SOPHIE is a singer and songwriter with a unique blend of jazz and folk influences. She has released nine CDs to date including Songs which was listed as one of The Herald’s top 50 Scottish albums of 2015. Monday Nights, the most recent release from her duo Bancroft & Lyne was listed in Jazzviews top jazz albums of 2020. Her music has been used on HBO’s award winning TV series Six Feet Under and recorded by top jazz vocalists including Liane Carroll with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Sophie also co-leads The Pathhead Choir, is a founder member of the award-winning Pathhead Music Collective, and of Jazz Forward, a collective music organisation representing and showcasing some of the original jazz being written in Scotland.
In 2019 she was awarded a Masters with distinction in Creative Writing and more recently she has expanded her creative practice to include creative writing, photography and film-making. Her first short film (S)kin about a mother’s hands won best documentary short at the
8&HalFilm Awards and was screened at the Women Over Fifty Film Festival – WOFFF in 2021 and Italian film festival Cinema D’Idea in 2022. Her following short film, Old Mother Blackbird, is a story about maternal love and empty nests inspired by a brave and loyal blackbird who nested in Sophie’s own garden. The music and words are written and performed by Sophie, and her hand-made collage is used to illustrate the story. It was first screened at the Women Over Fifty Film Festival (WOFFF) in 2023 and is now available to watch as part of Virgin Atlantic’s inflight entertainment package. The film has also been made into a children’s book and a series of greeting cards.
Sophie’s creative work has often reflected her own personal story. Her current work is inspired by the perspectives of middle age. She has recently collaborated on creative ageing projects with her local choir and with arts organisation Deepness Dementia Media. In 2024 Sophie was music director and composer for Dementia The Musical written by Ron Coleman, which was funded by Creative Scotland to tour around the major theatres in Scotland in autumn 2024.
“A Scottish singer-songwriter with jazz and folk roots: Over the years she’s drawn comparison to several world-class artists, including Peggy Lee, Alison Krauss and Norah Jones. That sort of information comes as no great surprise once you’ve had the chance to hear Bancroft sing. Her voice is a perfect instrument.” Leicester Bangs
Sophie’s website – www.sophiebancroft.co.uk
TOM is a leading figure on the Scottish jazz scene with an impressively diverse portfolio featuring double and electric bass, studio production and sound designer, composition and arrangement. Born in Edmonton, Alberta, Lyne, who played violin at the age of three and went on to study double bass at McGill University in Montreal, has been living in Scotland since 1998. He has played with the country’s leading jazz artists such as Dave Milligan, Brian Kellock, Tom Bancroft and Kevin MacKenzie. Lyne’s new solo album ‘Well Mixed Blue’ is a celebration of his longstanding musical partnership with pianist Dave Milligan, which is built on the strong, intuitive chemistry between the two men as well as their strengths as individual players.www.tomlyne.co.uk
Tom Lyne’s website – http://tomlyne.co.uk/