Jas Kayser
"Jazz FM Award 2021 Breakthrough Act of the Year"
With a Masters degree from the prestigious Berklee College of Music (USA) and work with the likes of Ralph Peterson and Lenny Kravitz, 26-year-old UK drummer, composer and bandleader Jas Kayser has established herself as one of the leading lights of her generation. Already with an International reputation she includes work at the likes of the Newport Jazz Festival and Panama Jazz Festival on a diverse and impressive cv, and to top that off she won the 2021 Jazz FM Award for ‘Breakthrough Act of the Year’. As the drummer on Kansas Smitty's most recent album, 'Plunderphonia', her profile on the London scene continues to grow, and with her own music she says she likes to “explore the common grounds between Jazz and Afro-beat”, releasing a new vinyl recording 'Jas 5ive' through Jazz Re:freshed's iconic 5ive series. However, this evening, along with regular collaborators pianist Joe Webb & bassist Will Sach, she will be performing a more straight-ahead jazz set to “see where the music takes them”. And watch out for Jas’s Special Guest, the highly respected MOBO-nominated guitarist Femi Temowo (Dee Dee Bridgewater, George Benson, Amy Winehouse, Soweto Kinch).
“Jas Kayser…exceptionally talented” BeBop Spoken Here; "Jas is a wonderful drummer, musician and assembler of fine musical ideas" Jamie Cullum; “Temowo…gracefully soulful” Guardian