Raph Clarkson
Raph is a trombonist, improviser, composer / arranger & workshop leader, working across multiple genres & disciplines. Based in Bristol, his guiding principle is the power in music to form connections in community and collaboration.
Raph's work as a creative trombonist & writer has been featured on albums including those by Isaac Birituro & The Rail Abandon, a Ghana/U.K. collaboration (Wah Wah 45s label), Laura Jurd (Edition + Discus Records) and WorldService Project (Rare Noise Records) as well as his own projects The Dissolute Society, RESOLUTE (Babel Label) and South Africa-U.K. group Equal Spirits (Ubuntu Music), and most recently electroacoustic improv duo LEDLEY (Impossible Ark Records).
Raph has also been commissioned to write music and words for Sinfonia Viva, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Britten Sinfonia, The London Sinfonietta and Spitalfields Music, as well as leading creative community projects for these organisations and others including the Bristol Recovery Orchestra, Travelling Light Theatre, Bristol Beacon and Mindful Music.
Recent highlights include new school & family shows for Britten Sinfonia (The Robot and the Bluebird for KS1 and Dots and Lines for KS2) as well as guesting with the Wiltshire Youth Jazz Orchestra for a project exploring his music.