I work with James Brady in The Mackintosh Jazz Composers Ensemble. This is a professional development project set out to encourage the creation of new compositions and enable those works to be presented in a nurturing environment for their composers to workshop with a seventeen-piece Jazz orchestra. Open to both experienced and novice composers. Since the beginning of this endeavour, James has been at the forefront of widening the community of the ensemble by actively encouraging both new instrumentalists and composers into the framework of what we do. As a brilliant trumpeter, composer and educator himself, James’s abilities shine through when within and also in front of the band. He navigates conducting the orchestra with great awareness for the music and compassion for his fellow musicians when they’re grappling with any new material. He offers clear direction for the work he presents and when playing other people’s compositions from within the band he is a very malleable member of the trumpet section, able to sit in any seat and delighted to craft performances that are stylistically multi-faceted to align with any artistic desire coming from the conducting podium. James is one of the more experienced writers to be a part of the ensemble and is benevolent with that experience, always willing to give good, constructive criticism to the less experienced composers whilst never endangering the notion of making those colleagues feel unwelcome or unworthy. It’s clear that his energy for this ensemble aligns with his passion for access to education in music across all ages and in both amateur and professional fields.