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Reuben James
Mark Kavuma & The Banger Factory: Magnum Opus

by Neil Duggan
Originally set up in 2015, The Banger Factory is a 20-plus collective led by composer and trumpeter Mark Kavuma. It is also the name of his record label. Both act as a showcase for some of the most gifted jazz talent the UK has to offer. Kavuma has a focus on nurturing young talent and providing vital opportunities for the next jazz generation to the extent that he acts as tutor at two London community-based charities. Across its ...
Continue ReadingKinetika Bloco: Legacy

by Chris May
Legacy features some of the London jazz scene's leading players, among them tenor saxophonist Nubya Garcia, trumpeters Claude Deppa, Mark Kavuma and Sheila Maurice-Grey, trombonist Nathaniel Cross and tubaist Theon Cross. As you would anticipate, there is much great jazz to be heard on the album, and along the way it bears witness to community spirit and the power of music to do good. It was recorded to celebrate the achievements of the music charity Kinetika Bloco ...
Continue ReadingMark Kavuma & The Banger Factory: Arashi No Oto

by Chris May
London-based trumpeter and composer Mark Kavuma was last seen in this parish in July 2019. At the start of that month, Kavuma released his second album with his nonet, The Banger Factory. A couple of weeks later, he led a quintet on the floor of the Barbican Art Gallery, performing Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners (Riverside, 1956) on the opening night of an exhibition celebrating the work of Monk's contemporary, the Abstract Expressionist painter Lee Krasner, who was a big Monk ...
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