Serious

Bobby Bradford is a vital piece of jazz history – 75 years old this year, he was one of Ornette Coleman’s earliest collaborators from the early 50s, and played again in Ornette’s early 60s quartet. He often worked with the seminal London drummer John Stevens, who is also the link with Norwegian saxophonist Frode Gjerstad, who has been at the heart of European free jazz for many years. With Ingebrigt Haaker Flaten and Paal Nilssen-Love forming a potent rhythm section, this is a quartet that supplies freedom with swing in abundance.

Colin Stetson’s sonically vast, melodically accessible solo saxophone performances have opened for Arcade Fire, campaigned for Obama, and charmed the monks of the National Shrine of St. Francis of Assissi. Once described as “the Roger Federer of avant-garde instrumental music”, Stetson has worked with artists as varied as Tom Waits and Angelique Kidjo.

Part of the London Jazz Festival in association with BBC Radio 3