Winner of the 2014 Kenny Wheeler Jazz Prize, Misha Mullov-Abbado is an in-demand bass player, composer and arranger based in London. He is a 2017 BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist, a 2014 City of Music Foundation Artist and has released three albums on Edition Records as a band-leader and composer; Dream Circus (2020), Cross-Platform Interchange (2017) and New Ansonia (2015), all of which have been extremely well-received in newspapers and magazines across Europe and the latter of which has been included in “Best Jazz Albums of 2015” by The Telegraph and BBC Radio 3. His most recent album was produced by fellow Edition Records bassist and bandleader Jasper Høiby.
As an experienced band-leader but also a versatile sideman Misha has performed at many of London’s top venues such as Ronnie Scott’s, the Vortex, 606 Club, Pizza Express and Royal Albert Hall, as well as venues in the rest of the UK and around the world. Having won the 2014 Dankworth Prize for jazz composition Misha is an experienced composer and writes for various jazz groups as well as classical soloists and ensembles, and is influenced by a variety of jazz, classical and pop music. In November 2019 Matthew Barley along with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Michael Seal gave the world premiere of Misha’s cello concerto at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at London’s Southbank Centre as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival and commissioned by BBC Radio 3.
After graduating from Gonville & Caius College Cambridge, where he studied music and composition with Robin Holloway and Jeremy Thurlow, Misha received a scholarship to study double bass at the Royal Academy of Music on the prestigious Masters jazz course with Jasper Høiby, Tom Herbert, Michael Janisch and Jeremy Brown. During his final year at the Academy Misha started his group and has since been performing regularly with it, with winning the Kenny Wheeler Prize in his final term leading him to record his debut album. As well as writing for his band Misha has been commissioned by a variety of musicians and ensembles such as BBC Radio 3, Viktoria Mullova, the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, LSSO, Hill Quartet, Pelleas Ensemble, Hermes Experiment, and North Sea Ensemble.
Since leaving the Academy Misha has been performing with a variety of musicians such as Alice Zawadzki, Tim Garland, Dave O’Higgins, Stan Sulzmann, Rob Luft, Paul Clarvis, Enzo Zirilli, Sam Lee, Nessi Gomes, Tom Green and Tom Millar. He co-directs the Patchwork Jazz Orchestra, an exciting young big band in London that plays original compositions written by members of the band, that won the 2015 Peter Whittingham Award.
