award for Best Jazz Act. In 2003 he released his third, and perhaps most ambitious, recording/touring project to date: Let Freedom Ring, an inspirational suite combining contemporary jazz, gospel, blues, and Afro-Cuban music with extracts of the epic poem, Mental Fight by Booker Prize winning author, Ben Okri. Let Freedom Ring! commemorated the 40th anniversary of the historic ‘I Have A Dream’ oration by Dr Martin Luther King and earned nominations for Best Album and Best New Work in the BBC Jazz Awards, for Best Jazz Act in the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards, and Best Album in the UK Parliamentary Jazz Awards. In 2018 Denys was nominated in two categories, for best album and live act, in the Jazz FM Awards.

Hi fascination with Coltrane’s music has seen Denys win widespread plaudits. Here’s UK Jazz News on his 2017 release The Late Trane: “the quality, commitment and emotional impact leap out from the speakers.”

Gary Crosby OBE is an iconic jazz double bassist, music arranger and educator in the UK.

He is the founder and artistic director of the vitally important, groundbreaking talent development organisation and jazz education provider Tomorrow’s Warriors. “Few people have done as much as he has to ensure that British jazz has a viable future through the fostering of new talent”, commented Jazz Journal.