Ollie Canham Group – Café Spotlight

Ollie Canham is a super-smart and wide-ranging jazz guitarist, composer, and arranger based in Birmingham. A recent graduate of the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire with first-class honours, he is the recipient of the Eddie Harvey Arranger Award and the Mike Gibbs Composition Prize, and has recorded a big-band album showcasing his original works.

Alumnus of the hugely influential Tomorrow’s Warriors programme, in which he worked alongside recent Wolverhampton Arts Centre guest Sultan Stevenson, Ollie has received commissions from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the National Concert Band Festival, and Kent Youth Jazz Orchestra, and has worked with artists such as Paul Dunmall.

A fast-rising voice in the UK jazz scene, Ollie has already been seen in two very contrasting Sunday afternoon Café Spotlight sessions in SNAC – in trumpeter Christian Kiely-Charalambous’s explosive quartet, and in duo with the subtly magnificent and affecting singer-songwriter Sophie Gilbert. This time he will lead a hand-picked band through his own compositions, deriving inspiration from Miles Davis, Vince Mendoza and Bill Frisell, among many others.