Kit Downes plays piano with his own Trio and the groups Troyka and The Golden Age of Steam (amongst others). Until 2008, he also played with the band Empirical, but left in 2008, as did trumpeter Jay Phelps, to develop other projects. In the December 2007/ January 2008 edition of the magazine Jazzwise Kit was named by Helen Mayhew of theJazz DAB radio programme as one of the musicians to look out for in 2008. The recommendation has been underlined by Kit receiving the Rising Star Award in the BBC Jazz Awards in July 2008, and receiving a Yamaha-Classic FM Scholarship Award in July 2009.
Photograph courtesy of Hayley Madden PPLUK
Kit started playing the piano at the age of 12 and having played Bach and Beethoven, was inspired by a recording of Oscar Peterson. His family home is in Norwich. In an interview with BBC Norfolk he said, ' I try to come (home) as much as possible as it's always really relaxing ...but I love playing in Norwich. There are some lovely venues like the King Of Hearts, The Playhouse and John Innes
'.
He took a degree at The Royal Academy of Music having first trained at London's Purcell School of Music. He has played to audiences for some years but since the increasing popularity of Empirical and Troyka, the demands on his time from performing, recording and studying have grown steadily.
At the time Kit was with Empirical, the band included Jay Phelps (trumpet/voice), Nathaniel Facey (alto sax/voice), Kit Downes (piano), Tom Farmer (double bass) [previously Ne
il Charles (bass)] and Shane Forbes (drums/percission). Produced by Courtney Pine, the band won the inaugural EBU/European Jazz Competition in July 2007. The award, which took place at the North Sea Jazz Festival in Rotterdam is one of those presented to encourage and promote young musicians in jazz ensembles.
Empirical - photograph courtesy of Jazz Steps
They also played on Radio Three and on Radio Four (Front Row) and appeared at the Glastonbury Festival. They also won the Jazzwise Album of the Year for 2007 and have now won the Peter Wittingham Jazz Award. Four of the players are also graduates of Tomorrow's Warriors, an organisation founded in 1992 by double bassist Gary Crosby from the original Jazz Warriors to nurture and develop talented young jazz musicians, whilst Jay Phelps and Nathaniel Facey have been part of Courtney Pine's Jazz Warriors Afropeans.
In his interview with BBC Norfolk, Kit said, 'It's pretty weird, but you've got to be realistic about it. An album doesn't last a long time, one album on its own, especially from a young jazz band. It's an amazing starting point but I think Empirical really want to build on it. There's a massive understanding of jazz out there but people's preconceptions are quite different. What I like about Empirical is that it approaches lots of different genres, but still keeps what people hear as jazz'.
That 'starting point' has been underlined by the success of the 2009 'Troyka' album. Troyka is Kit on keyboards with Chris Montague (guitars) and Joshua Blackmore (drums). The band was formed in 2007 for a gig at the Derby Jazz Festival (click here for a video) and has since played at a number of venues in London and Birmingham.
To listen to some of their music and to see where they will be playing click here: www.myspace.com/troykaband. Again in his interview with BBC Norfolk, Kit says, 'We all write for (Troyka) and it's very much our thing. We find at gigs guys really loving it because it has a lot of rock in it - not particularly savage, just that attitude - that kind of feeling.'
Kit has recently set up a new band - The Golden Age of Steam - with James Allsop (reeds) and Tim Giles (drums) recently signed to Babel records..
You can listen to interviews with Kit, hear some of his piano playing and see more pictures by clicking here on the BBC Norfolk website: www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk, go to Kit's own website at www.myspace.com/kitsmusic or see a video of Empirical by clicking here on the Vortex Jazz site.
Jazz Steps, the website for jazz around Nottingham and Nottinghamshire also have details and a picture of Empirical from a gig in January 2007 by clicking on: Jazz Steps.
Kit has several projects underway for 2009. He releases his new album 'Golden' in September with bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren followed by a UK tour. He is also making a two-piano record 'Homely', with Tom Cawley. Each pianist has contributed four compositions and there is additional percussion by Joshua Blackmore on two of them.
Kit is a fine pianist. Try to find the opportunity to listen to some of his music (there are some excellent samples on his MySpace site www.myspace.com/kitsmusic) or better still catch him playing live.
© Ian Maund 2008-2009
From Corey Mwamba (January 2008)
I've just seen you highlight Kit Downes - a great musician. I'd also suggest the drummer he plays with in Troyka, Josh Blackmore. Josh is also in Tow Cawley's Curios trio. I much prefer Kit and Josh in Troyka - engaging collective work.