Upcoming Gigs

Winner of the 2009 Jazz CD of the Year - Parliamentary Jazz Awards

Sam took up the clarinet aged ten and, after finding a passion for jazz, soon switched to saxophone. He spent his early years listening to the likes of John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter and other saxophone greats and went on to study a jazz degree at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music.

Fresh out of college, Sam quickly built a reputation as a hugely talented musician and subsequently worked with, amongst others, Tim Garland’s Underground Orchestra, Pete King, Julian Arguelles, The Gwilym Simcock Quintet, Acoustic Triangle, Stan Sulzman and Jim Hart. He will be familiar to jazz audiences all over the UK, performing at top venues including Ronnie Scott's, The Albert Hall, the Jazz Cafe, and the Sage Centre. He has also appeared six times at the Paradise Jazz Festival in Cyprus, performed at the Brecon Jazz Festival with Pete King and Julian Arguelles, and taught on the Global Music Foundation Summer School in Tuscany alongside US piano great Edward Simon.

Sam is a founding member of the London based Loop collective and his current quartet features long standing friends and associates Gwilym Simcock (piano), Oli Hayhurst (bass) and Ben Reynolds (drums). Individually, they are all in-demand musicians on the London jazz scene and years of playing together mean the Sam Crockatt Quartet is an improvising ensemble well worth hearing.

"his love of an elegant melody is apparent throughout, his light but strong, warbling, slightly smoky tenor sound perfectly gauged to bring out his tunes' freshness, grace and vitality" Chris Parker, www.vortexjazz.co.uk