Jazz

Saxophonist Jamie O’Donnell has been working as a performer and educator since attending the Guildhall School of music and Drama in 1992. He took lessons with with Jean Toussaint, Bob Martin and Rick Margitza. For the last 20 years he has traveled to New York and Rome as a student of Jazz pianist Barry Harris, delving deeply into the music of Charlie Parker and Bud Powell.

Known as a player firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, Jamie has performed with many fine musicians including Gareth Lockrane, Gwilym Simcock, Matt Fishwick, Bob Martin, Anita Wardell, Robert Anchipolovsky and many others. Most recently, Jamie was performing at Ronnie Scotts alongside fellow alto players Greg Abate (US) and Alan Barnes in a tribute to the late, great saxophonist (and Jamie’s hero) Phil Woods. He is a founder member of the Paradise Festival in Cyprus and his own quartet play regularly at festivals around Europe.

As an educator, Jamie currently teaches jazz at the Hall School in Hampstead. As part of the Association of Music in International schools. he led student combos in Kuala Lumpur, Rome, The Hague and other cities around the world . In 2008, Jamie received a commission fo compose a piece for an International Honor Jazz Band at the International School of Luxembourg.

Jamie has a huge passion for playing and for teaching and he is proud to count a number of professionals amongst his past students.

Reuben Fowler is a 27 year old jazz trumpet player, composer, arranger and teacher based in London. He is currently the trumpet player for Paloma Faith and Culture Club, and has also performed with an array of artists including Noel Gallagher and Texas. As a result he has performed at some of the most coveted venues and festivals worldwide including the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall, The Hollywood Bowl (Los Angeles), the New Orleans Jazz Festival, Montreux Jazz Festival, Glastonbury and the North Sea Jazz Festival. Reuben has also worked extensively as a session musician and his performing credits include the BBC Big Band. Worldwide, he has played on broadcasts including: Jools Holland's Annual Hootenanny, The Jimmy Kimmel Show, The Jonathan Ross Show, Alan Carr Chatty Man, Taratata, and Live at the Palladium.

Reuben Fowler graduated in 2012 from the Royal Academy of Music, winning the Kenny Wheeler Award for composition and performance and the Musicians Benevolent Peter Whittingham Award. He also won the John Baker Memorial Award for brass.

Following the online success of the Facebook page Trumpet Tuesday; which is co- managed by Reuben alongside two other Royal Academy of Music alumni, he was asked to lead a group masterclass for the jazz and classical brass students at his alma- mater in 2016. Prior to this, he had also taught the Jazz Ensemble at the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. 

In 2013 Reuben Fowler wrote and arranged, rehearsed and recorded his own big band as part of a trans-atlantic recording project called Between Shadows, featuring jazz legends Tom Harrell, Stan Sulzmann and Jim Hart. The project later resulted in Fowler being cited: "...maybe the most exciting and accomplished trumpeter to emerge on the British Jazz scene.."