Josh was lucky to receive early guidance from Julian Joseph and Percy Pursglove and on leaving high school won a scholarship to Royal Birmingham Conservatoire to study with Mike Williams and John O’Gallagher. Here he had the opportunity to play alongside visiting artists such as Dave Holland, Nate Smith and George Colligan.

Whilst in Birmingham Josh played as sideman with a number of groups and developed his skills as a band leader. The Josh Schofield Quartet was selected by the Jazz Promotion Network for their emerging talents scheme, has toured throughout the UK, performing at venues such as Kings Place London, Harrogate Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival and attracting attention in Jazzwise’s yearly ‘who to look out for’ feature.

In 2018 a substantial award from the Countess of Munster Trust enabled Josh to enrol on the Masters Programme at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam where he furthered his studies under the tutelage of Ben Van Gelder, Jasper Blom and Dick Oatts. He formed a new international cordless trio, performed at North Sea and Amsterdam Jazz Festivals, and appeared in projects with Ben Wendel, Vince Mendoza and Bob Minter.

Josh has also spent a lot of time playing in large ensembles. He has recorded with Birmingham Jazz Orchestra, CvA Concert Band (featuring Reinier Baas), Charlie Bates Big Band and performed with NYJO, MYJO, Syd Lawrence Orchestra, Birmingham Ellington Orchestra and Peter Beets & Henk Meutgeert New Jazz Orchestra.