Soweto Kinch at The Stoller Hall
Johnny James, Managing Editor
This June, multi-award-winning saxophonist, MC and composer Soweto Kinch lifts the curtain on a four-month programme of live jazz music presented by NQ Jazz, The Stoller Hall and The Yard.
One of the most exciting and versatile musicians in both the British jazz and hip hop scenes, Soweto Kinch is a man of many talents; he’s at once a saxophonist, composer, MC, poet and producer. He’s also got to be one of very few artists in either genre to hold a degree in Modern History from Oxford University. Specialising in a trademark style of jazz, rap and spoken word, his future-leaning fusion of genres has seen him amass an impressive list of accolades and awards on both sides of the Atlantic – including a Mercury Music Prize nomination, two UMA Awards and multiple MOBO awards.
His most recent album The Black Peril fuses early 20th-century ragtime with postwar classical atonality, mixed up with West Indian folk, hip hop and trap – a combination that renders him peerless, while earning the respect of jazz fanatics and hip hop heads alike (including Mos Def). A charismatic performer, Kinch is known for engaging with his audience via off-the-cuff spoken word and freestyles, in between bursts of outstanding sax, his exotically chromatic playing calling to mind an Ornette Coleman from the future.
Scoldingly innovative, Kinch is a thrilling live act whose lunchtime performance at The Stoller Hall will provide the perfect start to Manchester’s long summer of jazz.
To find out who else will be performing as part of the series, head over to our roundup of NQ Jazz Live.
