Nathaniel Facey & his Quartet
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club
25 November 2010

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Desert Island Discs

Which 2 albums would you take with you to a desert island?

Nathaniel Facey
John Coltrane – A Love Supreme
Sonny Rollins – Saxophone Colossus

Shaney Forbes
Miles Davis – Black Beauty: Live at Filmore West
John Coltrane – Live at the Half Note

Biography

Born in London in 1983 to Jamaican parents, Nathaniel Facey began his music studies at the age of 14. He had always wanted to play the alto saxophone because it was the ‘coolest instrument’ at school but, at first, had to content himself with the clarinet. At 15, his mother gave him a handful of Charlie Parker CDs, together with a copy of sax supremo, Courtney Pine’s album, Modern Day Jazz Stories and a copy of a magazine feature on the saxophonist. From then on he was hooked.

He and childhood friend, Shaney Forbes (current drummer for Tomorrow's Warriors) shared a passion for music - reggae, funk, gospel and, more recently, hip-hop - and while their contemporaries cruised the nightclubs, these young musicians would take the opportunity to practise and jam together at home.

In 2001 Facey commenced a Bmus degree at London's Royal Academy of Music and, with Forbes, became a regular participant in the Tomorrow's Warriors jazz jam sessions at The Jazz Café, London. Facey’s influences range from Parker to Coltrane, Ornette Coleman to Sonny Rollins, and Wayne Shorter to Branford Marsalis, the latter of whom he considers “the most incredible improviser alive.”

In 2002, he was invited to become a permanent member of Billy Jenkin’s core band and, since then, has become a leading force in the musical direction of the band. He has found work with the likes of Afrobeat star, Dele Sosemi, gospel artist Ron Kenoli, and award-winning Jazz Jamaica All Stars.

Facey worked under Billy Jenkins whilst studying at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and performed professionally with him in London that year. He also co-leads (with pianist Arthur Lea) a quartet playing the music of Billy Jenkins who headlined a day of Jenkins music at The Vortex as part of the ‘05 London Jazz Festival.

Nathaniel Facey is now an integral part of the critically acclaimed Quartet ‘Emperical’.