Bruce Adams has been an irresistible force on the UK jazz scene for over 40 years, an exciting soloist who first came to public notice when a distinguished jury of Buddy Tate, Doc Cheatham and Max Jones voted him Best Trumpet and Outstanding Soloist at the 1982 Holsten Big Band Competition. In the mid-1980s Bruce worked regularly at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival with the likes of Sweets Edison. Warren Vache, Buddy Tate, Al Cohn, Benny Waters, Dave McKenna and a host of other stars from both sides of the Atlantic. In 1986 the Glasgow Jazz Festival recruited Bruce into the Benny Carter Big Band.

The 1990s saw Bruce on an extended tour with Bill Allred’s all-star band, playing with the revived Kenny Baker’s Dozen and teaming up for the first time with Alan Barnes. Both their Big Bear CDs from this time won CD of the Year at the British Jazz Awards and the association continues, both in quintet format and in Alan’s octets for his suites.

Big bands Bruce has been associated with are too numerous to mention, from Pete Long’s Echoes of Ellington to the Cote Ouest Big Band in Nantes, but he can perhaps be most enjoyed in a small group, playing, as he puts it, ‘jazz styles ranging from Louis Armstrong to the modern-day.’