Newcomer Of The Year 2025
Donovan Haffner
by Howard Lawes
The All Party Parliamentary Jazz Group (APPJG) is one of many informal groups of members from both of the U.K. Houses of Parliament that seek to further the interests of cultural, sporting and other activities in society. APPJG aims to increase parliamentarians' understanding of the jazz industry and promote jazz to a wider audience and its most prestigious annual event is the the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. These awards recognize and celebrate the achievements of jazz musicians, venues, personalities and organisations in the UK jazz network. Further information about the group and its work can be found here. Many of the awards recognise excellence that has been achieved over extended periods but since 2014 an award has been included for 'the best Jazz Newcomer of the year'. In 2025 this award was presented to alto saxophonist, Donovan Haffner and over a Zoom call Donovan talked about his life leading up to this major landmark in his career.
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Parents often play a very important role in the musical development of their children and for Donovan, having a mother who is a music teacher was decisive. Having decided he didn’t like the recorder, Donovan began playing the piano at age 7 and advanced by studying for classical grades. A couple of years later, at a school concert, Donovan saw someone playing a saxophone and was immediately bowled over by it. His mother bought him a saxophone, and he began studying for his jazz grades. As luck would have it, while he was being examined one day, his mother shared the waiting room with another parent who recommended an organisation called Tomorrow’s Warriors. Tomorrow’s Warriors organise weekend workshops at the Southbank in London and pride themselves on creating a supportive, family atmosphere where young musicians from all backgrounds can learn to play jazz. Donovan joined Tomorrow’s Warriors when he was 10 years old and not surprisingly found it quite scary.
An important technique that Tomorrow’s Warriors employ is to learn to play jazz by ear, not from sheet music, because playing jazz, as Donovan points out, is very much an aural skill. Mentored by Gary Crosby OBE, Binker Golding and Alex Davis, Donovan rapidly developed into an accomplished jazz saxophonist. So much so that at age 17 he had his first gig at the renowned Ronnie Scott’s jazz club; at 18 toured Italy with the multi-award-winning drummer Moses Boyd, and entered London’s Royal Academy of Music. In 2019 the Donovan Haffner Quintet performed at the EFG London Jazz Festival as part of the Jazz New Blood showcase with Donovan on alto sax, Francisco Paredes on guitar, Jay Verma on piano, Harry Pearce on bass and Harry Ling on drums.
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Here is a jazz re:freshed video featuring Donovan:
Then the COVID epidemic happened which had a devastating impact on so many. Despite the restrictions on association and live music events Donovan excelled at the Royal Academy of Music and graduated with a 1st class BMus. Degree. During this time, he was able to participate in a live streamed event from the Barbican in April 2021 as a member of Moses Boyd’s Exodus.
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In 2023 Donovan played at the Manchester Jazz Festival and featured in Phil Meadow’s Future Movers series of gigs at Ronnie Scott’s. In 2024 the Donovan Haffner Quintet played at the Vortex Club in London and Donovan was nominated for Jazz Newcomer at the Parliamentary Jazz Awards. 2025 has seen an explosion of activity with gigs at all the major London clubs and at jazz festivals and the release of Donovan’s first album, Alleviate, which garnered a 4-star review in Jazzwise magazine.
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Here is a video of Donovan's Quintet playing D Tune at the Vortex Jazz Club earlier in 2025:
Apart from leading his own band Donovan is 1st alto saxophone in Peter Edward’s Nu Civilisation Orchestra. This orchestra, comprised of young people who have graduated from Tomorrow’s Warriors, presents major works at major concert venues. Premiered at last years EFG London Jazz Festival, The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady is a joint production between Clod Ensemble and the Nu Civilisation Orchestra. It is an audience-involving dance and orchestral performance of Charles Mingus’s iconic music that has received rave reviews. Earlier this year Donovan was part of a production at the Queen Elizabeth Hall called The Blackbird and the Duke celebrating the centenarary of the Harlem Renaissance. The evening began with the premiere of The Blackbird of Harlem, telling the story of the artist, activist and trailblazer Florence Mills through music, dance and spoken word. It also featured two of Duke Ellington’s seminal pieces that chart the influence of the influential New York district, A Tone Parallel to Harlem and Black, Brown and Beige. Donovan is full of praise for Peter Edwards, who led and directed the Nu Civilisation Orchestra through Duke Ellington’s challenging compositions.
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Donovan spends a great deal of time listening to and learning from the great musicians of jazz. He has huge respect for the giants of jazz from bygone eras but he has been checking out modern day musicians such as Immanuel Wilkins, Walter Smith and Ambrose Akinmusire a lot more these days. Some of his favourite alto saxophone players are Kenny Garrett, Immanuel Wilkins and Myron Walden.
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Reviewers of the album Alleviate (2025), have recognised the influence of Immanuel Wilkins and Kenny Garrett in the music. They praise the band, which despite their youth has been playing together since the Jazznewblood event in 2019 mentioned above. The title of the album relates to the unique theraputic ability of music to alleviate the stresses and strains of life. The compositions have been many years in the making and bear witness to Donovan’s ability to drill down into and understand the music of his favourite composers. Donovan describes the album as "a combination of the many influences and styles of jazz that I am passionate about." BBC Radio 3 presenter, Soweto Kinch commented: “There’s so much sincerity and gravity in what he plays, and his unforced musicality really draws you in.”
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While Donovan’s success in jazz is all his own, he pays particular tribute to Gary Crosby and Janine Irons, the founders of Tomorrow’s Warriors, who have done so much to facilitate young jazz musicians whose dreams, otherwise, may never have come true.
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Past winners of the Jazz Newcomer award have included several of Donovan Haffner’s mentors, including Peter Edwards, Binker Golding and Moses Boyd and if their achievements are anything to go by Donovan can expect a hugely successful career. Given that many of his jazz heroes are based in the USA he is particularly keen to seek his fortune in New York and is intent on making that long term ambition come true one way or another. We wish him every success.
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Donovan's website is here including details of upcoming gigs. Details and samples of Donovan's album Alleviate are here.
© Sandy Brown Jazz 2025.11