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Jim Hart

Jim Hart is one of the most in-demand musicians on the European jazz and alternative music scene, as a soloist and sideman on drums and vibraphone. His background in both jazz and classical music – combined with his interest in the traditional music of Latin America and West Africa and its part in contemporary improvised music – has helped to define his creative personality, melding a distinctive and strong sense of harmony, melody and rhythm.

As a bandleader, he has recorded six albums of his own music which have enjoyed radio airplay and have been critically acclaimed worldwide. Hart leads Cloudmakers Trio and Cloudmakers Five and his eminence across Europe includes a pivotal role in the Marius Neset Quintet (vibes, marimba and percussion), Daniel Erdmann’s Revolution (vibes) and Vula Viel’s exploration of the rhythmic systems of Ghanaian traditional music (drums).

Downbeat magazine has listed him in both readers’ and critics’ polls – in the ‘vibraphone’ and ‘rising star’ categories – over the last five years; and Cloudmakers Trio’s studio album ‘Abstract Forces’ made their 2014 ‘album of the year’ list. He has been the recipient of multiple British jazz awards, the Worshipful Company of Musicians bronze medal and was nominated for ‘musician of the year’ in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Jim is also active in jazz education, holding a post at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and is a visiting tutor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He is also a tutor at the National Jazz Collective Summer School and the Jazzwerkstatt in Sarwellingen, Germany.

Studying music from the age of five, on both piano and drums, Hart was encouraged early on to improvise and compose, as well as being coached in the classical repertoire by his piano teacher. As a developing percussionist, he was involved in orchestral music, becoming a solo percussion finalist in the BBC Young Musician of the Year competition – all this whilst studying jazz drum kit and latin percussion with Dave Hassell at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester. He then studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, quickly becoming immersed in the London jazz scene as a drummer and vibraphonist, and was a founder member of the LOOP Collective.

Now living in Alsace, France, Jim Hart has performed and recorded with many of the world’s most respected jazz musicians including Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Wynton Marsalis, Stan Sulzmann, Ralph Alessi, Dave Holland, Marius Neset, Lionel Loueke, Daniel Erdmann, Theo Caccaldi, Vincent Courtois, Julien Lourau, John Dankworth, Cleo Laine, Joel Frahm, Jaleel Shaw, Terrel Stafford and Logan Richardson. He has toured extensively throughout Europe, Scandinavia, the USA and Canada, and continues to appear at major jazz festivals worldwide, including North Sea, Molde, Pori, Trondheim, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Rochester NY, Vancouver, Victoria, Twin Cities, Manchester and London.

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Album Review

Ruth Goller: Skyllumina

Read "Skyllumina" reviewed by Chris May


The Italian-born, British-based bassist and composer Ruth Goller has been rattling jazz's cage since 2007, the year she joined Acoustic Ladyland. The band was in the vanguard of what became known as “jazz punk," although its sound was closer to metal than classic punk, and the lineup included tenor saxophonist Pete Wareham and drummer Sebastian Rochford. Four years later, Acoustic Ladyland disbanded and Goller and Wareham morphed into Melt Yourself Down, where they were joined by tenor saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings ...

3
Album Review

Marius Neset: Geyser

Read "Geyser" reviewed by Chris May


Geyser is Norwegian saxophonist Marius Neset's third album with new-music ensemble London Sinfonietta. The piece was commissioned for the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, where this recording was made on September 3, 2022. As on the two previous albums, the Sinfonietta are joined by Neset's high-voltage jazz quintet with pianist Ivo Neame, vibraphonist Jim Hart, bassist Conor Chaplin and drummers Anton Eger. Geyser is a striking wide-screen work that justifies the use of the frequently ...

11
Album Review

Ivo Neame: Glimpses of Truth

Read "Glimpses of Truth" reviewed by Chris May


"The Rise of The Lizard People," the title of the scene-setting opening track on Ivo Neame's Glimpses Of Truth, was prompted by an article Neame read which claimed that 12 million Americans believe that interstellar lizards run the United States. Only 12 million? In a country with a population approaching 332 million, around half of whose voters are idiots and conspiracy theorists, one might imagine that a far greater number would be feeling threatened by shape-shifting reptiles. To be fair, ...

1
Album Review

Arbenz, Hart, Känzig: Conversation #2: Oracle / Conversation #3: Neologism

Read "Conversation #2: Oracle / Conversation #3: Neologism" reviewed by Kyle Simpler


While much of the world was in lockdown and many musicians didn't have a chance to play live, Swiss drummer Florian Arbenz found a way to keep his creative juices flowing. He envisioned a series of twelve albums, each featuring musical conversations between a different group of musicians. Conversation #1: Condensed (Hammer 2021) featured guitar, trumpet, and drums. Conversation # 2: Oracle and Conversation # 3: Neologism presents different musical lineups together in a two-album package. Arbenz is ...

5
Album Review

Daniel Erdmann's Velvet Revolution Featuring Théo Ceccaldi & Jim Hart: Won't Put No Flag Out

Read "Won't Put No Flag Out" reviewed by Ian Patterson


Chance meetings, in a French café with Théo Ceccaldi, and on the London-to-Paris Eurostar with Jim Hart, prompted Daniel Erdmann to found one of contemporary jazz's more unusual trios. The convergence of violin/viola, vibraphone and tenor saxophone is, perhaps, unique in the jazz firmament but, as the trio's fine debut A Short Moment of Zero G (BMC Records, 2016) demonstrated, the marriage of brass, metal, wood and string is an enticing one. With Won't Put No Flag Out, the trio ...

3
Album Review

Cloudmakers Five: Traveling Pulse

Read "Traveling Pulse" reviewed by Roger Farbey


Vibraphonist Jim Hart has extended the reach of his Cloudmakers Trio which released three albums: AJMiLIVE #7 (2015), Abstract Forces (2014) and Live At The Pizza Express (2013), all for Whirlwind Records. Now the trio is augmented by reedsman Antonin-Tri Hoang and guitarist Hannes Riepler. But the trio's rhythm section remains constant with Michael Janisch on bass and Dave Smith on drums. Hart, who now resides in France, is a stalwart of the British jazz scene, having played alongside such ...

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Interview

Jim Hart: The Art of Juggling

Read "Jim Hart: The Art of Juggling" reviewed by Alan Bryson


Jim Hart is one of the hottest young musicians on the U.K. jazz scene. His impressive skills are matched by a level of experience and maturity that belie his age. His musicianship elicited this praise from vibes heavyweight Joe Locke: “Some of the best music I've heard in a long time. Definitely the best vibes playing I've heard in a long time." An alumnus of Chetham's School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, ...

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Award / Grant

Vibraphonist Jim Hart Nominated For Musician Of The Year In Parlimentary Jazz Awards

Vibraphonist Jim Hart Nominated For Musician Of The Year In Parlimentary Jazz Awards

Source: Jim Hart

Brian Kellock, Django Bates and Jim Hart have been nominated for musician of the year in this year's Parliamentary Jazz Awards, one of the most prestigious set of jazz awards on the UK jazz calendar, while Bates also picks up a second nomination in the album of the year category, this time vying with John Turville, Norma Winstone and Tim Whitehead for the gong. The awards, organised by the All Party Parliamentary Jazz Appreciation Group and sponsored by music licensing ...

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Interview

Vibraphonist Jim Hart Interviewed at All About Jazz

Vibraphonist Jim Hart Interviewed at All About Jazz

Source: All About Jazz

Jim Hart is one of the hottest young musicians on the U.K. jazz scene. His impressive skills are matched by a level of experience and maturity that belie his age. His musicianship elicited this praise from vibes heavyweight Joe Locke: “Some of the best music I've heard in a long time. Definitely the best vibes playing I've heard in a long time." An alumnus of Chetham's School of Music and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he was awarded ...

“One of the UK’s most creative new jazz artists.”
– The Guardian

“Outstanding”
– Financial Times

“One of the brightest stars on the UK and European Jazz scene.”
– John Surman

“Hart has developed an impressively individual voice.”
– Jazzwise Magazine

“Jim Hart’s vibraphone work shows why this lonely instrument deserves more ears.”
– JazzTimes Magazine

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Skyllumina

International Anthem Recording Company
2024

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Geyser

ACT Music
2023

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Conversation #2:...

Hammer Recordings
2021

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Glimpses of Truth

Whirlwind Recordings
2021

buy

Multiverse

Edition Records
2020

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