Loz Speyer (trumpet, flugelhorn) has become known as a trumpeter/composer pushing all boundaries with his own groups ever since the mid 90s. His free jazz quintet Inner Space, and his Cuban-Jazz 6-piece Time Zone, both running since 2002, have toured all over the UK and each released a series of albums, earning critical acclaim and international reviews. His music for Time Zone is a ‘deep fusion’ of Cuban music and Jazz, with clave rhythms in odd meters and unusual time changes. He also writes and arranges for big groups – such as two sets of Sun Ra compositions for Merseyside Improvisers Orchestra, and his own compositions for the 12-piece composers’ collective Rare Mix (with Jason Yarde, Ben Davis, Julian Siegel…).

Starting out with workshops at University of the Streets in NYC, Jamey Aebersold Jazz summer school, and improvisation workshops led by John Stevens and later Phil Wachsmann, Loz has always embraced both Jazz and free improv, with quartets delving deep into Monk’s music and Ornette Coleman’s, free improv for many years with maverick guitarist Hugh Metcalfe, and FreeTrio with the great free jazz drummer Tony Marsh. He continues to explore the openness of the Trio format in Tumbatareco, and large group improvisation with London Improvisers Orchestra and David Leahy’s Musicians in Space. In the wider musical field, Loz has worked with Simo Lagnawi, Yann Tiersen, Sarah-Jane Morris, Amancio daSilva, Alex Maguire, Test Dept, and the Happy End; and in Cuba with Orquesta Chepín-Chovén, veteran trumpeter Inaudis Paisán, and Proyecto Evocación - a collaboration with master percussionist Rafael Cisneros, featured in Festival del Caribe 2009.