Alto Saxophone, Composer, Arranger, Bandleader (b. 1993)

Born in 1993, raised in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, England. She attended Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance studying composition, graduating in 2015. In 2015 she saw Yazz Ahmed perform Polyhymnia at South Bank Centre, inspiring her to create a large ensemble. She formed SEED Ensemble (now seed.) in early 2016. She became known for work with all-female jazz septet Nérija and Afrobeat group Kokoroko, which she left in 2022. She leads six-piece Brown Penny, which played SXSW Austin, Texas in early 2022. In 2017 she won Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Newcomer. In 2018 she won the Ivors Academy Award for Best Jazz Composition for Large Ensemble for "Afronaut". From 2018 to 2019 she was Cameron Mackintosh Resident Composer at Dundee Rep Theatre and part of the London Symphony Orchestra Panufnik Scheme. In 2019 SEED Ensemble's debut Driftglass was nominated for the Hyundai Mercury Prize and she won Jazz FM Breakthrough Act of the Year. In 2020 she was nominated for Jazz FM UK Jazz Act of the Year and Album of the Year. In 2021 she won the Paul Hamlyn Foundation Composer Award. In 2023 she premiered "gratitude" at Southbank Centre. The album gratitude was released March 2024 via International Anthem. In 2024 she was nominated for a National Dance Award for Outstanding Creative Contribution. She composes for theatre including the National Theatre and Old Vic Theatre, and the London Symphony Orchestra. She works as educator and workshop leader.