Born in Oxford in 1981, Alexander Hawkins is a pianist described as having a ‘wizards’ touch’ and a ‘fierce technique’. Indeed, a recent interview commented that he is ‘just emerging as one of the most striking voices of his generation, both with unique things to say and unique ways of expressing them’ (David Grundy, Eartrip).

He leads his own 6-piece Ensemble, featuring Orphy Robinson, Otto Fischer, Hannah Marshall, Dominic Lash, and Javier Carmona. One review of this group’s debut record, No Now Is So (FMR Records), wrote that ‘barbed dissonance and wrenching romanticism [are the] clear poles by which he operates…such absolute joy and strength…an incredible record’ (Clifford Allen, Bagatellen). This album also placed in several ‘Top Ten Albums’ and ‘Top Ten Debuts’ of 2010 lists. The group’s second album, ‘all there, ever out’, is due for release on the Babel label in late Spring 2011.

He co-leads the transatlantic Convergence Quartet, featuring Dominic Lash, Hawkins, American Taylor Ho Bynum and Canadian Harris Eisenstadt; a band which has toured the United Kingdom twice (2006 and 2009). Their first album placed in two critics’ ‘Top Ten Releases of 2007’ lists. Stuart Broomer in Point of Departure wrote of ‘a fundamental reassertion of composition within improvised music’, and Jay Collins (Cadence) of ‘highly unpredictable and thought-provoking music to savor with endless roomfor future consideration’.

As a Hammond organist, Hawkins forms one third of the group ‘Decoy’, of which Duncan Heining in Jazzwise wrote ‘this…might just be the best new band to emerge this year…a band that redefine the words “shock and awe”… this is an improvising trio that rocks and swings so hard it’s dangerous…it made me want to dig out all those records, watch those films and set the controls for the heart of the sun. That’s how good it is’. John Fordham in The Guardian suggested that ‘a cult following is not far behind’. Brian Morton commented that Hawkins is ‘[t]he most interesting Hammond player of the last decade and more’. Of Decoy’s third album, ‘Oto’ (featuring saxophonist JoeMcPhee), Clifford Allen comments that ‘Hawkins, Edwards, Noble and McPhee have created a performance—and a record—for the ages’.

Hawkins also plays in the cooperative group Barkingside,whose eponymous debut album (Emanem) placed in the ‘top ten’ lists in 2008. According to John Eyles in All About Jazz ‘the level of group empathy displayed here is scary’. As a sideman, he has worked in Evan Parker’s trio and quartet. He is pianist in the ensembles of legendary South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, and well as in the group of the pioneer of Ethiopian jazz and funk, Mulatu Astatke. He also features in Ntshuks Bonga’s Qwati, alongside Claude Deppa, Gail Brand, Greg Bonnie, Oren Marshall, and Mark Sanders. Other collaborations have included with Lol Coxhill, John Butcher, Steve Williamson, Jason Yarde, Ray Warleigh, Alan Wilkinson, Tom Arthurs, Tony Marsh, Will Gaines, John Russell, Steve Waterman, Pete McPhail, Pat Thomas,Eddie Prevost, Francine Luce, and many others. He has worked in the London Improvisers’ Orchestra, the Oxford Improvisers Orchestra, and the Pendulum Big Band; and also plays organ in the funk band Big Train’s Haymaker.

He has played concerts and festivals across the world, including in Belgium, Brazil, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, and elsewhere. Domestic performances have included at the Queen Elizabeth Hall; Purcell Room; Symphony Hall, Birmingham; Ronnie Scott’s, The Vortex, and elsewhere.

He has been broadcast in various places, including on BBC Radio 3 and BBC 6 Music. He was nominated a ‘Musician of the Year’ in All About Jazz New York for 2010; and as the #1 keyboardist, and #5 pianist, of the year by Spain’s ‘El Intruso’.

‘Hawkins seems to get better every time I see him live; every solo he took tonight was a journey, or, if you prefer, a well-told short story. They would begin as jazz explorations, or even boogie-woogie-flavoured romps, before whipping themselves up to a frenzy of clanging clusters, rolling glissandi, and fast-paced, dissonant runs, like a dancer tripping over their feet as the speed of their performance spins out of control. This was both tremendously exciting and the consequence of a logical development – jazz taken to the edge and then pushed over, because there really was nowhere else to go – and it was always – somehow – contained within the framework of a two or three minute showcase.’ (David Grundy, Streams of Expression)