James Allsopp was born on the 4th June 1981 into a house filled with the sounds of Pres, Bean, the rabbit and many other wonderful musicians with frankly disturbing nicknames. James grew impatiently until he was given his first saxophone at the age of eight. A reclusive child he then practiced it obsessively until his release from boarding school to go to the royal Academy of Music. Since then he had won a Perrier Jazz award and played all over Europe with many musicians including the Brian Irvine Ensemble, Polar Bear, Joe Morris, David Axelrod, Mattew Bourne, Richard Fairhurst and Graham Collier among others.