How did things get going professionally back in London?
I had played with [saxophonist] Courtney Pine in London. I met him when I was attending Weekend Arts College. I had joined him on some of his tours in America when I could and I also played with him when I was in London. There was a lot of interest around both Courtney and the Marsalises, so when I returned after Berklee, there were record companies in London interested in signing me. By the time I graduated, there were four contracts on the table. A subsidiary of Warner Bros. was your choice wasn’t it? Yes. I signed with Warner Bros. because Malcolm Dunbar, the guy who signed Courtney Pine, had just moved from Island Records to a small label at Warners called East West. He was the head of A&R and wanted to sign me. How did you begin receiving recognition in London and beyond? One of the most important events in my musical career took place in 1995 when I was invited to play the Proms. It’s the biggest and longest-running classical music festival in London. That was where I launched my
