Perhaps three years ago Tomorrow’s Warriors founder (and lest we forget the first ever jazz recipient of the Queen’s Medal for Music) Gary Crosby took me aside at a gig and said, “sax player Donovan Haffner – he’s the next one to watch”. It’s something he had done before over the decades with Shabaka, Nubya Garcia and Moses Boyd. His tips are always strong. Ever since that day we’ve tracked Donovan’s rise with admiration and glee as he’s gigged his way in to people’s affections.
But it’s taken until now for Donovan to drop his first, much anticipated, album. The wait, inevitably, was worth it as the set is confident, uplifting and brimming with strong, original compositions. Alleviate references, “a cathartic process in the young musician’s life when he was dealing with negative thoughts, which have since been alleviated through his creative process, hence the album’s title.”
Joining Donovan on Alleviate are Francisco Garcia de Paredes on guitar, Jay Verma on piano, Harry Pearce on bass and Harry Ling on drums. The fact that they have been playing regularly since 2019 shines through in a flawless navigation of the ebb and flow of Haffner’s tunes. Donovan himself describes this as “a combination of the many influences and styles of jazz that I am passionate about.”
One Jazz are proud to be partnering with Heads Up to present the launch for this excellent debut release at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club on Wednesday 16th April, hosted by Kasia Konstance. Tickets and info can be found here.
This is our album of the week for the week commencing 14th April 2025