Guitarist
JAZZ &
ORIGINAL MUSIC
LISTEN
Agbeko
Agbeko
There Must Be Another Way, 2023
Artephis
Glow/Treading Water, 2020
Agbeko
D.O.D, 2020
Artephis
with The Untold Orchestra, 2020
"Go see them if you can for one of the best gigs of your life.”
- Now Then Magazine
'The spectacular chemistry shared by this large band is electric and emotive. [Agbeko] will have you grooving, singing, and inspired to protest for a better society.'
- Songlines Magazine
James is a co-founder of Agbeko: the 12-piece powerhouse based in Manchester led by saxophonist/composer Jamie Stockbridge. Their music is the soundtrack for a congregation revelling upon a world on the brink.
Inspired by the lineage of Afrobeat from Fela Kuti through to Antibalas via modern-day psychedelia of The Heliocentrics and The Shaolin Afronauts, Agbeko seek to write their own chapter with their unique combination of Ethio-jazz and avant-garde British Protest Song.
In 2023 Agbeko released and toured their sophomore album 'There Must Be Another Way' with new front-women Amber Kuti & Mali Hayes. In 2024, before a prestigious opening concert at WOMEX at Bridgewater Hall as representatives of their hometown, they recorded their next album which will be released in 2025 with Bridge The Gap.
Bridge Quartet
Inspired by the legendary quartet collaboration between Sonny Rollins (tenor sax) and Jim Hall (guitar), as immortalised by their ‘The Bridge’ record, the new British-Scandinavian Bridge Quartet was set up by James after moving to Oslo.
Bringing together compatriot saxophonist Dave Edge and the formidable young rhythm section of Danish drummer Emil Norman and Norwegian double bassist Andreas Svabø, this all-Oslo-based quartet establishes a conduit between British and Scandinavian musicians for expressing their shared love of the American modern jazz tradition against a contemporary northern European backdrop.
Paying tribute to this iconic album - played in its entirety - alongside gems from Rollins’ following album ‘What’s New’, their debut project tours UK in 2025 (the year the saxophone colossus himself turns 95).
The Easy Rollers
"They're great fun and they'll swing you into bad health.”
- Stephen Duffy, BBC Radio Scotland
Whether in their widely acclaimed, lingo-slinging, all-singing-and-dancing cabaret show or delighting festival audiences with their enormous repertoire and own songwriting, The Easy Rollers are a septet who embody the famed spirit and consummate virtuosity of today's booming British jazz scene and bring it straight back to the source: 1920s and '30s Harlem, Kansas City and New Orleans.
Fronted by the captivating Dani Sicari, whose time-machine of a voice is evocative of early greats like Helen Kane and Ruth Etting, The Easy Rollers have long established a reputation for delivering performances that channel the in-the-moment dynamism of the Jazz Age at the height of its cultural grandeur. Arising from their love of the tradition, they take pride in marrying a conscientious approach to authenticity with their mission of ensuring that this effervescent era of jazz is never presented merely as a nostalgic museum piece.
Artephis
From 2015-20, James and Aaron Wood (trumpet) co-led Artephis, a contemporary jazz/rock-influenced quintet based in Manchester, comprising some of the North's most creatively diverse young musicians.
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In 2020, they released singles 'Glow'/'Treading Water' as well as 'Artephis with The Untold Orchestra', following their debut album 'All Change No Change' in 2017. Aired on BBC Radio 3 and on Radio 2 by Jamie Cullum, who called it a “brilliant new release that got my ears bouncing” and chose track 'Feroz' as his BBC Introducing highlight of the year, the album was awarded the Sir John Manduell Prize.
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Artephis performed to capacity audiences at the major jazz festivals across the North of England, as well as the likes of Brecon Jazz Festival, Band On The Wall, The Cavern Club and Kendal Calling. They supported post-Bowie Donny McCaslin, Darius Brubeck, and Marquis Hill's Blacktet. Artephis were Jazz North 'Northern Line' (2018-19) and 'Introduces' (2015-16) artists.
"They make an organic, collectively individual sound that always has an eye on the narrative.”
- Mike Walker (The Impossible Gentlemen)
"An outstanding band of young musicians.”
- Jazz North
"Made me move, made me think, gave me all the feels.”
- Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 2
"Rising stars”
- Jazzwize