I am a trumpet player and creative project manager, producer and researcher. I am currently studying for an MSt in Musicology at Somerville College, University of Oxford, specialising in Global Jazz studies and inclusive music practice. I have experience working for leading music conservatoires in London including Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban. In these roles, I have worked with major music organisations including Wigmore Hall, Tomorrow’s Warriors, Kinetika Bloco and National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) and leading musicians including Tony Kofi, Dr Hans Koller, and Romarna Campbell. As a trumpet player, I have performed in venues across the UK and abroad, including the Royal Albert Hall, Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London’s West End, Sheikh Jaber Al Ahmed Cultural Centre (Kuwait), Stravinsky Hall (Montreux) and Dobris Castle (Prague).
My current research at the University of Oxford examines sites where diaspora communities interact with the jazz world. My research aims to understand and make visible musical performance as a locus of communities – an intersection that both transcends local and national borders, and co-creates an intercultural musical ecosystem that supports and sustains individual identity and purpose in a shared place or moment in time. Recent papers include an examination of the role of Egyptian big band singer, Abd Al’Halim Hafez in global jazz histographies, and an analysis of the ‘spectacle of participation’ in Ezra Collective performances at Glastonbury. Community music-making remains a core tenet of my research, and I have enjoyed a recent collaboration with the Faculty of Music and Turtle Arts Song composing songs with people living with dementia.
I have a First-Class Honours degree in Liberal Arts with a Major in Music from King’s College London, including trumpet tuition at the Royal Academy of Music under Cameron Johnson. The Liberal Arts degree enabled me to study modules from a range of disciplines including music, politics, film and media studies, English literature, and critical theory. My dissertation ‘Is that Cuban? An analysis of Cuban music and its relationship to US Modernist, Afro-Modernist and Postmodern models of cultural power’ analysed the forging of an Afro-Caribbean identity in the US and the western world.
About
This research has practical implications for my music-making. I am the big band manager for Oxford Maqam Big Band. I worked with Professor Martin Stokes (KCL) and Daniel Woodfield (SOAS) alongside the established Oxford Maqam ensemble to transcribe jazz works by Abd Al’Halim Hafez. We performed these with a thirty-piece Oxford Maqam Big Band (complete with string section) to a sold-out Greenwood Theatre in May 2023 and June 2024. On the back of this success, I worked with Kuwaiti production company ‘Scene Makers’ and the Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry to organise two events under the banner of the Kuwaiti-British Orchestra. The first event took place in London’s Theatre Royal in the West End, September 2024. In December 2024, I then organised forty musicians to travel to Kuwait to perform at the Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre. We performed a collaborative set with Kuwaiti musicians, celebrating 125 years of diplomatic relations between Britain and Kuwait.
I am a passionate advocate for increasing participation in music-making and music education. I have previously worked as a project co-ordinator for Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, and an Assistant to Open Academy, the community and participation department at the Royal Academy of Music. I worked in a range of settings, including early-years, primary schools, secondary schools, SEND schools, hospital schools, a primary pupil-referral unit and projects with people living with dementia.
I am also an advocate for new musical performance. I work regularly with the PJA and the Soho Orchestra in developing their projects for new music, including the world-premiere of a symphony by upcoming composer, Arthur Elletson. I have also supported Hapax Orchestra in their Silent Composition project. I am always looking for new opportunities to perform new works and think it is important to be promoting music by new composers including those from ethnic minorities and marginalised communities.
I am a freelance trumpet player with experience in Session Work. I recently performed with groups including the established Folk ensemble, Goblin Band, at their sold-out headline gig at Grand Junction in London. I work with Dr Alexander Douglas on a range of projects including the new Veritas Jazz Orchestra that bridges gospel choral music with the big band tradition. I have also worked with afro-beat ensemble Fraka and supported the first studio album recorded by Knots Knots Knots. The session work has also extended into classical music. I have recently worked with The Basement Orchestra and their work to make classical music more inclusive. Between 2023-25, I regularly supported concerts with Welwyn Garden City Symphony Orchestra.
During my undergraduate degree, I was President of KCL Jazz Society, co-founder and creative director of the award-winning KCL Brass Band, principal trumpet with the KCL Symphony Orchestra on numerous tours and founded a function band called Fleet Street Beats that performed to students across the university and London, including a sell-out boat party in May 2022. The KCL Jazz Society and Brass Band virtual performances were recognised by King’s College London, and won awards at the international Cory Online Brass Band Championships.
I grew up in Sandbach, Cheshire. I performed with Lions Youth Brass, where in April 2019, the band represented England in the Premier section of the European Youth Brass Band Championships, and was awarded 5th place. I was also lead trumpet of the Sandbach School Big Band (MD John Barber) and the Love Music Trust Big Band (MD John Eno and Kyran Matthews). During this period, we performed with trumpet player Allen Vizutti, trumpet player Mike Lovatt, trumpet player John Wallace, singer Matthew Ford, saxophonist Simon Willescroft, clarinettist Army Roberts and saxophonist/composer Andy Scott. From 2013-19, I was taught by Tom Hancock (MD Audley Brass Band). I also received regular tuition from Natsumi McDonald (former principal Baritone Horn of Foden’s Brass Band from 2015-19. In 2017 and 2018, I was accepted onto the Royal Northern College of Music / Love Music Trust Gifted and Talented scheme following successful auditions, receiving tuition from Dr David Thornton (2017) and Dr John Miller (2018).
These ensembles and teachers run within state schools and music hubs have given me the confidence and skills to continue a portfolio career working in music, freelance performance, music education and the arts generally. It has led to my passion for supporting widening participation in the arts, both at Trinity Laban, and The Royal Academy of Music, and I am keen to ensure that the next generation has the same opportunities, regardless of economic or social background.