Dan Forshaw

Lore & Background

Dan Forshaw was born in Blackpool, Lancashire, into a musical family and grew up in nearby Fleetwood. He began playing piano at an early age, started clarinet at age seven at Stanah Primary School, and moved to saxophone at age ten. He attended St. Aidan's C of E High School and Blackpool Sixth Form College, where he starred in the big band, before studying music and politics at Lancaster University. His first professional gig was with 'The Amazing Blues Brothers Soul Revue,' performing across the UK and Europe. He later became Director of Jazz Studies at the Beecham Music School, Rossall School in Fleetwood. After returning from New York City, he moved to London and studied at the London School of Theology, where he also served as music co-ordinator at Beechen Grove Baptist

Reader's Guide

Dan Forshaw's significance lies in his dual career as a performing jazz musician and a pioneering music educator. As a saxophonist, he has performed across the UK and Europe, leading projects such as the Dan Forshaw Quartet and the Jazz Vespers project, which traces the history of jazz and blues through readings, poetry, and song. His work with the King/Cave project and the 'Passion' tour demonstrates his engagement with liturgical and experimental music. However, his most notable contribution may be in music education. By founding 'Cambridge Saxophone.com,' he has embraced digital tools to reach students globally, including one in Antarctica, reflecting a broader digital revolution in music education. His teaching at Cambridge University and his advocacy for improving music education for both adults and children underscore his commitment to accessibility. Forshaw's discography as a leader includes albums from 2003 to 2016, such as 'Jazz Vespers,' and he has also appeared as a sideman on various recordings. His career illustrates how a musician can blend performance, education, and technology to expand the reach of jazz and music learning.

Did You Know?

• Dan Forshaw started his professional career at age sixteen.
• He studied with saxophonists Branford Marsalis, Eric Alexander, and Ravi Coltrane in New York City in 2005.
• His Jazz Vespers project was presented at Ely Cathedral in October 2013 and Methodist Central Hall, Westminster in October 2014.
• Through Cambridge Saxophone.com, he has taught a student located in Antarctica via Skype.

Roots in Blackpool's Musical Soil

Dan Forshaw arrived on the world on 19 May 1981 in Blackpool, Lancashire, into a household where music was already a living presence. He grew up in the nearby coastal town of Fleetwood, and his fingers found piano keys at a very young age. By seven, he was picking up the clarinet at Stanah Primary School in Thornton, and three years later he had switched his attention to the saxophone. His secondary education took him to St. Aidan's C of E High School in Preesall, near Poulton-le-Fylde, and then to Blackpool Sixth Form College, where he became a standout presence in their big band. His academic path eventually led him to Lancaster University, where he pursued a dual study of music and politics — a combination that would later inform both his artistic sensibility and his commitment to social and educational causes. Starting his professional career at just sixteen, Forshaw built a foundation that married local musical tradition with a restless ambition to reach beyond the Fylde coast.

A Restless Career Across the UK and Beyond

Forshaw's first professional engagement came with The Amazing Blues Brothers Soul Revue, touring across Britain and continental Europe. He then pivoted into the business side of music, becoming director of Big Party, an event management and promotion company, before departing in 2002 to take up a role as Director of Jazz Studies at the Beecham Music School within Rossall School in Fleetwood. A transformative 2005 trip to New York City placed him in the studios of Branford Marsalis, Eric Alexander, and Ravi Coltrane, sharpening his post-bop and contemporary jazz vocabulary. Back in England, he relocated to London, where he studied at the London School of Theology while coordinating music at Beechen Grove Baptist Church in Watford and tutoring privately in Harefield. In Belfast, he served as Artistic Director and Artist in Residence at Urban Soul, May Street Church, and toured with pop artist Yazz while embedding himself in Northern Ireland's compact yet lively jazz circuit. From 2002 through 2012 he was a fixture at the Southport International Jazz Festival, and his sideman credits span recordings from 2001 through 2015 with artists including K:OLN, Jamestown, and Frankly Finbarr.

Where Sacred Space Meets the Saxophone

A defining thread in Forshaw's artistic life is the deliberate fusion of jazz with liturgical and faith-based contexts. While at the London School of Theology, his January 2008 performance of Jazz: Loving the Supreme in the LST chapel reinterpreted John Coltrane's landmark album A Love Supreme through the Dan Forshaw Quartet. This spiritual-artistic impulse deepened with the King / Cave project, an experimental liturgical ensemble blending jazz, progressive rock, and Anglican liturgy, which performed at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, Hereford Cathedral, and the Greenbelt Festival. His own Jazz Vespers project traces the arc of jazz and blues through readings, poetry, and song, framing a narrative of lament and redemption; it was presented at Ely Cathedral in October 2013 and at Methodist Central Hall, Westminster, during Black History Month in October 2014, and released as an album in 2016 featuring leading UK jazz musicians. In 2015 he contributed to Passion — a contemporary journey to the cross, a multidisciplinary work weaving dance, poetry, and music that toured six UK cathedrals and appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Teaching in the Digital Age

Beyond the stage, Forshaw has positioned himself as a passionate advocate for making music education accessible to both children and adults, and he has become a visible figure in the digital transformation of how instruments are taught. His earlier role as Director of Jazz Studies at the Beecham Music School in Fleetwood laid groundwork for a broader educational philosophy. Now based in Cambridgeshire, he founded Cambridge Saxophone.com, a programme that uses Skype and video technology to connect students from around the globe — including, remarkably, one learner in Antarctica — with one-on-one saxophone instruction. He also teaches saxophone for Cambridge University, bridging the gap between academic rigour and the lived experience of a working performer. His instrument range extends beyond the tenor, soprano, and alto saxophones he performs on most regularly; he has recorded on bass clarinet and the Electronic Wind Instrument, giving his students and audiences a wider palette of tonal possibilities. This commitment to pedagogy, delivered through modern digital channels, reflects a musician who sees the passing on of knowledge as inseparable from the act of creation itself.