James Owston Trio

James Owston has fast become a well-known name on the UK jazz scene, notably through his work with Clark Tracey, Paul Dunmall, Neil Yates, Xhosa Cole, Alex Clarke, Martin Speake, Greg Abate and many more. This trio sees James take on the leadership role, allowing space for each musician’s stylistic input whilst also showcasing his own progressive and melodic approach to playing the bass. With firm roots in bebop and the jazz tradition, heavily influenced by Ray Brown, Charles Mingus, Scott La-Faro, Charlie Haden and other pioneering bassists, Owston also draws from his experience in modern and contemporary music in his approach to improvising and writing music. In 2018, James was a finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician Award and performed at the Queen Elizabeth hall with Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis.

Tenor saxophonist and composer Alex Merritt draws from a range of influences in his approach: being equally inspired by the jazz tradition, contemporary jazz and contemporary classical music (in particular, tenor saxophonists Joe Henderson, John Coltrane and Warne Marsh and composers Henri Dutilleux, Olivier Messiaen and Toru Takemitsu are favourites). Alex has recently released 2 albums with the prestigious Spanish label Fresh Sound New Talent, the most recent of which 'Common Threads', which Alex produced, featured Steve Fishwick, Tom Ollendorff, Alex Hitchcock and John Turville amongst other leading lights of the contemporary UK scene.

Euan Palmer’s playing is rooted in bebop, with key influences including Dan Weiss, Brian Blade and Bill Stewart as well as Ben Riley and Elvin Jones. Some recent musical highlights have included a UK tour with Greg Abate in 2022 and a recording with the Dave Ferris Septet in early 2023, featuring New York guitarist Peter Bernstein.