Alexander Hawkins is a composer, pianist, organist, and bandleader who is ‘unlike anything else in modern creative music’.
His writing has been said to represent ‘a fundamental reassertion of composition within improvised music’, and his voice one of the ‘most vividly distinctive...in modern jazz’. As a pianist, he has been described as ‘remarkable...possessing staggering technical ability and a fecund imagination as both player and composer.’
Concerning his organ playing, critic Brian Morton recently commented that ‘[t]he most interesting Hammond player of the last decade and more, [Hawkins] has already extended what can be done on the instrument.’ He has been widely commissioned, by the likes of the BBC, festivals such as the London and Berlin Jazz Festivals, venues such as the Pierre Boulez Saal, and contemporary music groups such as the Riot Ensemble. He was named 'Instrumentalist of the Year' in the 2016 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
