“kaleidoscopic, freewheeling beauty…….†BBC Website
"An awesome saxophone player" Jez Nelson, Jazz on 3, BBC Radio 3
Fast becoming recognised as one of the leading players in European Jazz, Scottish saxophonist Phil Bancroft first came to prominence in the late 80s, as the main composer in the trailblazing John Rae Collective, the band that turned the Scottish jazz scene on it’s head. He has been a mainstay in many of the major bands to emerge from Scotland over the past fifteen years. He studied medicine, worked part-time for 10 years as a Hospital Doctor & Psychiatrist, and since leaving medicine has played music professionally and co-founded a creative music education company- ABC Creative Music (applebananacarrot.com). Phil’s original saxophone sound can be heard on Caber Music releases by The Phil Bancroft Trio & Quartet, Trio AAB, the Tom Bancroft Orchestra, Celtic Feet, Kevin Mackenzie’s Vital Signs.
Having studied with George Garzone, David Liebman, and Steve Coleman, Bancroft has taken his talents across the continents, blowing on the New York and Amsterdam scenes, jamming in the townships of South Africa and playing for Indian Classical Saxophone virtuoso Kadri Gopalnath in his Chennai house.
He has collaborated with many great musicians including Thomas Strønen, Mike Walker, Reid Anderson, David Berkman and French collective ARFI and has explored the meeting of improvisation and Celtic music, playing with folk luminaries such as Flook’s Brian Finnegan, the late Martyn Bennett and the Scottish folk scene’s folk-jazz All-Star big band, ‘The Unusual Suspects’. He recently appeared on two recordings by folk fiddler Aidan O'Rourke- entitled 'Sirius' and 'The Well'.
On the jazz side he has performed with Geri Allen, Tommy Smith, Kenny Wheeler, Julian & Steve Arguelles, Joe Lovano, Ernst Reisinger, and Oliver Lake. He is currently playing regularly with Colin Steele’s Quintet and Folk-Jazz crossover project ‘Stramash’, and has recently joined the Kevin Mackenzie Quartet.
Bancroft’s music reflects his life, rooted in the classic American jazz tradition, but encompassing influences from many sources, including Celtic, Indian and Western Classical music. He expresses a unique voice through his tenor and soprano saxophones and distinctive, evocative compositions.
Having taught saxophone & improvisation at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and Napier University, Phil now runs education company ABC Creative Music with his twin brother Tom.
"A significant figure in the ascent of the Scottish new-jazz scene over the past decade"
The Guardian
“Jazz has an international lineage of elegiac storytellers (Shorter-Ornette-Jarrett-Garbarek-Frisell-Endresen) and Bancroft makes a suitable addition to these voices, balancing restraint and propulsion withconsummate ease.†Kevin LeGendre Echoes Magazine
