O’Higgins & Luft

O’Higgins & Luft are now on their 3rd album release together - Play Monk & Trane 2019, Pluto 2022 and now Chobe Sunset 2027. Originally born from a desire to collaborate on familiar material, gradually more original material has come into the repertoire. They undertook giant 50+ date tours promoting each of the 1st 2 CDs - let’s see what this one brings!

Rob Luft, new to the scene back in 2019, is the current British Jazz Awards 'Best Instrumentalist' & has 2 solo CD projects released on Edition Records. O’Higgins should need no introduction, having sired some 27 albums as leader in his 40-year career so far.

The musical success & commercial popularity of this cross-generational project should not be underestimated. Along with colleagues Jim Watson (piano), Misha Mullov-Abbado (bass) and Rod Youngs (drums), they bring a wealth of musical diversity and experience to the table with refreshing and joyous results.

Dave O’Higgins now has 27 albums as leader to his credit. His sax sound is very personal and recognisable, with a clear sense of melodic development and adventure. A popular performer with the public, with an excellent sense of pacing and presentation, and a wide palette from Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane and Joe Henderson through to Stanley Turrentine and Michael Brecker. He has relentlessly pursued artistic exploration and development with a deep respect for the tradition of the music.

Dave has worked with some of the world’s finest musicians, including Joey Calderazzo, Joe Locke, Dave Kikowski, Eric Alexander, Grant Stewart, Max Ionata, Adam Nussbaum, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Kurt Elling, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gomez, Billy Childs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Chico Chagas and Stephane Grappelli. He also co-wrote the last 2 Matt Bianco albums. While his jazz career was in its early stages, Dave cut his teeth as a sideman with Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra.

Rob Luft is an award-winning 31-year-old jazz guitarist from London whose virtuosity has been compared to that of six-string legends John McLaughlin, Al Di Meola & Paco De Lucia. He was the recipient of the 2016 Kenny Wheeler Prize from the Royal Academy of Music, and he also received the 2nd Prize in the 2016 Montreux Jazz Guitar Competition at Montreux Jazz Festival. His debut album, “Riser”, was released on Edition Records in 2017 to widespread acclaim from the European jazz media. John Fordham wrote in The Guardian that it’s a “very sophisticated debut, but given Luft’s old-soul achievements since his early teens, we should have heard it coming”.

Subsequently, on the back of the success of his first album, Rob was nominated for a string of awards – Breakthrough Act in the 2018 Jazz FM Awards, Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and Instrumentalist of the Year in the 2019 Jazz FM Awards. In May 2019, Rob was selected as a BBC New Generation Jazz Artist. His eagerly-awaited second album, “Life is the Dancer”, was released in April 2020 on Edition Records to critical acclaim. Despite the intermittent global lockdowns of 2020, Rob made his debut appearance on the legendary German jazz label ECM Records with the album “Lost Ships, a collaborative effort with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, and this was nominated in the ‘International Album of the Year’ category in the 2021 German Jazz Prize.

Concert highlights for Rob include performances with artists including Django Bates, The Cinematic Orchestra, Arve Henriksen, & Manu Katché. Rob is a regular member of a multitude of some of Britain’s finest modern jazz groups, such as The John Surman Quartet, Byron Wallen’s Four Corners & the Iain Ballamy Quintet. Additionally, his playing has been documented on a wide variety of albums over the past five years on famed jazz labels such as ECM Records, Edition Records, Ropeadope, Linn Records, anmongst others.