Tony Kofi

Ian Shaw & Tony Kofi: An Adventurous Dream (At PizzaExpress Live In London)

by Chris May
March 31, 2024

The trouble with live albums recorded in venues that are, essentially, eateries, is that the musicians may have to go large to grab the audience's attention, sometimes too large for the material which they are performing. This is abundantly the case with An Adventurous Dream (At PizzaExpress Live In London): The Music Of Billy Strayhorn And Duke Ellington, co-headlined by vocalist Ian Shaw and alto saxophonist Tony Kofi, accompanied by pianist Barry Green and bassist Dave Green. The ...

Tony Kofi Quartet: Plays Monk

by Chris May
November 24, 2023

When it was first released in autumn 2004, Tony Kofi's Plays Monk: All Is Know (as it was then titled) was the saxophonist's first release as leader, a full thirteen years after his emergence with high-profile young Turks the Jazz Warriors. The album went on to win the BBC Jazz Awards Album Of The Year prize. To celebrate its approximate twentieth anniversary, Plays Monk has been released for the first time on vinyl, as a double album, alongside the rereleased ...

Alina Bzhezhinska & HipHarpCollective: Reflections

by Chris May
September 20, 2022

In an inspired piece of programming, London's Barbican Centre presented the then virtually unknown harpist Alina Bzhezhinska and her quartet as one of the support bands on its November 18, 2017 one-nighter A Concert for Alice and John, a show headlined by Pharoah Sanders. It would be an exaggeration to say Bzhezhinska stole the show (see “Pharoah Sanders" above), but she was sensational, offering up fresh readings of Alice Coltrane tunes and a few originals, accompanied by Tony Kofi on ...

Jo Harrop: The Heart Wants

by Richard J Salvucci
April 6, 2022

Is it the behind-the-beat feel Ms Harrop gets, even when she is not? Or perhaps it is in the phrasing? Somehow, she puts a listener in mind of Keely Smith, which is a good thing. There are some very talented jazz singers in the United Kingdom; Jo Harrop is certainly one of them. Here is a recording of loss and longing, and very well done it is. Much of the material Harrop presents in this recording, bluesy, mournful ...

Tony Kofi: Point Blank

by Chris May
August 20, 2018

British saxophonist Tony Kofi has made a specialism of heritage projects. Among the best of them is the Monk Liberation Front, a band which Kofi co-founded with pianist Jonathan Gee in 2003 and which performs Thelonious Monk's music. The work of Julian Cannonball Adderley is the focus of another venture. An early spin-off from the Front was the Tony Kofi Quartet's paradigm tweaking Plays Monk: All Is Know (Specific, 2004). The Adderley project has yet to be recorded. In late ...

Take Five with Tony Kofi

by Tony Kofi
July 31, 2018

About Tony Kofi A two-time winner of the BBC Jazz Awards among others--Tony Kofi is a British Jazz multi-instrumentalist born of Ghanaian parents who plays alto, baritone, soprano, tenor Saxophone and flute. He cut his teeth in the Jazz Warriors of the early '90s, and went on to establish himself as a musician, teacher and composer of some authority. Tony's playing has been a feature of many bands and artists he has worked/recorded with include The World Saxophone ...

Byron Wallen: Meeting Ground

by Bruce Lindsay
October 20, 2008

This album arose from a series of journeys--geographical, cultural and spiritual, but above all musical--undertaken by trumpeter and leader Byron Wallen, who first visited Morocco in 1996. The result of these journeys is a joyous and original record, fusing contemporary jazz with the music of the Gnawa musicians of Morocco.

The ten pieces of music on Meeting Ground tell the story of Bilal, a 6th century Abyssinian slave who was known for his beautiful singing. Released ...

Portrait Of Cannonball Adderley: Award-Winning Saxophonist Tony Kofi Readies “Another Kind Of Soul” For April 24th Release

Source: The Last Music Company
April 15, 2020

BBC and Parliamentary Jazz Awards winner Tony Kofi will release Another Kind of Soul 24th April on The Last Music Company label. The album, recorded live at Luton’s Bear Club in 2019 by Paul Riley, also features Andy Davies on trumpet, pianist Alex Webb, bassist Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale on drums. The session traces the explosive music of Cannonball Adderley from his first sessions as leader in the mid-1950s through his work with Miles Davis to the soul-jazz of ...
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Award-Winning Saxophonist Tony Kofi And The Organisation Release "Point Blank" On The Last Music Company Label on August 31

Source: The Last Music Company
July 31, 2018

“I don’t think I set out to create a retro concept, but it’s mostly what I hear in my head. Because I grew up in the 1970s, the music of that era which I love is deeply rooted within my musical ear,” says saxophonist Tony Kofi of this latest collection, which features the classic organ sound of The Organisation throughout. The quartet on these recordings first emerged in 2010 when Kofi, fresh from recording with Ornette Coleman in New York, ...
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Norma Winstone, Tessa Souter, Tim Garland, Tony Kofi in Final Made in the UK Shows at Sweet Rhythm NY

Source: All About Jazz
June 21, 2009

The Made in the UK concert series comes to an end this weekend with two double bills at Sweet Rhythm (88 7th Ave South) featuring four out of nine of the bands who have proved such a success at the Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival this week. Norma Winstone with Gareth Williams / Tessa Souter Quartet Saturday 20th June / 8pm and 10pm / $20 Tim Garland's Lighthouse Trio / Tony Kofi Quartet Sunday 21st June ...
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