No, the gentleman is not from a South African township! But yes, Soweto Kinch is a phenomenon, a one-off. The 39-year-old saxophonist plays bebop & hip hop on a stamp, or rather: he epitomises the smallest common multiple of jazz, rap, and spoken word. A distinctive trademark, intertwining virtuosity and message. Kinch demonstrates what the Brits can teach the Americans on the subject of narrative hip hop.
In recent years, Soweto Kinch has been showered with awards as a saxophonist and MC in both the jazz and the hip-hop scenes on either side of the Atlantic.
His star came to the fore in 2002, when he won the Saxophone Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival. Shortly after, his debut album Conversations With The Unseen came out.
Then everything happened fast: two Mobo Awards, two Urban Music Awards, the prestigious BBC Radio Jazz Award, BBC Best Jazz Instrumentalist, the Peter Whittingham Award for Jazz Innovation, and many other awards he got to take home to Birmingham. Together with the well-known Jazz Jamaica All Stars he also won the BBC Radio Award for Best Band of the Year (2004).
With his trio, Soweto Kinch moves from fast bebop passages to groovy hip hop beats as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Soweto’s rap performances leave even people such as Mos Def or Q-Tip in the dust.
And Amy Winehouse would have loved the fast-paced saxophone player to contribute to her next, "purist" jazz CD.