This week we are incredibly excited to have the brilliant Max McLeish performing an Apocalypse Session for us! His brilliantly resourceful arrangement of John Coltrane’s “26-2” is the perfect showcase for his superb skillset and unfailingly imaginative outlook.
Max is an exciting young multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and educator. Highly active as a trombonist, he has recently performed with leading British jazz artists Nikki Iles, Trish Clowes, Gareth Lockrane and Stan Sultzmann. His accolades include reaching the semi-final of the BBC Young Jazz Musician in 2016 and 2018, the classical brass semi-final in 2016, and winning the Reinstein Jazz Award at Cambridge University in 2018. Skilled as both a soloist and big band section player, Max was lead trombone in the Cambridge University Jazz Orchestra (CUJO, 2017-2020), where he was musical director, and the Royal Academy of Music Big Band (2020). Whilst with CUJO, Max collaborated with Yazz Ahmed, Mads Mathias, Trish Clowes and BBC Big Band director Barry Forgie.
Aside from jazz, Max is also an accomplished and versatile classical musician. In 2016 he performed Albrechtsburger’s Alto Trombone Concerto in York Minster and in the same year toured the Czech Republic as a cello soloist with the City of Leeds Youth Orchestra. In 2017-2018 Max held the principal trombone chair with the Cambridge University Orchestra where he performed with word-class conductors including Sir Mark Elder, Tom Poster and Jac van Steen. Max’s music making also encompasses a wide range of other genres including gospel, soul, pop and CCM.
Max’s Christian faith has played a significant role in his development as a musician. As a teenager he began to play keys, cello and bass in worship bands and he currently leads worship over zoom for his local church in Ladbroke Grove. From 2019-2020 he hosted the podcast ‘Faith in Music’ and co-hosted the radio show ‘Songs That Say More’, which explored the relevance of faith to mainstream culture. He attributes to God the awesome gift of music!
An animated musical educator, Max has been teaching since 2016 and has since led workshops in schools around the country in topics including jazz, improvisation and the trombone. In 2021 Max will be working regularly in schools as a presenter and musician for Lights Camera Score. Outside of music, he is involved in teaching children and young people as an activity instructor at Christian Youth Enterprises, where he volunteers and organizes summer camps.
Definitely go and check out Max’s Apocalypse Session for effortlessly Jazzy vibes and keep your eyes peeled on his Social Media platforms for upcoming content!
To find out more about Max follow him on Social Media:
Facebook// https://www.facebook.com/maxmcleishmusic Insta// https://www.instagram.com/maxmcleish/
Photo © Max McLeish
