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Tony Kofi

Tony Kofi is a British Jazz multi-instrumentalist born of Ghanaian parents, a player of the Alto, Baritone, Soprano, Tenor saxophones and flute. Having 'cut his teeth' in the “Jazz Warriors” of the early 90’s, award-winning saxophonist Tony Kofi has gone on to establish himself as a musician, teacher and composer of some authority. As well as performing and recording with Gary Crosby's “NuTroop” and “Jazz Jamaica”, Tony’s playing has also been a feature of many bands and artists he has worked/recorded with include “US-3” The World Saxophone Quartet, Courtney Pine, Donald Byrd, Eddie Henderson, The David Murray Big Band, Sam Rivers Big band, Andrew Hill Big Band, Abdullah Ibrahim, Macy Gray, Julian Joseph Big band, Harry Connick JR, Byron Wallen's Indigo, Jamaaladeen Tacuma's Coltrane Configurations and Ornette Coleman.

His fluent and fiery hard-bop style makes him constantly in demand. He currently leads his own Tony Kofi Quartet, Tony Kofi Sphinx Trio, Future Passed Trio and is also the co-founder with Jonathan Gee of the Monk Liberation Front, a group that is dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk. Tony’s latest project sees him performing with Alex Webb’s Café Society Swing, Arnie Somogyi’s Jump Monk, Larry Bartley’s JustUS Quartet, Adrian Reid Quartet, a double leaders project with Alan Barnes called Aggregation, Orphy Robinson’s Bobby Hutcherson songbook project, Alina Bzhezhinska Quartet, Jo Harrop’s Fever, Portrait of Cannonball (Music dedicated to Cannonball Adderley) and Tony Kofi and the Organisation, a recent project which he co leads on theBaritone Saxophone, and with whom he has recorded his latest album.

Awards

Winner BBC Jazz Awards 2005 -Album of the Year Winner BBC Jazz Awards 2008 – Best Instrumentalist Winner, Best Ensemble, Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2005 Nominee, Mobo Awards 2008 Winner of the Jack Petchey foundation award 2015 Winner of the Black Achievers award –Cultural, music and arts award 2016

Electric Gumbo: It's On!

by Neil Duggan
April 9, 2025

Best known as the bassist and founder of the popular jazz quartet Sharp Little Bones, Simon Paterson found that not all of his compositions were suitable for that small band format and needed a more expansive outlet. He achieves this with Electric Gumbo, a winning combination of established musicians and rising talents who form a 17-member collective, all hailing from the East Midlands of the UK. “This project allows me to push the boundaries of both acoustic orchestration ...

Album Review

Myra Brownbridge: The Voyage Out

Read "The Voyage Out" reviewed by Konstantin N. Rega

by Konstantin N. Rega
October 18, 2024

First albums are not the end-all-be-all, but they certainly count for something. London bassist Myra Brownbridge crafts a strong debut that shows a younger musician with spirit and intuition. The Voyage Out delivers softer melodies that still have a groove to them. With guitarist Tom Ollendorff, George Garford on alto sax and Matthew Holmes on drums, the quartet plays together with ease. Striking the right balance between instrumental solos, providing a clear tune to follow and a variety in compositional ...

Album Review

Alina Bzhezhinska & Tony Kofi: Altera Vita

Read "Altera Vita" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
May 5, 2024

Harpist Alina Bzhezhinska and saxophonist Tony Kofi's musical partnership began in 2015 and two years later made the main stage of the London Jazz Festival, opening the bill of A Concert For Alice And John at the Barbican concert hall. Also appearing, saxophonist Denys Baptiste's quartet and, top of the bill, Pharoah Sanders' quartet. It was a magical night. It would be an exaggeration to say that the relatively unknown Bzhezhinska stole the show (Sanders did that with the standard ...

Album Review

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

Read "An Adventurous Dream (At PizzaExpress Live In London)" reviewed by Chris May

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 ...

Album Review

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 ...

Album Review

Alina Bzhezhinska & HipHarpCollective: Reflections

Read "Reflections" reviewed by Chris May

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 ...

Album Review

Jo Harrop: The Heart Wants

Read "The Heart Wants" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci

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 ...

Recording

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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Recording

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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Performance / Tour

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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