Boston-based drummer Guilhem Fourty, originally from Toulouse, France, is preparing for one of the highest-profile moments of any artist's career: a performance as Lead Drummer with the Roella Oloro Trio at London’s Royal Albert Hall in November 2025. The concert is part of the London Jazz Festival, placing Fourty inside one of the world’s most revered concert halls during one of Europe’s most prestigious jazz events. For any musician, Royal Albert Hall is a career milestone; for a drummer who has steadily built a portfolio of leadership roles and headline credits, it confirms his standing on an international stage.
Boston-based drummer Guilhem Fourty, originally from Toulouse, France, is preparing for one of the highest-profile moments of any artist's career: a performance as Lead Drummer with the Roella Oloro Trio at London’s Royal Albert Hall in November 2025. The concert is part of the London Jazz Festival, placing Fourty inside one of the world’s most revered concert halls during one of Europe’s most prestigious jazz events. For any musician, Royal Albert Hall is a career milestone; for a drummer who has steadily built a portfolio of leadership roles and headline credits, it confirms his standing on an international stage.
That rise has been visible in the United States as well. In recent seasons Fourty has taken starring roles as a lead drummer in concerts at Grace by NIA in Boston (February 2025), Sylvana in New York, The UnCommon Stage in Boston (July 2024), and Boston’s Global Jazz Club (October 2024). Over the next three years, he is slated as a leading performer at Regattabar in Cambridge, one of the region’s signature jazz rooms, and again in London at Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room for the festival engagement. These bookings place Fourty not only in respected listening spaces but also performing on the same stages as some of the biggest names in music history.
The Royal Albert Hall engagement also reflects the caliber of artists who seek him out. Roella Oloro — a British composer and multi-instrumentalist of Nigerian and Jamaican descent — has been writing for large and small ensembles since her teens; one of her early big-band pieces was performed at the same hall in 2016. Joining her trio in a lead role during the London Jazz Festival situates Fourty alongside an artist with deep ties to the U.K. scene and a profile built on composition as much as performance.
Even before these marquee appearances, Fourty’s work has been tied to major festival stages and forward-looking institutions. In April 2023 and August 2023, he performed as Lead Drummer with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Ensemble at the Reno Jazz Festival and at the Detroit Jazz Festival. The institute, founded by drummer and educator Terri Lyne Carrington, focuses on equity in the jazz community through concerts, masterclasses, and education. Detroit’s festival, recognized as the world’s largest free jazz festival, is a major proving ground, presenting dozens of performances and late-night jam sessions each year and supporting robust educational programs. Appearing under that banner and inside that festival context underscores Fourty’s ability to meet high musical demands while aligning with institutions that shape the future of the music.
Fourty’s European credentials include a lead chair at one of Paris’s most storied rooms. In January 2023, he performed with the Giampaolo Missaglia Sextet at Le Duc des Lombards. Located on Rue des Lombards, the club is among Paris’s most famous jazz venues and has welcomed leading French and international artists for decades, including Martial Solal, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Aldo Romano, Erik Truffaz, Richard Galliano, and Henri Texier. For a drummer building an international footprint, a headline-ready role at Duc des Lombards signals recognition from one of Europe’s key stages.
In Boston, Fourty’s résumé features the Red Room at Café 939, a venue known for pairing early-career breakouts with established names. He appeared there as Lead Drummer in October 2021 with the Miguel Zenón Quintet and again in November 2023 with the Braxton Cook Quintet. The room’s history includes performances by major pop and rock artists, but its jazz bookings carry weight: Zenón is a MacArthur Fellow, a widely commissioned composer and educator whose work has been presented by leading institutions, while Cook has toured with Christian Scott, Christian McBride, and Marquis Hill and performed with Jon Batiste, Mac Miller, and Rihanna. Sharing the bandstand with artists of that profile, in a lead drum role, demonstrates the degree to which Fourty is trusted to shape the sound of a group.
Since 2023, Fourty has also been the Lead Drummer for the band of Los Angeles–based artist Zach Santos, and that role has been extended through 2028. It is a comprehensive appointment: Fourty composes and arranges original drum and percussion parts, oversees ensemble cohesion, and performs as a featured voice on stage. The band’s upcoming schedule includes prominent West Coast venues such as The Viper Room and The Troubadour in West Hollywood and the Mint in Los Angeles. Fourty’s live credits with Santos already include Bowery Electric in New York, the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, and Berlin Under A in New York. In the studio, he served in a leading role on Santos’s album “Superbloom” (2023), recorded at Avast Recording Studio in Seattle, and on “The Year of the Dragon” (2024), tracked at New York’s legendary Power Station.
Back in Boston in August 2024, Fourty appeared as Lead Drummer for flutist and composer Yağmur Soydemir at the Mission Hill Arts Festival, an annual event launched in 2021 that has grown into a significant summer platform featuring concerts, panels, and educational programs. Soydemir, a decorated soloist with awards from competitions across Europe, leads projects that move between classical technique and contemporary ensemble playing. Fourty’s role in that setting highlights his ability to support artists whose work crosses stylistic borders while engaging community audiences.
Fourty’s 2025 calendar also includes the JAS Academy in Aspen. In July 2025, he was a leading performer in the Academy’s Afro-Caribbean Big Band Session, appearing alongside trumpeter Etienne Charles, a Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, and NAACP Image Award winner. The JAS Academy is part of Jazz Aspen Snowmass, a nonprofit known for world-class events and education. Its stages and programs have presented a wide spectrum of major figures in jazz and popular music, and the Academy’s summer sessions pair emerging artists with renowned faculty and guest performers. Playing a lead drum role next to Charles places Fourty in the center of a tradition that blends deep scholarship with headline performance.
Taken together, these engagements show a consistent pattern: Fourty is asked to lead from the drum chair in rooms and festivals that matter. The London Jazz Festival’s Royal Albert Hall appearance signals international stature. The Detroit Jazz Festival connection and the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice link him to institutions that define excellence in contemporary jazz. Paris’s Duc des Lombards and Boston’s Red Room place him in the lineage of venues where craft is tested in public. His work with Zach Santos and at Mission Hill demonstrates breadth across genres and audiences. And his role at the JAS Academy, alongside a decorated bandleader like Etienne Charles, shows that his musicianship travels comfortably among top-tier peers.
For a drummer who began in Toulouse and chose Boston as his base, this is the profile of a major artist in motion — one whose name now appears on bills that carry real weight, and whose next steps include one of the most storied stages in the world.
That rise has been visible in the United States as well. In recent seasons Fourty has taken starring roles as a lead drummer in concerts at Grace by NIA in Boston (February 2025), Sylvana in New York, The UnCommon Stage in Boston (July 2024), and Boston’s Global Jazz Club (October 2024). Over the next three years, he is slated as a leading performer at Regattabar in Cambridge, one of the region’s signature jazz rooms, and again in London at Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room for the festival engagement. These bookings place Fourty not only in respected listening spaces but also performing on the same stages as some of the biggest names in music history.
The Royal Albert Hall engagement also reflects the caliber of artists who seek him out. Roella Oloro — a British composer and multi-instrumentalist of Nigerian and Jamaican descent — has been writing for large and small ensembles since her teens; one of her early big-band pieces was performed at the same hall in 2016. Joining her trio in a lead role during the London Jazz Festival situates Fourty alongside an artist with deep ties to the U.K. scene and a profile built on composition as much as performance.
Even before these marquee appearances, Fourty’s work has been tied to major festival stages and forward-looking institutions. In April 2023 and August 2023, he performed as Lead Drummer with the Berklee Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice Ensemble at the Reno Jazz Festival and at the Detroit Jazz Festival. The institute, founded by drummer and educator Terri Lyne Carrington, focuses on equity in the jazz community through concerts, masterclasses, and education. Detroit’s festival, recognized as the world’s largest free jazz festival, is a major proving ground, presenting dozens of performances and late-night jam sessions each year and supporting robust educational programs. Appearing under that banner and inside that festival context underscores Fourty’s ability to meet high musical demands while aligning with institutions that shape the future of the music.
Fourty’s European credentials include a lead chair at one of Paris’s most storied rooms. In January 2023, he performed with the Giampaolo Missaglia Sextet at Le Duc des Lombards. Located on Rue des Lombards, the club is among Paris’s most famous jazz venues and has welcomed leading French and international artists for decades, including Martial Solal, Wynton Marsalis, Benny Golson, Aldo Romano, Erik Truffaz, Richard Galliano, and Henri Texier. For a drummer building an international footprint, a headline-ready role at Duc des Lombards signals recognition from one of Europe’s key stages.
In Boston, Fourty’s résumé features the Red Room at Café 939, a venue known for pairing early-career breakouts with established names. He appeared there as Lead Drummer in October 2021 with the Miguel Zenón Quintet and again in November 2023 with the Braxton Cook Quintet. The room’s history includes performances by major pop and rock artists, but its jazz bookings carry weight: Zenón is a MacArthur Fellow, a widely commissioned composer and educator whose work has been presented by leading institutions, while Cook has toured with Christian Scott, Christian McBride, and Marquis Hill and performed with Jon Batiste, Mac Miller, and Rihanna. Sharing the bandstand with artists of that profile, in a lead drum role, demonstrates the degree to which Fourty is trusted to shape the sound of a group.
Since 2023, Fourty has also been the Lead Drummer for the band of Los Angeles–based artist Zach Santos, and that role has been extended through 2028. It is a comprehensive appointment: Fourty composes and arranges original drum and percussion parts, oversees ensemble cohesion, and performs as a featured voice on stage. The band’s upcoming schedule includes prominent West Coast venues such as The Viper Room and The Troubadour in West Hollywood and the Mint in Los Angeles. Fourty’s live credits with Santos already include Bowery Electric in New York, the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, and Berlin Under A in New York. In the studio, he served in a leading role on Santos’s album “Superbloom” (2023), recorded at Avast Recording Studio in Seattle, and on “The Year of the Dragon” (2024), tracked at New York’s legendary Power Station.
Back in Boston in August 2024, Fourty appeared as Lead Drummer for flutist and composer Yağmur Soydemir at the Mission Hill Arts Festival, an annual event launched in 2021 that has grown into a significant summer platform featuring concerts, panels, and educational programs. Soydemir, a decorated soloist with awards from competitions across Europe, leads projects that move between classical technique and contemporary ensemble playing. Fourty’s role in that setting highlights his ability to support artists whose work crosses stylistic borders while engaging community audiences.
Fourty’s 2025 calendar also includes the JAS Academy in Aspen. In July 2025, he was a leading performer in the Academy’s Afro-Caribbean Big Band Session, appearing alongside trumpeter Etienne Charles, a Guggenheim Fellow, Creative Capital awardee, and NAACP Image Award winner. The JAS Academy is part of Jazz Aspen Snowmass, a nonprofit known for world-class events and education. Its stages and programs have presented a wide spectrum of major figures in jazz and popular music, and the Academy’s summer sessions pair emerging artists with renowned faculty and guest performers. Playing a lead drum role next to Charles places Fourty in the center of a tradition that blends deep scholarship with headline performance.
Taken together, these engagements show a consistent pattern: Fourty is asked to lead from the drum chair in rooms and festivals that matter. The London Jazz Festival’s Royal Albert Hall appearance signals international stature. The Detroit Jazz Festival connection and the Institute of Jazz and Gender Justice link him to institutions that define excellence in contemporary jazz. Paris’s Duc des Lombards and Boston’s Red Room place him in the lineage of venues where craft is tested in public. His work with Zach Santos and at Mission Hill demonstrates breadth across genres and audiences. And his role at the JAS Academy, alongside a decorated bandleader like Etienne Charles, shows that his musicianship travels comfortably among top-tier peers.
For a drummer who began in Toulouse and chose Boston as his base, this is the profile of a major artist in motion — one whose name now appears on bills that carry real weight, and whose next steps include one of the most storied stages in the world.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
