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Leeds has been jazz centre north in the last few years of the UK jazz explosion with bands/artists from the city like Jasmine Myra, TC & The Groove Family, The Sorcerers, Fergus Quill, Work Money Death and Ancient Infinity Orchestra breaking out and reaching national and international audiences.
The next big Leeds jazz breakout band looks like being NOVA.SOL They've been cooking up some great music live around Leeds in the last 12 months, usually as support or on multi-bill line-ups. Tonight they play their first big headline show.
Formed back in early 2023 while students studying jazz at Leeds Conservatoire, nova.sol are a 6-piece alternative jazz band based in Leeds. The band are inspired by the UK contemporary jazz scene. With influences ranging from fusion and electronic music to dance music and straight-ahead jazz, they want to translate this range to demonstrate their unique sound and approach to improvisation characterised by tight rhythmic horns, big beats and a range of electronic effects.
Their influences include people like Alfa Mist, Soil & Pimp, JSPHYNX, Jamie Leeming and corto.alto. The band combines improvisation and uptempo grooves to create high energy in the studio and particularly live on stage. They've played gigs/shows primarily in the north in Leeds and Sheffield, supporting artists such as Steam Down, Ife Ogunjobi (Ezra Collective) and TC and The Groove Family. Plus in 2024, they appeared at both We Out Here Festival and Leeds Jazz Festival. Now comes the debut single and the chance for everyone to hear what NOVA.SOL have been cooking up these last 12 months at their gigs.
Having primarily been a live band until now, they self-released their debut single ‘Sanguine’ on August 30th. It's a huge melting pot of fierce breakbeats, synth and guitar soundscapes, ambient keys, haunting melodies, all topped off with some great soloing from the trumpeter and tenor saxophonist. For a debut single, it's pretty impressive.
There’s a lot more to expect from this band with a string of releases planned in the 6-8 months. The line-up includes some of the heaviest young players in the buzzing Leeds alt-jazz scene right now :
Ernie Moore - trumpet, Asher Freeman - tenor saxophone, Luke Hannay - guitar, Poppy Green - bass guitar, Isaac Keech - piano, Billy Goulding - drums
Opening up, we have a newish band led by an already familiar musician on the Leeds music scene. FEE is the artist, also known as Fee Buckton, ace trumpeter in some of the top groups coming out of Leeds in the last couple of years - Heritage, Goddess Collective, Ferg's Imaginary Big Band, Gustavo & The Brasukas, Orchestra Mambo International. Now she's fronting her own band and playing trumpet and singing lead vocals on her original music, which is an intricate blend of jazz, pop, neo-soul, afrobeat and r'n'b - everything and the kitchen sink thrown in! She is inspired not only by her jazz training, but by the incredible musicians and songwriters she’s had the pleasure of working and performing with in Leeds. She is now excited to share her own music with the world with her band. After an impressive debut show at Brudenell in the spring, she was one of the hits at Leeds Jazz Festival / Welcome To Leeds stage on the DJ Lubi Takeover day. Get down early to catch one of Leeds' finest jazz/jazz+ trumpeters playing her original music with a firing band.