NICOLE MITCHELL is without doubt the foremost jazz flutist. An astonishingly audacious musician, she was born in Syracuse, New York State in 1967 and grew up in San Diego, California.

“As a teenager I would search through the radio, but couldn’t find what would be my favourite music,” she told me. “I remember turning the dial over and over looking for something of interest, and finding hardly anything — only KLJH, the Los Angeles Soul station, where I found George Benson, Prince and Michael Jackson. There was no jazz to be found.

“When I heard the sound of the flute, it hit me to the core. I identified with it and wanted to be wrapped up in it. So what was offered was classical music. I loved it. Once I started on flute I already had a clear vision in my ears of the sound I wanted.