Chris Higginbottom has burst onto the scene in the last couple of years as a drummer with great touch, a mastery of rhythmic understanding and a fresh, exciting approach as both an accompanist and as a soloist.
Described recently by the London Evening Standard's Jack Masserick as displaying the "smooth clarity that Tony Williams used to demonstrate", Chris is fast making waves in the world of modern jazz.
As well as being an outstanding drummer, Chris Higginbottom has, in the short space of time since graduating from the Royal Academy of Music in 2000, won the Perrier Young Ensemble of the Year 2001 with his band the Higginbottom/Mayne Quartet (for which he, apart from leading, writes much of the music), and played all over Britain and in Europe with a veritable who's who of British Jazz, including Stan Sulzmann, Julian Arguelles, Jason Rebello, Tim Garland, Christine Tobin, Martin Speake, Jim Watson and Dick Pearce.
At just 24 years of age, Chris Higginbottom represents a new standard in British jazz drumming, he is an inspirational player, able to react and provoke in equal measure, and his immaculate time and open-minded approach to the music allows a great deal of improvisational freedom, both rhythmically and dynamically, within the trio.
Chris Higginbottom studied at New School University in Manhattan under Carl Allen and Michael Carvin, and played with musicians including Seamus Blake and Eric Lewis, appearing at various venues in and around NYC such as the 55 bar, Cleopatra's Needle and Detour.
Chris Higginbottom went on to perform with many of the UK's leading artists including Tim Garland, Guy Barker and Christine Tobin, before moving to New York in the Autumn of 2002. He has since played with many great musicians including Mark Murphy, Eric Lewis, Ingrid Jensen and Gary Bartz and at numerous prestigious venus such as Birdland (New York), Blues Alley (Washington) and the Deer Head Inn (Pennsylvania).
