The Jazz Organ Scene

Great Britain

Kit Downes Kit (* 1986 in Norwich) is a pianist and organist. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School in Norwich, Purcell School in Bushey, Hertfordshire and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Kit formed his trio in his first year at the Royal Academy, in 2005. He has performed with the band at various British festivals since 2008. He first rose to prominence as a member of Empirical, on whose debut album of the same name he worked, which was acclaimed 2007's Album of the Year by both Jazzwise and Mojo. With this band he performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival as well as at the JVC Festival New York and the Vancouver Jazz Festival.   Since 2009 he has been running the collaborative group Troyka as a second trio, in which he plays organ and other keyboards together with guitarist Chris Montague and drummer Joshua Blackmore. With Troyka he presented three albums that are located between progressive rock, minimalism and jazz as well as an album in a larger formation, the Troykestra.   Also in 2009, the first album of his piano trio with bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer James Maddren was released. In 2018 he released his album Obsidian on ECM, a collection of solo works for church organ. The following year followed there in a trio with Petter Eldh and James Maddren the album Enemy. The album Dreamlife of Debris refocused on the organ but placed it in a larger context (with different musical partners). He also runs the organ trio Deadeye with guitarist Reinier Baas and drummer Jonas Burgwinkel.   Downes has also worked with Stan Sulzmann, Sam Crockatt and Clark Tracey, Joe Locke, Gilad Atzmon, Gerard Presencer, Iain Ballamy, Sarah Gillespie, Peter Ind, Gwyneth Herbert, John Warren, Acoustic Ladyland, Nostalgia 77, Dennis Rollins' Badbone, Sylvain Darrifourcq, Benny Greb, Squarepusher, Seb Rochford, Thomas Strønen and Veronika Morscher. He also interpreted works by the composer Max de Wardener for pianos in special moods.   He has written commissions for Cheltenham Music Festival, London Contemporary Orchestra, Stavanger Konserthus, Ensemble Klang ar ReWire Festival, the Scottish Ensemble, Philharmonie Köln, BBC Radio 3 and the Welcome Trust. He is an alumnus of the Royal Academy of Music and now holds a fellowship.   from Wikipedia and RAM

Obsidian ECM 2559 recorded November 2016 at St John in Snape, Suffolk; St Edmund in Bromeswell, Suffolk; Union Chapel in London/Great Britain	Kit Downes, church organ Tom Challenger, tenor sax
Organ Recordings Archive Vol. 1 (2017-2020) Bandcamp digital only recorded between 2017 and 2020 at various locations	Kit Downes, church organ, chamber organ Tom Challenger, sax Miguel Ortiz, electronics Alex Bonney, electronics Liam Bryne, viola Emma Smith, violin Lucy Railton, cello Daniel Bradley, percussion Ensemble Klang
Organ Recordings Archive Vol. 2 (2018-2022) Bandcamp digital only recorded between 2018 and 2022 at various locations	Kit Downes, church organ, chamber organ, piano Lotte Anker, sax Tom Challenger, sax Kaja Draksler, piano Ingebjørg Loe Bjørnstad, voice
Deadeye Dox Records	Reinier Baas, guitar Kit Downes, organ Jonas Burgwinkel, drums

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