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Cassie Kinoshi

A BMus Hons Composition graduate from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, Cassie (b. 1993) is a BASCA (British Composer Award) award-winning London-based composer, arranger and alto-saxophonist. She is currently working in theatre, film, contemporary dance and both the jazz and classical performance worlds. She is best known for her work with jazz septet NÉRIJA (Parliamentary Jazz Award Winners 2017, Best Newcomer), Afrobeat band KOKOROKO and her own large ensemble SEED. She is currently Mercury Musical Developments’ and Musical Theatre Network’s most recent Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer Scheme recipient at Dundee Rep Theatre and was a part of the London Symphony Orchestra Panufnik Scheme 2018-19.

Theatre composition credits include: Top Girls (National Theatre), SuperBlackMan (Battersea Arts Centre) , Pagans (Old Vic Theatre, Old Vic 12), Exceptional Mercy (Old Vic Theatre, Old Vic 12), Hy Brasil (Old Vic Theatre, Old Vic 12) Feather by Feather (Old Vic Workrooms), Bobsleigh Team (Old Vic Workrooms)

Film & Advertising credits: "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead”: Tour of the Old Vic (Old Vic Theatre/National Theatre)Undercurrent (London Short Film Festival Best Experimental Film Nominee 2018) ONES, On An Empty Stomach (ICA Best Experimental Short Film Award Nominee 2017)

Awards and Nominations: Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Nominee 2019, British Composer Award Winner 2018, Best Jazz Composition for Large Ensemble (Afronaut, SEED Ensemble), Parliamentary Jazz Award 2017 for Best Newcomer (Nérija), Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year Nominee 2016 (Nérija), BBC Young Composer of the Year Nominee 2012

Outside of theatre, Cassie has written and arranged music for events such as Women of the World Festival 2017 (Royal Festival Hall), ), EFG London Jazz Festival 2011-18 (Barbican Centre/Cadogan Hall/South Bank Centre etc.) Felabration! 2016 (British Library) Her compositions and performances have been showcased on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 6 and Jazz FM.

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Interview

Cassie Kinoshi: Letting The Sunshine In

Read "Cassie Kinoshi: Letting The Sunshine In" reviewed by Chris May


Cassie Kinoshi, the acclaimed British composer and alto saxophonist, made her name as a founder member of the Afrobeat-inspired band Kokoroko and with her own ten-piece Seed Ensemble. Her work pushes social change, interrogating inequality and injustice, mainly through instrumental music, occasionally with lyrics, and always with invention and singularity. Seed's sophomore album, gratitude (International Anthem, 2024), adds mental health, and how to improve it, to Kinoshi's sources of inspiration. She addresses anxiety and depression with the benefit of personal ...

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Album Review

Cassie Kinoshi: Gratitude

Read "Gratitude" reviewed by Chris May


Although she emerged on the British jazz scene as part of the cohort of saxophonists associated with London's post-2015 underground scene--among them Nubya Garcia, Binker Golding, Camilla George and Shabaka Hutchings--alto saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi has always stood somewhat apart. Her membership of the Afrobeat-inspired band Kokoroko placed her firmly in that underground scene, but her embrace of the Western classical tradition has given her aesthetic trajectory singularity. She has collaborated with London Sinfonietta, Philharmonia Orchestra and London Symphony Orchestra, and ...

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Radio & Podcasts

Cassie Kinoshi, Dave Douglas, Dave Guy, Alon Farber & More

Read "Cassie Kinoshi, Dave Douglas, Dave Guy, Alon Farber & More" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


Cassie Kinoshi's stunning new album, Gratitude, along with new releases featuring Dave Douglas, Dave Guy, James Brandon Lewis, Alon Farber and Fredrik Nordström will bring you a high-density set of rewarding new music. Happy listening! Playlist Ben Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Dave Guy “Footwork" Footwork--Single (Big Crown) 0:16 Host talks 2:07 Cassie Kinoshi “I-II" Gratitude (International Anthem) 3:58 Host talks 12:58 Alon Farber Hagiga feat. Dave Douglas “Spring Ahead" ...

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Album Review

Kokoroko: Could We Be More

Read "Could We Be More" reviewed by Chris May


One of the features of the 2022 alternative London jazz scene is the incorporation of musical styles originating in Africa and the Caribbean, from whence a high proportion of prominent musicians on that scene trace their heritage. Not every band shares this African and/or Caribbean dimension but the majority do and it is one of the factors behind the broadening of the audience base for jazz in Britain that has developed since around 2016. For the musicians, ...

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Album Review

SEED Ensemble: Driftglass

Read "Driftglass" reviewed by Chris May


After decades in the shadow of its American parent, British jazz is finally coming of age. A community of young, London-based musicians is forging a rebooted style which reflects both the Caribbean and African musical heritages of the majority of its vanguard players and also locally created musics such as grime and garage. Jazz was created by black musicians. The new London scene is by no means racially exclusive, but there is no doubt it is black musicians who are ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Gratitude

International Anthem Recording Company
2024

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Could We Be More

Brownswood Recordings
2022

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Driftglass

Jazz Re:freshed
2019

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Videos

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