Darren English

Darren English is a jazz trumpet player from Cape Town, South Africa. He is the two-time recipient of the Fine Music Radio Award and the 2012 recipient of the SAMRO Overseas Award. He studied for a Masters in Jazz Music under the direction of Dr. Gordon Vernick at Georgia State University in the USA.

Back home in South Africa, he has performed and recorded with some of his country’s most respected musicians, including Marcus Wyatt, Jimmy Dludlu, Mark Fransman, Alvin Dyers, Robbie Jansen, Andre Peterson, Kyle Shepherd, Feya Faku and David Kramer. Internationally, he has worked with UK pop star Craig David, Finley Quaye (UK, 2010), Excess Luggage (Norway, 2011) and pianist Joe McBride (USA, 2012). He has performed at the Grahamstown International Jazz Fest (2011), the North Sea/Cape Town International Jazz Festival (2008-2011) and the Norwegian Folk Music Festival (2009).

In the US, he has recently become involved with a range of groups on trumpet and drums, including the Joe Gransden Big Band, the Marcus Lewis Big Band, Russell Gunn’s Krunk Jazz Orkestra, Jacob Deaton’s Sweet Deat and the Revivalists, the Kevin Bales Quartet and Kebbi Williams’s Wolfpack. He has had the opportunity to perform frequently alongside some of Atlanta’s finest musicians, including Kevin Bales, Kenny Banks, Tyrone Jackson, Louis Heriveaux, Craig Shaw, Kebbi Williams and Lester Walker. Darren is currently at work writing original material for his debut solo album under Atlanta’s top jazz label, Hot Shoe Records. He is endorsed by B.A.C. Custom Artist Series Trumpets.