Basil Hodge

Pianist and composer Basil has been a mainstay of the Brutish Jazz scene since the early nineties.  He brings his popular and powerful quartet to the Jewellery Quarter. Basil’s interest in music and the piano started at junior school. His quest to become a jazz musician started in earnest when he undertook classical piano lessons from a local teacher for a few years. He then went on to have private lessons with jazz pianist/composer Tim Richards from 1986 – 89. He rounded of his training at Goldsmiths College London in 1991.

His professional career started in the summer of 1993 as a freelance musician and he steadily rose up the ranks to play with some of the leading UK players such as Jim Mullen, Tony Kofi, Dave O’Higgins and Renato D’Aiello. In November 2003 Basil produced and released his debut CD My Guardian Angel featuring his original compositions, which led to a distribution deal with New Note Records. The CD received critical acclaim and air play. His second album ‘Sound Reasoning’ was released in October 2009, distributed by Proper Note Ltd. The CD contained 10 more fresh and exciting originals from Basil’s pen which confirmed his stature as an established composer. Sound Reasoning received rave reviews including a 4-star rating from Jack Massarik (Evening Standard). He appeared on Claire Martin’s Jazz Line Up show (BBC Radio 3) to talk about his album and musical influences. He also performed a live solo piano piece for the programme. Three of the main jazz DJs from Jazz FM, Helen Mayhew, Mike Chadwick and Sarah Ward have all recently played his music.

Line Up: Basil Hodge – Piano, Tony Kofi – Saxophones, Oli Hayhurst - Double Bass & Winston Clifford- Drums