b. 30 November 1948, London, England. From his mid-teens Sulzmann was playing saxophones on the blues circuit, but in 1964 he joined the first edition of Bill Ashton’s National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Following this he worked on the Queen Mary crossing to New York and then returned to London to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Subsequently, as well as winning the Melody Maker New Star award, he played with Mike Gibbs, Graham Collier, John Dankworth, John Taylor (with whom he also established a quartet in 1970), John Warren, Clark Terry, Brian Cooper, Alan Cohen, the Clarke-Boland Big Band, Kenny Wheeler, Gordon Beck’s Gyroscope and Gil Evans’ early 80s London band. Equally adept on soprano, alto and tenor saxophones and flutes and clarinet, Sulzmann was one of the earliest of several distinguished graduates from the NYJO, and his influences range from Frank Zappa, through to Kenny Wheeler (whose compositions he showcased on Everybody’s Song But My Own) and Miles Davis to Debussy and Delius. The all-star band put together to celebrate his 50th birthday was featured on Birthdays, Birthdays Village.