The musician, who was "saved from death" by saxophone, will perform at the festival Sib Jazz Fest
On 22nd of October saxophonist Tony Kofi and his quartet perform in the program of the international festival Sib Jazz Fest in Novosibirsk. Up to the musician, saxophone appeared in his life in the visions, which began to visit him after the accident. Today he is a world-class jazz star.
On 22nd of October Tony Kofi Quartet performs at the International Festival Sib Jazz Fest. Musicians will present a program memory to Ornette Coleman - legendary saxophonist, composer, pioneer of free jazz. Tony Kofi will take part in the festival Sib Jazz Fest for the second time: his previous performance took place in 2011 as part of World Saxophone Quartet.
“I was always told by my teachers that I was no good so I didn’t bother with it, so when I left school I became a carpenter and was working for a building company aged 16 years. I was very happy to be doing something I loved – says Toni Kofi. But 3-4 months into the job I had a terrible accident and fell three levels down from the roof, it was a life threatening accident and woke up in hospital 5 days later totally confused and dazed. Only seeing my family around my bed bought my back to earth. After that I had visions. The most profound image was of me playing this strange instrument which was a saxophone. So when I left hospital the first thing I purchased was a cheap second hand alto saxophone. First my family joked and teased me, because I was known for starting something and then moving onto something else before it’s finished… But this time it all was something different. I didn’t have a choice in the matter, it was either to take this path and live or die at 16. I chose to live, so I believe the saxophone chose me, and what a journey it’s been so far”.
Today Tony Kofi is a living legend. He is proclaimed the most prominent pioneer of modern jazz after Charlie Parker and John Coltrane. Winner of numerous awards, a Master's degree Berklee College of Music (USA), the musician is an integral part of the modern jazz world. Since 1977 he performs with ensembles and a whole galaxy of hieratic modernist jazz names, including David Murray, Donald Byrd, Billy Higgins, Donald Lu, Sam Rivers.
In 2010 Tony Kofi was invited to participate in the recording of the album «For The Love Of Ornette» with Jamaaladeen Takuma and the father of modern free jazz Ornette Coleman. This experience was an impulse for the creation of his own quartet. Kofi gathered world-class musicians, each of them was touched and inspired by music of Ornette Coleman, into one collective. Those are trumpeter Byron Wallen, bassist Larry Bartley and drummer Rod Youngs.
The international festival Sib Jazz Fest will be held in Novosibirsk from 20 to 22 October. Its program has collected all the variety of genres of modern jazz. Among the stars of the Festival there are Tony Kofi Quartet (United Kingdom), Motion Trio (Poland), Amsterdam Klezmer Band (Netherlands), trio "Good Evening" (Russia), Stephan Belmondo Trio (France), Sylvia Howard (United States), the hip-Hopf jazz trio Sax Machine (France), Oleg Akkuratov (Russia). Together with the stars of the festival at the stage there are Philharmonic collectives: Vladimir Tolkachev Big Band and jazz orchestra "Siberian Dixieland". The motto of the festival Sib Jazz Fest is «There is jazz in each of us. Listen to your own!"
The project will be held for the sixth time and for the second time at the new Philharmonic hall – Arnold Kats State Concert Hall, both at the main stage and at jazz loft. First time in the history of the Festival in most concerts sound engineers from abroad will work at audio remote control, among them there will be Andreas Adelhofer, who is marked by the cooperation with such stars as Joe Cocker, ZZ Top and Backstreet Boys.
The organizer of the festival is Novosibirsk State Philharmonic Society. Partners of the festival are VTB24, public company Moscow Exchange, jazz club "Truba". Motion Trio concert is supported by Polish Culture Centre in Moscow and Ltd "Bella Siberia" (cosmetics and hygiene products for the whole family).