Alumni Highlights

Shabaka Hutchings

Saxophonist and bandleader Shabaka Hutchings has had an interesting journey. Born in London, and raised in Barbados, he returned to the UK and became one of the pillars of the new jazz scene. As a member of Sons of Kemet (also featuring alumnus Theon Cross), The Comet is Coming, and the leader of his own group, Shabaka and the Ancestors, Hutchings has won the MOBO Award for best jazz act with the Sons of Kemet in 2013, among other accolades. As if he weren’t busy enough with three bands and debuting a commission from London Sinfonietta (a piece entitled “Hordes of Undemocratic Saveges”), he’s also started his own label, Native Rebel Recordings

Nubya Garcia

UK, bandleader, and composer Nubya Garcia is a prominent member of the “sisterhood of the saxophone” that has emerged over the past decade. Growing up in a musical family, she played the violin, recorder, clarinet, and piano until she found her calling with the tenor saxophone. She’s been heavily influenced by giants like Sonny Rollins and John Coltrane, but she has also assimilated hip-hop, afrobeat, funk, and world music, to create a uniquely global brew. She’s won numerous awards, including the Parliamentary Jazz Awards 2021 Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year.

Ezra Collective

The quintet features two Warriors, Joe Armon-Jones (piano) and Femi Koleoso (drums), along with Ife Ogunjobi (trumpet), James Mollison (tenor sax), and Femi’s brother TJ on bass. Jones has also worked with alumni Nubya Garcia, Moses Boyd, and SEED Ensemble. Combining solid hard-bop horns with deep grooves of hip-hop, funk, and afrobeat (with a hint of reggae at times), Ezra Collective is a prime example of melded influences creating a compelling sound. The group recently released a new track titled, “May The Funk Be With You.”

SEED Ensemble

The brainchild of alto saxophonist/composer Cassie Kinoshi, SEED Ensemble is a 10-piece collective melding R&B, dance grooves with urban, African, and Caribbean roots and classic post-bop jazz, formed in 2016. SEED Ensemble also features Warriors Sheila Maurice-Grey on trumpet and Theon Cross on tuba. Joe Armon-Jones was a member for a time too. Kinoshi and Maurice-Grey are also members of Kokoroko, a group committed to a “soul-shaking, horn-fueled sound with West African roots and inner London hues.”

Binker & Moses

Drummer Moses Boyd and tenor saxophonist Binker Golding have teamed up several times, most recently to release Feeding the Machine in February 2022. The duo’s first outing in 2017 Journey To The Mountain Of Forever helped them to earn a MOBO award for “Best Jazz Act.” Moses has also worked with Nu Civilisation Orchestra Musical Director Peter Edwards’ trio and his group, Exodus. Golding has played with Sarah Tandy, Zara McFarlane, Ashley Henry, and Joy Ellis and is the Musical Director of the Tomorrow’s Warriors Youth Orchestra. He’s also released Abstractions of Reality Past and Incredible Feathers as a leader.

Camilla George

Nigerian-born Camilla George has been playing and studying music since she was a child. She earned a Master's degree in Jazz at Trinity College of Music and joined Tomorrow’s Warriors where she was a member of the Jazz Jamaica All Stars and Courtney Pine's Venus Warriors, the all-female “supergroup” with George on alto saxophone (along with Nubya Garcia on tenor). In 2017, she released her debut recording as a leader, Isang, which the Guardian touted as “engaging jazz you want to dance to.” The Standard called her the “girl with the golden touch,” and she was nominated as a Rising Star by the British Jazz Awards. Her follow-up in 2018 People Could Fly was inspired by African folk tales, with the title based on a picture book by Virginia Hamilton depicting the dream of slaves who wanted to fly home to Africa. All About Jazz proclaimed the record, “even better than her first...George proves here that she's rapidly maturing into one of the UK's finest altoists and composers.”

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