8.30 - 11.00pm
£6 on the door
Born in Vancouver, Canada 1982, Jay took up the trumpet at 11 years of age. Jay moved to London at the age of 17 where he immediately attracted the attention of Gary Crosby who engaged him as a dep for Jazz Jamaica All Stars and Nu Troop. Formerly co-leader of the much admired band Empirical, Jay is a featured member of Dennis Rollins’ Badbone & Co and has performed with Andrew Hill, Wynton Marsalis, Ray Brown, George Benson and Hugh Masakela. The stageposts along Jean Toussaint’s career have all made their mark - the Caribbean, New York and London. From a calypso band in his teens in St Thomas, Toussaint moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music where fellow students included Branford Marsalis, Greg Osby, and Jeff Watts. In 1982, he joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers. “I learned more in four years with Art than I’d have learned in ten had I not got through that audition” says Toussaint, who played alongside Mulgrew Miller, Terence Blanchard, Donald Harrison and Lonnie Plaxico. While in New York, Toussaint also worked with Wynton Marsalis, McCoy Tyner and Gil Evans. In 1987 he accepted an invitation from the Guildhall School of Music to teach improvisation for three months. He’s still here. From London, Jean works extensively in Europe and the US.
8.30 - 11.00pm
