When jazz musician Tony Kofi first picked up a saxophone at the age of 17, he knew he had some catching up to do. But he never once thought of putting it back down - his sudden interest in the instrument was the result of a vision he found impossible to shake off.

A few months earlier, Tony had fallen from a three-storey building. On the way down, he saw snapshots of his future - one of which was him playing the sax.

"Before that the sax had no appeal for me," he says. "I didn't really like music but from then on, I knew I was going to be a good musician."

This absolute certainty led to Tony giving up his job to teach himself music.

"I just followed my heart, against the wishes of my parents. I was practising eight hours a day and it became my work. I knew I would get there - there was never a plan B. Like people know it's going to get dark at night, I knew I would be a musician."

So when Tony won the coveted Album Of The Year 2005 title at the BBC Jazz Awards for All Is Now, a tribute to Thelonious Monk, it should have come as no surprise - but his self-belief is beaten only by his modesty.

"It didn't dawn on me I was going to win, even though I was going to play at the ceremony. I was sitting there just before they read the winner and I said to my friend, 'I'd better go and warm up'. He said, 'You don't want to do that,' and then they read my name. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, I've won!'

"It proves all my hard work hasn't been for nothing. Back in the Nineties, I'd be nice to people and I'd work for next to nothing and it's like those people have come back with this award."

The award came months after Tony won the Best Ensemble prize at the Parliamentary Awards.

"There was I, this self-taught musician from the North, surrounded by all the jazz greats at the Houses of Parliament," he remembers.

Tony's recognition has been the result of years of hard graft, which has seen him play with bands such as The Jazz Warriors, as well as hip-hop act US3.

He has also worked alongside such greats as Roy Ayres, Donald Byrd, Lou Rawls and UK jazz pioneer Courtney Pine, who Tony credits with kick-starting his career.

He now feels ready to take centre stage with three main projects; his quartet, a tenpiece African music project and the Tony Kofi Trio, with which he is heading to Brighton.

Tony formed the Hammond organ-led trio after hearing Lonnie Smith at the Mount Fuji Jazz Festival in Japan in 1994, and this is the trio's first tour.

"Our music is melody-led," he says.

"I like to write a melody that people remember, with lots of beats and grooves.

"I'm looking forward to playing Brighton, too, because we're playing a composition for the very first time, called Calling Miss Baugh. It's all about improvisation, though.

"I never know what direction I'm going to go in."

Starts at 8pm, tickets cost £10/£8. Call 01273 727371.