Band Biographies
Darius Brubeck
Piano
Born in San Francisco, jazz pianist and composer Darius Brubeck grew up in the artistic milieu of his famous father Dave and has enjoyed a lifetime of varied international experience as band leader, composer, teacher and broadcaster.
Moving to the United Kingdom in 2006, Darius now leads the London based Darius Brubeck Quartet, which has become a successful and popular group in the UK and beyond.
For more information, please see a full biography on the About page.
Dave O’Higgins
Saxophones
Saxophonist Dave O’Higgins 24th album as leader “Pluto” (Ubuntu 2022) is just about to be released. The last Ubuntu release “That’s the Way to Live” (2021) has had great reviews in the Observer, Jazzwise, BBC Magazine & many online jazz sites. In 2017 “It’s Always 9:30 in Zog” was nominated for best CD (British Jazz Awards) & Dave for best tenor saxophonist. O’Higgins & Luft were nominated for best band in 2020 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.
Dave serves on the faculty at the London College of Contemporary Media. He currently performs with the Harvey / O’Higgins Project, O’Higgins & Luft, His’n’Hers, Darius Brubeck Quartet, and the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra. In addition, Dave worked with Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra, Joey Calderazzo, Joe Locke, Dave Kikowski, Eric Alexander, Max Ionata, Joe Lovano, Phil Woods, Jimmy Smith, Nancy Wilson, Wayne Shorter, Eddie Gomez, Billy Childs, Abdullah Ibrahim, Jim Mullen, Martin Taylor and Stephane Grappelli. Dave also wrote and produced the 2017 Matt Bianco album, “Gravity” and tours with the band as saxophonist & musical director.
Dave’s saxophone sound and language draw from deep respect for Dexter, Stitt, Coltrane, Mobley, Turrentine and Brecker amongst a host of other inspirations from early on to the present day.
“A stunning player in the neo-bop vein, with an apparently effortless flow of coherent ideas, beautiful time and a highly developed harmonic sense.”
JAZZ GUIDE
“His professional presentation was an object lesson to the amateurishness of local players. His musicianship seemed boundless. Like his friend Martin Taylor did last year to our guitarists, Dave O’Higgins did to our sax players – gave them new and exciting challenges. And gave us mere listeners an exceptional night.”
ADELAIDE ADVERTISER, AUSTRALIA
“O’Higgins plays with quite exceptional fluency and his fund of ideas never runs out.”
THE OBSERVER
Matt Ridley
Bass
Matt has been a familiar presence on the UK jazz scene for two decades, during which time he has performed and collaborated with an extremely broad range of artists. He cut his teeth playing with UK luminaries such as Michael Garrick, Pete King, Don Weller, and since 2006 he has been touring the UK and abroad with Darius Brubeck’s quartet featuring Dave O’Higgins. He worked extensively with Ant Law in his quintet and ‘Art of Rhythm’ trio (feat. Asaf Sirkis), and more recently has been performing at major international jazz festivals with Ethiopian jazz legend Mulatu Astatke. He was co-producer and bass player on Fabienne Ambuehl’s critically acclaimed album ‘Thrive’ (2025).
As a band leader, he has 6 albums to his name. The eponymous debut album of his latest project, ‘The Antidote’, topped the polls in the UK and received glowing reviews from coveted music publications around the globe. After the release of the follow-up EP ‘The Antidote Reloaded’, a full-length live album ‘The Antidote: Live At The London Jazz Festival’ was released in October 2023.
www.mattridleybass.com
Matt Ridley Link tree
Wesley Gibbens
Drums
Wesley moved to London from South Africa in 2005 and has been a founding member of The Darius Brubeck Quartet since 2007. Credits include UK based African musicians Netsayi, SA Gospel Singers, Afla Sackey and the late Lucky Ranku and Pinise Saul as well as extensive work within the London New Orleans / Trad Jazz scene with the likes of TJ Johnson and Adrian Cox.
Wesley studied Brazilian and African music as part of the F-ire Collective between 2007 -2014 forming his own his personal experimental duo ‘Euphorials’, featuring Zac Gvirtzman, who have released four albums to date.
The balance of his time is spent mixing, mastering, teaching and producing in his home studio.
Contact Wesley via www.wesleygibbensmusic.com.