LIJF 2027: Gary Crosby and Denys Baptiste present A Love Supreme

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Denys Baptiste - saxophone / Gary Crosby - bass / Andrew McCormack - piano / Rod Youngs - drums
 
Bassist, band leader and co-founder of Tomorrow’s Warriors, Gary Crosby OBE teams up with Mercury Prize nominee and MOBO award winning saxophonist Denys Baptiste to lead an all-star quartet for this celebration of what is widely regarded as the greatest jazz album of all time, John Coltrane’s’ A Love Supreme. Marking the 60-year anniversary of the recording of the album, Gary and Denys will be joined by Andrew McCormack (piano), and Rod Youngs (drums).
 
Discussing the impact that Coltrane’s magnus opus had on him, Gary Crosby explains “Hearing A Love Supreme for the first time was a life-changing moment for me as a young musician. There were so many complexities in the compositions and the arrangements, but the groove and directness were real. It is musically as close to a spiritual moment as I have ever had – a message from the mountain top, mind-blowing but completely rooted in everything I believed music could be. Coltrane stands above all others as a musician. A jazz deity? Possibly. All I know is that with A Love Supreme, he preached, and we all listened!"
 
Gary Crosby OBE was a founding member of the celebrated group the Jazz Warriors in the 1980s and has worked with many top international artists. MOBO and Mercury award-winning UK saxophonist Denys Baptiste has evolved into what Time Magazine describes as “the icon of British jazz”, with a most distinctive and immediately recognisable sound. 
 
"Crosby is a towering figure in jazz" - BBC
 
"Denys' phrases have the fluidity and fluency of an imagination that seems not to know its own limits" - Culture Jazz (France)

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LIJF wishes to thank Prof Gerald Pillay and Dr Nirmala Pillay for their kind sponsorship of this concert.