Martin Speake Trio

Composer, musician, bandleader, educator and record label founder – Alto saxophonist Martin Speake brings his project ‘In all Languages – The music of Ornette Coleman’ to Jazz at NAC with:

Alyson Cawley – tenor saxophone,
Calum Gourlay – Double Bass,
Jeff Williams – drums

Learn more about Martin and his many projects at https://www.martinspeake.com

Martin Speake has been at the forefront of the UK jazz scene since the mid 80’s when he first cato prominence as a member of the all-saxophone quartet Itchy Fingers with whom he toured all over the world. He left the group to pursue his many and diverse projects as a composer and improviser.

He has worked with a wide range of artists and musicians including Loose Tubes, Stan Tracey, Django Bates, Style Council and Airto Moreira.

More recently Martin teamed up with former pianist of The Bad Plus, Ethan Iverson, with whom he toured extensively over the past few years, including two great gigs at Crookes Social Club. The 2020 gig at Crookes is featured in a recently released documentary about the band’s tour

He has recorded 23 albums under his own name, including the internationally acclaimed ECM release ‘Change Of Heart’ with Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson and Mick Hutton and ‘Intention’ (Ubuntu Records) with Ethan Iverson, Fred Thomas and James Maddren. This new quartet recorded an albumin early 2020, entitled ‘Universal Language’.