Jazz Articles about Kit Downes

About Kit Downes

Album Review

Multi-instrumentalist Niklas Lukassen spins a pleasant mix of tunes on Still Waters. Joined by a stellar team, including saxophonist Ben van Gelder, pianist Kit Downes and drummer Francesco Ciniglio (as well as several others spotted throughout), the quartet moves with the ease of skilled swimmers through the music. An internationally influenced album, the music reflects his own life experiences of traveling through Europe as well as studying under bassist Ron Carter at the Manhattan School of Music. Now teaching in London, the musician still makes ...

Catching Up With

Kit Downes: The Art Of Sonic Curiosity

by Marco Iacoboni
November 11, 2025

Some use the piano to tell stories, and some use the pipe organ to create entire universes. Then there's Kit Downes, who does both, with a sensitivity and talent that have made him one of the most interesting and sought-after names on the European scene. Winner of the prestigious BBC Jazz Award, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, and acclaimed for his revolutionary trilogy of solo organ albums on (ECM Records), Downes has redefined the role of the pipe organ ...

Interview

Kit Downes: dalla Cattedrale al Jazz contemporaneo

by Marco Iacoboni
November 3, 2025

C'è chi usa il pianoforte per raccontare storie e chi usa l'organo a canne per creare interi universi. Poi c'è Kit Downes che fa entrambe le cose, con una sensibilità e un talento che lo hanno reso uno dei nomi più interessanti e ricercati nel panorama europeo. Insignito del prestigioso BBC Jazz Award, nominato per il Mercury Music Prize e acclamato per la sua rivoluzionaria trilogia di album per organo solista su ECM Records, Downes ha ridefinito il ruolo dell'organo ...

Album Review

Norma Winstone, Kit Downes: Outpost Of Dreams

Read "Outpost Of Dreams" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
October 28, 2024

Nato in modo quasi accidentale --la pianista abituale della cantante non era disponibile e le serviva un sostituto --quest'incontro tra generazioni diverse di artisti britannici ha subito funzionato talmente bene da dare in fretta questo eccellente frutto. La cantante è Norma Winstone, ottant'anni passati e portati benissimo, il pianista Kit Downes, trentotto anni; la prima ha alle spalle un'invidiabile carriera che l'ha vista al fianco di artisti come Kenny Wheeler e John Taylor (clicca qui per la recensione della recente ...

Album Review

Bill Frisell, Kit Downes, Andrew Cyrille: Breaking the Shell

Read "Breaking the Shell" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro

by Alberto Bazzurro
October 28, 2024

Ogni tanto Bill Frisell si concede qualche scappatella fuori dai patrii confini (che già per loro conto variano, vedi il recente Orchestras). In questo nuovo, singolare lavoro, uscito in realtà a oltre due anni dalla sua incisione (maggio 2022), il grande chitarrista recupera scorie (nell'accezione più alta del termine) di quel sano sperimentalismo che, all'interno della sua produzione abituale (più o meno, come si diceva), non gli fa sostanzialmente più compagnia da tempo. Intendiamoci: l'ex ragazzo di Baltimora ...

Album Review

Bill Frisell / Andrew Cyrille / Kit Downes: Breaking the Shell

Read "Breaking the Shell" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic

by Mike Jurkovic
September 20, 2024

When in as unique a setting as St. Luke in the Fields, the English village-like church on Hudson Street in Greenwich Village, it only figures that guitarist Bill Frisell, pipe organist Kit Downes and drummer Andrew Cyrille would rise to the distinct occasion and create something equally anomalous. A grand host of noir sci-fi themes and motifs run through Breaking the Shell. And it is awesome to hear. The trio is in an active, real-time thought experiment: what music will emerge, ...

Album Review

Norma Winstone, Kit Downes: Outpost Of Dreams

Read "Outpost Of Dreams" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 18, 2024

Any release by Norma Winstone is an event and Outpost Of Dreams, her much anticipated first album since 2018's Descansado (Songs For Films) (ECM), rises to expectations. It presents her in a new duo setting with pianist Kit Downes, a star in his own right who is equally on point as an accompanist. His sensitive, empathetic playing here is a delight in itself. Outpost Of Dreams was recorded in Italy in 2023 with ECM's Manfred Eicher producing. ...