Finn Peters is one of the leading flute and sax players in the UK today. A musician born and bred, he has dedicated his life to perfecting his art. He comes from a family of musicians, which can be traced back to the 1600s and started playing the flute aged five.
Fortunate to be surrounded by famous musicians as he grew up, he decided on a career in music and has been studying ever since. After spending his teens practicing non-stop, he studied musicology at Durham University, then completed a post-graduate course at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
His widescreen approach to composition and improvisation comes from working with some of the last decade's most progressive artists. Moving to London in 1994 exposed Finn to many disparate musical styles, from which he has created an individual and genre-spanning musical language.
He has traveled the world as a much-in-demand session player and has continued to learn about music from around the globe. This explorative nature has lead him to work with such pioneers as Frederick Rzewski, Giovanni Hidalgo, DJ Spinna, Sam Rivers and Sa-Ra creative partners, to name a few.
All the while he has been developing his own productions, writing and playing and forging a new musical alloy from this melting pot of traditions.Besides working on upwards of 80 recordings for other artists, Finn has released a number of his own recordings.
The two Dr Seus EPs, released on his own imprint, Mantella records, were played in clubs across Europe by high profile tastemakers such as Gilles Peterson and Mr Scruff. Two tracks for Club Brasil, Joyce covers ‘Femenina’ and ‘Aldeia de Ogum’, were championed by DJs in the know like Rainer Truby and charted all over the world as well as getting extensive amounts of airplay.
Two co-productions with ‘The Deal’ for Trip do Brasil were also club-land favourites. Finally his most recent album before Su-ling, entitled “Bansuri” pushed his name further into the limelight.
Fellow musicians and critics alike have consistently praised Finn’s work. In 1999 his achievements were recognised when he won the London Young Jazz musician award. The collaboration with Bembe Segue, "The Birds" was nominated for track of the year 2005 in the BBC Radio 1 Worldwide award.
He has been described by Straight no Chaser magazine as being "the blazing definition of a seriously heavy player" and by Jazzwise as being "head and shoulders above his peers." Su-Ling, his debut release for Babel records, is receiving a great deal of airplay on BBC Radio 1,2,3 and 1xtra.
The way in which, what is essentially a jazz album, sits comfortably along-side hip-hop, world and classical music illustrates the fact that people are starting to understand the open-minded philosophy of a musician working at the peak of his creative powers.
