Hi Guys, my name is Christ-Stephane and I play the Trombone with Kinetika Bloco.
What can I say about Glastonbury? Glastonbury was taken over by the UK Jazz Scene. Inspirations such as Sons of Kemet, Ezra Collective and SteamDown all blew the masses with unmatched energy unlike at any other Glastonbury.

As a Young Jazz Trombonist hailing from South East London. It’s truly inspirational to see all the musicians I am taught by constantly stay in contact with and play alongside shelling down the stages of Glastonbury. I play with Kinetika Bloco and have been playing for just about a year. I take a lot of inspiration from the likes of Theon Cross (Sons of Kemet) and Femi and TJ Koleoso (Ezra Collective) and Andy Grappy. Having the likes of these as teachers at Bloco, allows me to constantly emulate and continue to improve my sound. The musical mentors are very encouraging and always want the younger musicians such as myself to excel on my instrument. It’s nice to know that you have older and much more experienced people already working in the field that you want to succeed in.

Seeing any of these musicians Instagram stories and seeing most of them play in which they are performing always excites me. I always envision myself in their shoes playing in front of thousands of people. Every time I talk to Theon for example, about how to improve my playing there is a sense of humbleness that exhumes from him. Bloco teachers and Jazz musicians are very humble people in general. Misha Fox is another Bloco mentor who plays the Trombone who recently told me that my improvising has gotten better; he gave me a few tips on how to get even better which just goes to show that Bloco mentors have our best interests at heart both in our musical development and in the quest to become better people.

I aspire to be a musician more specifically a Jazz Trombonist. As I mentioned before I joined Kinetika Bloco almost a year ago however before then I was playing at school for 3 years. Did I enjoy it? Not at all. I felt obligated to play my instrument, I didn’t practise and therefore I made very little progress throughout those 3 years. Joining Kinetika Bloco was a huge risk in the sense that I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. I believe I work better under pressure and when I’m given new challenges, so it was beneficial to my musical growth. It’s only been 11 months and a bit, and I have been invited to go to New Orleans with Kinetika Bloco which says something but more on that later. I also recently joined Tomorrow’s Warriors and while its quite difficult, I enjoy the satisfaction of overcoming challenges. In school, I play in the school Big Band which focuses on Traditional Jazz, so I guess that I’m getting even more help on Jazz Standards at school and Tomorrow’s Warriors.

I envision myself playing in front of many jazz lovers and music lovers soon. To be honest, I want to play in a collective because I feel as if I’m good at playing alongside other people because, in my opinion, I’m a very collaborative person. I just want to play and make music so if that involves taking influence from the more technical side of the profession I don’t mind. Becoming a part of the already growing UK Jazz Scene is something I want to do. People like Kaidi Akinibi (Tenor Sax), Ife Ogunjobi (Trumpet) and Deji Ijishakan (Tenor Sax) are Bloco Alumni and are currently blowing the waters of the UK Jazz Scene away. I look at those figures mentioned for a point of reference on how to carry myself when playing music.

Recently as briefly stated before, I have been allowed to go to New Orleans with the Kinetika Bloco Family. I believe this trip will help me in so many ways as I will learn more about the origins of Jazz and learn of its history. More importantly, if I learn about the history of my preferred genre of music, then I can apply that into my music which almost gives my music a sense of drive. I think trips like this, especially to America, make the acknowledgement of my culture as a black person sweeter. It would be amazing if you could donate to my trip that would be amazing I need to get £300 in donations by October so I would appreciate if you could donate. Otherwise, if you want to swing by Copeland Park & Bussey Building in Peckham on Saturday 13th July that would be great please spread the word. I will continue to busk around London to get closer to that goal of £300.

To donate please use the link: https://localgiving.org/appeal/KBtoNOLA