Composer, pianist and bandleader Alexander Hawkins returns with an expanded ensemble to Café Oto, the venue at which it gave its first public performance. The programme will include ‘One Tree Found’, described following its premiere at Café Oto in 2013 as ‘fifty minutes of uninterrupted bliss’ (London Jazz News).

The nonet is packed with musicians with complete facility in both fully-composed and totally improvised territories, and this, coupled with the presence of several multi-instrumentalists, provides a near-orchestral range. Stellar NY-based trumpeter Peter Evans joins Percy Pursglove, Byron Wallen, and Oren Marshall in forming a brass-heavy core to the group. Hannah Marshall on ‘cello, Chris Cundy on bass and contrabass clarinet, and Pete McPhail on flutes and reeds provide countless possibilities; whilst at the heart of everything is the peerless drumming of Mark Sanders.



Hawkins’ critically acclaimed regular Ensemble has been lauded as ‘unlike anything else in modern creative music’ and ‘one of the most distinctive in modern jazz’; with Downbeat having described the leader as having reached a ‘dazzling new apex’ in recent times.

The group arrives fresh from a performance of the work at the WDR Festival in Germany, for only its second UK performance.

‘Hawkins’ One Tree Found makes you take notice…via…its refusal to go for the easy option’ - Limelight Magazine, Australia