Musician and Old Brentwood Becca Toft is much in demand with the release of her debut album on Friday and the culmination of her album launch tour at Brentwood Theatre a week later.

Becca, who left Brentwood School in 2008 to continue her studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, will present her debut jazz album ‘Searching’ with her live band.

Since leaving college with a first class honours degree in music performance, Becca has enjoyed a varied and busy schedule working as a jazz singer and trumpeter, including performances in London’s West End, solo recitals and various educational and outreach projects.

As a busy composer and arranger, she works extensively with chamber groups, choirs, artists and theatre companies in London and Essex, as well as being the house arranger for the Bella Tromba trumpet quartet and The Popettes vocal trio.

Brentwood School Head of Music Performance and fellow OB, Florian Cooper, said: “Rebecca and I first started playing music together during our time at Brentwood where we played in the School Big Band. Ten years later and we have remained both musical collaborators and firm friends. Rebecca is a wonderful musician, equally adept at singing and trumpet playing and performs with idiomatic nuance across a range of genres.

“Everything Rebecca does is conducted with high energy, considerable style and an extremely fun character and I know that she will go far. I am so glad that she continues to play lead trumpet for my big band, The Seven Steps Big Band, and hope to continue working with such a talent for many years to come.’

The Seven Steps Big Band will be performing a joint gig with the Brentwood School Big Band in the Wessex Auditorium on Saturday, February 4, at 7pm.

Searching is a concept album Becca wrote about the search of love, friendship and happiness. It is inspired by the love songs from the jazz standards of the 20th century and music from the MGM era which brought us Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Becca will be joined by Mike Soper (trumpet), Emma Bassett (trombone), Matthew Sulzmann (alto sax), Albert Garza (tenor sax), Will Barry (piano), Daisy George (bass) and Adam Morris (drums) when the octet bring to life the album’s stories.

They will perform at Brentwood Theatre on February 3.