Kit Downes, a British jazz pianist. Downes is a regular performer with his own trio: Stan Sulzmann and Troyka. He has also played with Empirical and Gerard Presencer. He has performed with British bands Fraud and Asaf Sirkis’ Inner Noise, Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble and Acoustic Ladyland. He was also a member Empirical and appeared on their debut album Empirical (Destin-e Records). Courtney Pine produced the album. It was named Jazzwise’s album of 2007 and Mojo’s album of 2007. Empirical’s work included the North Sea Jazz Festival, The JVC Festivals of New York, Montreal, Newport, and Vancouver Jazz Festival. Empirical was also awarded the EBU Award at North Sea Festival. Downes quit Empirical to start Troyka, a prog jazz band. He also continued to work with The Kit Downes Trio. Troyka features Downes as the keyboard player, Chris Montague as guitarist and Joshua Blackmore as drummer. Calum Gourlay, drummer James Maddren and the Trio released their debut album Golden, on Basho Records, in November 2009. It was one of 12 albums that were shortlisted for Mercury Music Prize 2010. The Trio recorded a new album in June 2010 with guest cellist Adrien Dennefeld, and bass clarinetist/saxophonist James Allsopp. It was released on Basho Records in March 2011. Since 2005, the Trio has been together at the Royal Academy of Music. The group has performed at the London Jazz Festival 2008, 2009, Ronnie Scott’s British Jazz Festivals, BBC Radio 3 Live Broadcasts, Glasgow Jazz Festival, and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. The Trio is influenced by many influences, including Keith Jarrett, Bela Bartok, and Rufus Wainwright. Downes also recorded with Micachu, a composer who recorded Abbey Road for Matthew Herbert. Micachu was also recorded for BBC Radio 6 as well as playing at the Sonar Music Festival 2007 in Barcelona. Barak Schmool founded the F-IRE Collective to promote shared learning and sharing resources. Downes is also a member. From Wikipedia
