Rob Luft


Rob Luft is an English jazz guitarist and composer from London, United Kingdom. He has released two albums, Riser & Life Is The Dancer, as a solo artist on British label Edition Records.

Biography

Luft was born in Sidcup, Greater London, and attended The Judd School. While at this school, he joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Great Britain. He then enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music where, upon graduation, he was the recipient of the Kenny Wheeler Music Prize in association with Edition Records. In 2016, he was awarded the 2nd prize in the guitar competition at Montreux Jazz Festival, adjudicated by John McLaughlin. His debut album as a bandleader was released in 2017 and was warmly received with four star reviews in The Guardian, The Irish Times, Jazzwise and Downbeat Magazine, who described it as "the most fully-realised and rewarding debut album from a guitarist-composer since Julian Lage's 2009 outing". He released his second album on Edition Records, Life Is The Dancer, in April 2020, in the midst of the global coronavirus lockdown. This eagerly anticipated sophomore album was also received to critical acclaim, with All About Jazz describing it as "balm for the soul" as well as stating that "every aspect of the album is sublime". He has also performed as a sideman with many of Britain's leading jazz artists, including Django Bates, Laura Jurd, Loose Tubes, Byron Wallen, Tommy Smith and Iain Ballamy. Luft was the recipient of the Peter Whittingham Award in 2015 as part of the co-led big band Patchwork Jazz Orchestra, and in 2018 he was nominated as the "Breakthrough Act of the Year" in the Jazz FM Awards and as the "Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year" in the Parliamentary Jazz Awards.

Discography

As leader/co-leader
YearTitleLabelPersonnel
2015EncuentroSelf-releaseas Deco Ensemble; with Bartosz Głowacki, Sabina Rakcheyeva, Ricardo Gosalbo, Elena Marigómez
2017Pond LifeBig Bad Recordsas Big Bad Wolf; with Owen Dawson, Michael De Souza, Jay Davis
2017RiserEdition Recordswith Joe Wright, Joe Webb, Tom McCredie, Corrie Dick
2020Life Is The DancerEdition Recordswith Joe Wright, Byron Wallen, Luna Cohen, Joe Webb, Tom McCredie, Corrie Dick

As sideman
YearBand/LeaderTitleLabel
2012National Youth Jazz OrchestraThe ChangeSelf-release
2015Patrick HayesBack To The GroveSelf-release
2015Enzo ZirilliZiroBopUR Records
2015National Youth Jazz OrchestraFiftyWhirlwind Recordings
2015Liane CarrollSeasideLinn Records
2016Luna CohenNovember SkyTemps Record
2017Misha Mullov-AbbadoCross-Platform InterchangeEdition Records
2017Phelan Burgoyne TrioUnquiet QuietPumpkin Records
2017Tom RidoutNo Excuses33 Jazz Records
2017Joy EllisLife on LandF-IRE Collective
2018Enzo ZirilliTen To Late!UR Records
2018Karen LanePassarim33 Jazz Records
2018Scottish National Jazz OrchestraSweet Sister SuiteSpartacus Records