“O’Higgins plays with quite exceptional fluency and his fund of ideas never runs out.” The Observer
Dave O’Higgins’ tenor and soprano sax sounds are highly personal and recognisable, with a clear sense of melodic development and adventure. A popular performer with the public, with an excellent sense of pacing and presentation, he has a wide palette from Charlie Parker, Dexter Gordon, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson through to Stanley Turrentine and Michael Brecker. He has relentlessly pursued artistic and sonic exploration and development with a deep respect for the tradition of the music.
Best Tenor Sax Playor nominee at the 2018 British Jazz Awards, Dave O’Higgins is one of the UK's best known jazz saxophonists with 23 albums as leader to his credit. In 2017, It’s Always 9:30 in Zog was also nominated best CD.
Dave currently performs with the Harvey / O’Higgins Project, O’Higgins & Luft, Darius Brubeck Quartet, and the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra. He is a highly regarded educator at the London College of Contemporary Media, where he is the Jazz Pathway Leader. He also runs a small specialist jazz recording studio (JVG), in search of the optimum way of recording jazz musicians through a combination of old techniques (á la Rudy Van Gelder) and newer innovations.
What's more, he has worked with some of the world’s finest musicans, including: Joey Calderazzo, Joe Locke, Dave Kikowski, Eric Alexander, Grant Stewart, Max Ionata, Phil Dwyer, Adam Nussbaum, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Nancy Wilson, Peggy Lee, Kurt Elling, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gomez, Billy Childs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Chico Chagas, Stephane Grappelli, Michel Legrand.. to name a few!
“A stunning player in the neo-bop vein, with an apparently effortless flow of coherent ideas, beautiful time and a highly developed harmonic sense.” Jazz Guide
“His professional presentation was an object lesson to the amateurishness of local players. His musicianship seemed boundless. Like his friend Martin Taylor did last year to our guitarists, Dave O’Higgins did to our sax players – gave them new and exciting challenges. And gave us mere listeners an exceptional night.” Adelaide Advertiser, Australia
“O’Higgins plays with quite exceptional fluency and his fund of ideas never runs out.” The Observer
Event: Saturday 7 May, 7.30pm
Tickets: £15
Book now for Dave O'Higgins at Hampshire Cultural Trust's Forest Arts Centre, New Milton now!
