TONY KOFI & THE ORGANISATION - POINT BLANK TOUR

The award-winning multi-instrumentalist leads his new quartet in a performance of hard-hitting jazz, blues, Latin, hard bop and post-bop including rarely performed classics by the likes of George Russell, Woody Shaw, Duke Pearson, Pepper Adams and others.

The origins of the Organisation go back over a decade and grew out of Simon Fernsby’s ‘Manhattan Project’ sessions which were a staple of jazz in South London throughout the 2000s. Drummer Pete Cater was an early recruit and the band went through several incarnations and with the addition of organist Pete Whittaker honed its no-nonsense, hard-hitting style as the house rhythm section in multiple venues, festivals and residencies. Throughout this time they worked with many of London’s leading jazz musicians but in spite of associations with several distinguished players did not become a regular quartet until a serendipitous meeting with saxophonist Tony Kofi in August 2010.

This association with Tony was the result of a last-minute dep at Kent jazz institution, the Eagle Tavern, with Tony fresh from recording with Ornette Coleman in New York. Playing both alto and baritone on the date there was an instant affinity between the players, the Organisation’s combination of both the Bluesy soul jazz side the Hammond canon, and their knowledge of the more modern post-bop side of the repertoire (as typified by Woody Shaw’s “Moontrane”) working perfectly with Tony’s approach. It is to the credit of all the musicians that they have played a long game, developing their craft and style on the UK jazz circuit and the sounds you will hear are the sounds of a band who have put the hours in and held an ace in their collective hand until the moment to play it was just right.

Winner BBC Jazz Awards 2005 -Album of the Year;

Winner BBC Jazz Awards 2008 – Best Instrumentalist;

Winner, Best Ensemble, Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2005;

Nominee, Mobo Awards 2008;

Winner of the Jack Petchey Foundation award 2015;

Winner of the Black Achievers award –Cultural, music and arts award 2016

Tony Kofi is a British Jazz multi-instrumentalist born of Ghanaian parents, a player of the Alto, Baritone, Soprano, Tenor saxophones and flute. Having ‘cut his teeth’ in the “Jazz Warriors” of the early 90’s, he has gone on to establish himself as a musician, teacher and composer of real authority. As well as performing and recording with Gary Crosby’s “Nu-Troop” and “Jazz Jamaica”, Tony’s playing has also been a feature of many bands, and the artists he has worked/recorded with include “US-3” The World Saxophone Quartet, Courtney Pine, Donald Byrd, Eddie Henderson, The David Murray Big Band, Sam Rivers Rivbe Big band, Andrew Hill Big Band, Abdullah Ibrahim, Macy Gray, Julian Joseph Big band, Harry Connick JR, Byron Wallen’s Indigo, Jamaaladeen Tacuma’s Coltrane Configurations and Ornette Coleman.

His fluent and fiery hard-bop style makes him constantly in demand. He currently leads his own Tony Kofi Quartet, Tony Kofi Sphinx Trio, Future Passed Trio and is also the co-founder with Jonathan Gee of the Monk Liberation Front, a group that is dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk. Tony’s latest project sees him performing with Alex Webb’s Café Society Swing, Arnie Somogyi’s Jump Monk, Larry Bartley’s JustUS Quartet, Adrian Reid Quartet, a double leaders project with Alan Barnes called Aggregation, Orphy Robinson’s Bobby Hutcherson songbook project, Alina Bzhezhinska Quartet, Jo Harrop’s Fever, Portrait of Cannonball (music dedicated to Cannonball Adderley) and Tony Kofi and the Organisation, a recent project which he co-leads on the Baritone Saxophone.

Tony Kofi – Saxophones

Pete Whittaker – Hammond Organ

Simon Fernsby – Guitar

Peter Cater – Drums