Hats off to Sultan Stevenson in advance of his Cork Jazz Festival gig 

The rising star of the UK jazz scene on representing his faith in his music, and unleashing his design skills on his bucket hats

Sultan Stevenson plays in Cork and other centres as part of his Irish tour. Picture: Pat Pascal

Look up the website of pianist Sultan Stevenson, one of British jazz’s most exciting and original new talents, and you will find the usual menu of links to his biography, gigs, news, reviews, interviews and debut album, released in March of this year. What you don’t expect to discover is a heading titled “Hats”.

Featuring the 22-year-old Londoner modelling his own range of bucket hats – in vibrant West African colours and bold geometric patterns – that he himself has created, the webpage explains that in the first Covid lockdown of 2020 Stevenson wanted to find a new and different kind of bucket hat. “After exploring various shops and struggling to find an original and exciting design, I decided to learn how to make my own,” he writes.