Kit Downes

Kit Downes is a composer, pianist, and organist known for a clean playing style and a bell-like sound in experimental, modal, and post-bop settings. He began with the jazz group Troyka and then led a piano trio on 2009's Mercury Prize-nominated Quiet Tiger. 2013's Light from Old Stars crisscrossed modern jazz and vintage blues with global rhythms. Obsidian, his 2018 ECM debut, showcased original compositions and improvisations on solo pipe organ. In 2021 he released two duo outings: Premonitions of the Unbuilt City, with pianist Matt Rogers, and Subaerial with cellist Lucy Raiton. Downes returned to the piano trio for 2022's Vermillion. The following year saw him record in duo with Seb Rochford for A Short Diary, and he played organ alongside saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Hayden Chisolm backing PJEV, a women's vocal quintet from the Balkans, on Medna Roso. In July 2024, Downes backed British jazz vocal icon Norma Winstone on Outpost of Dreams.