Saxophonist Saleem Qureshi aka Sam Q has been performing and composing Jazz music for the past 34 years. His illustrious career started in his hometown Birmingham, UK in the early 1980’s where he formed legendary group ‘The Cavemen’ with guitarist Lee Copplestone. They played a brand of original compositions inspired by the Blue Note period of the early 1960’s.
Sam made a name for himself on the UK Jazz circuit playing at London’s Ronnie Scott’s, The Bass Clef (a series of gigs for Radio 1 DJ Giles Peterson), and Jazz Café venues. Later , in his role as ‘The Jazz Exorcist’, Sam played a support tour with UB40, and was the first live artist doing pa with ‘rave’ DJs such as Fabio prior to their European shows. In this incarnation, he attracted the interest of Alan McGhee of Creation records. Hometown band UB40 were great fans of ‘The Cavemen’ and offered him a residency at their club which was packed with revellers every Sunday night being ‘converted’ by the accessible Jazz Sounds that Sam had created with his original works. Later UB4O lead vocalist Ali Campbell commissioned Sam to record his first album‘How To Steal the World’ in the famous DEP International Studios.
Upon Sam’s arrival in Manchester in 2000, he was spotted busking by talent scouts from Paramount Pictures and invited onset for the filming of the remake of ‘Alfie’ featuring Jude Law, which lead to a offer by Phil Ellis CEO of RF Records. Sam's 2nd album STALKER – CID was distributed by John Jack’s Cadillac Imprint . A chance meeting with music manager Joe Moss (The Smiths/Johnny Marr) led to his becoming a mentor for Sam. The ‘CID’ album received rave reviews and was played on Mike Chadwick’s Jazz FM show . In Jazz UK Magazine, Hugh Gregory wrote ‘’ Qureshi’s dictation and phrasing is explicit and luminious". The liner notes were written by Jeff Lawton inventor of the famous Lawton Mouthpiece who wrote ‘his control is impeccable’. Scott Morin guru of ECM and Universal Jazz wrote of Sam "interesting and original concept both as a saxophonist and composer ‘’. The album also rode high in the manifold internet charts of Live 365 Radio governed by a thumbs up factor by listeners . He also hit number 1 in German chart ‘Hot Live Radio’. This eventually attracted the interest of legendary CEO Bruce Lundvall of NYC Blue Note Records who phoned the UK office and urged them to sign him. Guy Hayden from Blue Note UK then contacted Sam to acknowledge interest. This generated the financing for his next album ‘Samba of Love’, in which Sam turned his hand to the works of Jobim and Bossa Nova Music. He named his project Sam Q’s Nightpatrol under the suggestion of Joe Moss, and was endorsed with the gift of a Saxophone from Yamaha for the recording. The album was first showcased in the West End's ‘Spice of Life’ jazz club with a further gig in the trendy Shoreditch club ‘The Red Gallery’ . ‘Samba of Love’ was signed by Grooveland Music in Brazil, which labelled him the new Stan Getz, and compiled a series of remixes by cutting edge DJs which are currently charting in the Afro Latin Charts. Countless world Latin musicians such as Joe Carter, and legendary drummer Porthinio, have sought out Sam in order to work with him in both Brazil and the US, leading to his current album ‘Love Spring Fountains’ which also features Sergio Mendes percussionist Gibi Dossantos, and an array of International artists. ‘Love Spring Fountains’ is enjoying countless airplay on internet radio stations such as Bondi Tunes International / Solar, and many others. Sam’s unique brand of Bossa Nova creates an accessibility to this genre, and a very exciting ‘live show’. In the words of Paul Bradshaw of London's ‘ Straight No Chaser’ Magazine "Get ready to dance the night away to the sound of Sam Q who is exporting Bossa Nova from Manchester to Brazil".