Rob Luft (born November 1993) is an English jazz guitarist and composer from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, United Kingdom. He has released three albums, ''Riser'', ''Life Is The Dancer'' & ''Dahab Days'', as a solo artist on British label

Edition Records Edition Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

, most notably on

John Surman John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944) is an English jazz saxophone, Clarinet family, clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for danc ...

's 2024 release ''Words Unspoken''.

Biography

Luft was born in

Sidcup Sidcup is an area of south-east London, England, primarily in the London Borough of Bexley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, bordering the London Boroughs of London Borough of Bromley, Bromley and Royal Borough of Greenwich, Greenwich. It was ...

, Greater London, and attended

The Judd School The Judd School (often known simply as Judd) is an 11–18 voluntary aided, grammar school and sixth form in Tonbridge, Kent, England. It was established in 1888 at Stafford House on East Street in Tonbridge, where it remained for eight years bef ...

from 2005 to 2012. While at this school, he joined the

National Youth Jazz Orchestra The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO), established as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra in 1965, is a British jazz orchestra. History The National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO) was founded in 1965 by Bill Ashton. Based in the Royal Arsenal ...

of Great Britain (2010–2015). He then enrolled at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

where, upon graduation, he was the recipient of the

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, Order of Canada, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he w ...

Music Prize in association with

Edition Records Edition Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

, adjudicated by John McLaughlin. His debut album as a bandleader was released in 2017 and was warmly received with four star reviews in ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'', ''

Jazzwise ''Jazzwise'' is a British monthly magazine focused on jazz, launched in 1997. The magazine covers a range of jazz sub-genres and provides news coverage, a national gig guide, a jazz-on-film page, feature articles, and a review section that evalua ...

'' and '' Downbeat Magazine'', who described it as "the most fully-realised and rewarding debut album from a guitarist-composer since Julian Lage's 2009 outing". He released his second album on

Edition Records Edition Records is an independent record label that was founded in 2008 by pianist Dave Stapleton and photographer Tim Dickeson.All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

describing it as "balm for the soul" as well as stating that "every aspect of the album is sublime". He has also performed as a sideman with many of the world's leading modern jazz artists & groups, including

Django Bates Django Bates (born Leon Bates, 2 October 1960) is a British jazz musician, composer, multi-instrumentalist, band leader and educator. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. Bates has been described as "one of the most talented musici ...

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusio ...

Arve Henriksen Arve Henriksen (born 22 March 1968) is a Norwegian trumpeter. Career Henriksen was born in Stranda Municipality and educated on the Jazz program at Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet, Trondheim Musikkonservatorium; he later studie ...

, Avishai Cohen (trumpeter),

Ben Wendel Ben Wendel (born February 20, 1976) is a Canadian jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, ...

and

The Cinematic Orchestra The Cinematic Orchestra is a British nu jazz and downtempo music group created in 1999 by Jason Swinscoe and later involving his music collaborator Dominic Smith. The group is signed to independent record label Ninja Tune. The Cinematic Orches ...

. Luft was the recipient of the Peter Whittingham Award in 2015 as part of the co-led big band Patchwork Jazz Orchestra, and in 2018 he was nominated as the "Breakthrough Act of the Year" in the Jazz FM Awards and as the "Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year" in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. He was selected as a BBC New Generation Jazz Artist 2019-2022 & in November 2023 he performed his self-penned concerto for electric guitar & symphony orchestra at the

Queen Elizabeth Hall The Queen Elizabeth Hall (QEH) is a music venue on the South Bank in London, England, that hosts European classical music, classical, jazz, and avant-garde music, talks and dance performances. It was opened in 1967, with a concert conducted by ...

with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

as part of the

London Jazz Festival The London Jazz Festival is a music festival held every November. It takes place in London venues such as the Barbican and the Royal Festival Hall and in smaller jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott's and the Vortex Jazz Club. It is produced by Se ...

. He has collaborated with Swiss-Albanian singer Elina Duni, releasing two albums on

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

, ''Lost Ships'' & ''A Time To Remember'', the latter of which was awarded "Jazz Album Of The Month" in ''

'' newspaper upon release in June 2023. Duni & Luft often appear in a pared-back duo format of guitar & voice, and the pair have toured throughout Europe, the Americas & the Far East, having given sold-out shows in New York at Le Poisson Rouge ''(formerly The Village Gate)'',

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annu ...

& Cairo Jazz Festival,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Discography

As leader/co-leader As sideman

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luft, Rob English jazz guitarists English male guitarists English jazz composers 1993 births Living people 21st-century English guitarists British male jazz composers 21st-century English male musicians ECM Records artists Edition Records artists