The mantlepiece of Dave O'Higgins' South London flat is getting decidedly crowded these days.
British jazz music's rising saxophone star has been showered with accolades since turning professional, but there is one that he was delighted to make room for.
Last year's top honour for tenor sax at the British Jazz Awards capped a big night for the Derby-raised lad who, at 32, was also named best newcomer.
'I've been playing professionally for 13 years in London, so I guess now I qualify as an accepted face on the British jazz scene,' he said.
'But seriously, the tenor is my main horn, so it was tremendous to be honoured in that way.
'Awards per se don't really mean that much. Music is not a competition or a race. The awards just help to lift your profile.' Spoken like a true artist. And art is the only way to describe this colossal talent, which has illuminated 10 albums with other leaders and four of his own.
His work through the 1980s with British fusion outfit, Roadside Picnic, brought valuable exposure, but the real O'Higgins is more from the New York, straight-ahead school of jazz.
