People

Arnie Somogyi

Bass, UK

Arnie Somogyi is one of the UK's most in-demand bass players and has played on over 50 albums, including four as a leader. Recently he has been recording with Tom Jones in London and touring and recording in Europe with "Passport" an international band put together by Italian saxophonist Pietro Tonolo and featuring jazz legend Joe Chambers on drums and vibes and Jorge Rossy on piano and drums.

His current band, Ambulance, was chosen for the first-ever jazz-residency at Snape Maltings, where they created an entirely original set of new material.

The subsequent CD, 'Accident and Insurgency', was released on Linn Records in January 2008. It was nominated Best CD at the BBC Jazz Awards and supported by a UK tour attracting significant critical acclaim, including **** reviews in The Guardian, The Times, BBC Music Magazine, Jazzwise and The Scotsman; and was featured Gig of the Week and Critic's Choice in Time Out.

He has performed with a wide variety of musicians from Amy Winehouse and Jamie Cullum to Charlie Watts and John Martyn, and has gigged, toured and recorded with many leading international jazz musicians including Bobby Hutcherson, Art Farmer, Arturo Sandoval, Bud Shank, Charles MacPherson, Stan Tracey, Chris Botti, Herb Ellis and many others.

He works frequently at Ronnie Scott's as part of the club's house band, the "Ronnie Scott's All-Stars", is jazz bass tutor, small band coach and jazz history lecturer at Birmingham Conservatoire and visiting teacher at The Royal Academy of Music, Trinity College and The Guildhall School of Music.

He has also made and presented three BBC Radio 4 documentaries: 'Cool Roots' - a musical journey back to trace his ancestral roots, 'Package Peculiar' - a travelogue of visits to Draculaland in Transylvania and Stalinworld in Lithuania and "The Goulash Archipelago" a culinary road trip through Hungary and Transylvania, trading music for food and recipes.

Arnie Somogyi