Phil Donkin (born November 1980 in Sunderland, England) is a British jazz bassist. [1] [2] [3]
Donkin began playing electric bass at 12 years old. At 17 he unsuccessfully auditioned for the then-vacant bass player position in the British band Jamiroquai. At 19 he then moved to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he completed a degree in music. [4] It was here that he began playing the acoustic bass, where this became the instrument he played exclusively. [5]
After graduating in 2003, Donkin was active in the London jazz scene. He worked with musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, Julian Arguelles, Tim Garland, Stan Sulzmann and Gwilym Simcock. [5]
In the years that followed, Donkin toured Europe with people such as John Abercrombie, Marc Copland, Bill Stewart, Greg Osby, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Chris Speed, Ari Hoenig, Jonathan Kreisberg, Terrell Stafford, David Binney, Tyshawn Sorey and many others. He also performed with some jazz legends such as Quincy Jones, Roger Kellaway and Eddie Henderson. [5]
In 2010, Donkin moved to New York City, where he, played with artists including Ben Monder, Kevin Hays, Adam Rogers, Mark Turner, Seamus Blake, Steve Cardenas, Bruce Barth, Edward Simon. [5]
As of 2013, Donkin was based in both Germany and New York. [5]
Donkin is a member of many projects in Europe, such as Dhafer Youssef's Bird's Requiem featuring Eivind Aarseth and Nils Petter Molvaer. [6] He is a member of Rainer Böhm's trio, [7] [8] and a collaborative quartet featuring Pablo Held, Johannes Enders and Nasheet Waits. He also plays regularly with Nils Wogram's 'Root 70', [9] Marius Neset's 'Birds' quartet, the Ben Kraef Trio [10] and the Max von Mosch Tentet. [11]
Donkin has led projects as a band leader, releasing the album Dimaxis in 2006 and the album The Gate in 2015.
Alfred McCoy Tyner was an American jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 - 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Master and five-time Grammy Award winner. Tyner has been widely imitated, and is one of the most recognizable and influential jazz pianists of all time.
Rabih Abou-Khalil is an oud player and composer born in Lebanon, who combines elements of Arabic music with jazz, classical music, and other styles. He grew up in Beirut and moved to Munich, Germany, during the Lebanese Civil War in 1978.
Nils Petter Molvær also known as NPM is a Norwegian jazz trumpeter, composer, and record producer. He is considered a pioneer of future jazz, a genre that fuses jazz and electronic music, best showcased on his most commercially successful album, Khmer.
Anouar Brahem is a Tunisian oud player and composer. He is widely acclaimed as an innovator in his field. Performing primarily for a jazz audience, he combines Arabic classical music, folk music and jazz and has been recording since at least 1991, after becoming prominent in his own country in the late 1980s.
Bradford Alexander Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Gwilym Simcock is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music. He was chosen as one of the 1000 Most Influential People in London by the Evening Standard. He was featured on the front cover of the August 2007 issue of the UK's Jazzwise magazine.
Eivind Aarset is a Norwegian guitarist who has worked with Ray Charles, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ute Lemper, Ketil Bjørnstad, Andy Sheppard, Mike Mainieri, Arild Andersen, Abraham Laboriel, Dhafer Youssef, Django Bates, and Nils Petter Molvaer. Aarset is married to Norwegian singer Anne-Marie Giørtz.
Nguyên Lê is a French jazz musician and composer of Vietnamese ancestry. His main instrument is guitar, and he also plays bass guitar and guitar synthesizer.
Renaud Garcia-Fons is a French bassist and composer.
Dhafer Youssef is a Tunisian composer, singer and oud player.
Mark Guiliana is a Grammy-nominated American drummer, composer and leader of the band Beat Music. He has played with Avishai Cohen, Brad Mehldau, David Bowie, Meshell Ndegeocello, Gretchen Parlato, Jason Lindner, Lionel Loueke, Dhafer Youssef, Tigran Hamasyan, Matisyahu, St. Vincent, the European piano trio Phronesis and his own groups, Heernt and the Mark Giuliana Jazz Quartet.
Scott Colley is an American jazz double bassist and composer. As of 2024, he has been nominated for 4 Grammy Awards, including Best Jazz Instrumental Album for Guided Tour in 2014 and Still Dreaming in 2019. Throughout his career, he has toured, recorded, and played with musicians such as Herbie Hancock, Jim Hall, Carmen McRae, Chris Potter, Julian Lage, Brian Blade, and Pat Metheny.
Jan Lundgren, born on 22 March 1966 in Olofström, Blekinge, and resident in Ystad since 2005, is an internationally active Swedish jazz musician. He is a pianist, composer, and senior lecturer at the Malmö Academy of Music, where he has taught since autumn 1991, as well as the Artistic Director of the Ystad Sweden Jazz Festival, Ystad Winter Piano Fest and Jazzhus Montmartre in Copenhagen. Jan Lundgren is a Steinway Artist and has won many awards. He tours internationally and is signed to the German record label, ACT.
Isfar Rzayev-Sarabski is an Azerbaijani pianist and composer, winner of the Solo Piano Competition of the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2009, Honorary Artist of Azerbaijan (2010), and receiver of the Zirva State Prize (2010). He is the great-grandson of Huseyngulu Sarabski, celebrated Azerbaijani opera singer, actor and one of the founders of opera in the Islamic world.
Michael Wollny is a German jazz pianist and a professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Leipzig. He has played with international musicians including Joachim Kühn, Tamar Halperin, Marius Neset, Andreas Schaerer, Émile Parisien and Vincent Peirani, and recorded award-winning albums. In his Michael Wollny Trio, he has played with percussionist Eric Schaefer and bassist Tim Lefebvre.
Jan Bang is a Norwegian musician and record producer who has worked with Morten Harket, Sidsel Endresen, David Sylvian, Nils Petter Molvær, Arild Andersen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Arve Henriksen, and Erik Honoré.
Audun Erlien is a Norwegian jazz musician, known from several albums in various genres.
Chris Jennings is a Canadian jazz double bassist, composer, arranger and educator.
David Helbock is an Austrian jazz musician.
Céline Bonacina is a French saxophonist and composer. She plays soprano, alto and baritone saxophone.