Denys Baptiste

Born in Hounslow, West London of St Lucian parents in 1969, Denys Baptiste is an award-winning jazz artist, composer and educator. An outstanding saxophonist of international acclaim, Denys is renowned for his ability to make complex music accessible, creating mature, melodic, and highly memorable compositions that lodge in the memory on first hearing. Be Where You Are – his 1999 debut album on independent jazz label, Dune Records – earned him a Mercury Music Prize for An Album Of The Year and a MOBO award for Best Jazz Act. He followed this in 2001 with his second album, Alternating Currents (Dune Records DUNECD05) also receiving great critical acclaim. 2003 saw the release of his third, and most ambitious, recording/touring project to date: Let Freedom Ring! (Dune Records DUNECD010), an inspirational, uplifting suite combining contemporary jazz, gospel, blues, and Afro-Cuban music with extracts of the epic poem, Mental Fight by Booker Prize-winning author, Ben Okri who narrates on this piece. Commissioned by the Cheltenham Jazz Festival/Jerwood Foundation, Let Freedom Ring! commemorated the 40th anniversary of the historic ‘I Have A Dream’ oration by American black civil rights activist, Dr Martin Luther King and was nominated for Best Album and Best New Work in the BBC Jazz Awards, for Best Jazz Act in the MOBO (Music Of Black Origin) Awards, and Best Album in the UK Parliamentary Jazz Awards. Identity By Subtraction is Baptiste’s latest studio recording released in December 2010, and features his long-time collaborators: pianist Andrew McCormack, double bassist Gary Crosby and drummer Rod Youngs, offering him the perfect setting for his fiery solo improvisations among the tight ensemble playing of this formidable and highly intuitive band. Both the album and live set conjugate the many cultural impressions and expressions of Europe, North America and the Caribbean that have come to define the artist, Denys Baptiste. Awards: Mercury Music Prize - Album of The Year 1999 MOBO Awards - Best Jazz Act 1999 British Jazz Awards - Rising Star 2000 Nominations: BBC Jazz Awards - Best Album 2004 BBC Jazz Awards - Best New Work 2004 MOBO Awards - Best Jazz Act 2004 Parliamentary Jazz Awards - Best Album 2004 MOBO Awards - Best Jazz Act 2011 Denys Baptiste is an award winning jazz musician based in London