Jazz star Soweto Kinch reunited with stolen saxophone

British jazz star Soweto Kinch has been reunited with his beloved saxophone after agreeing to pay a ransom to the thief who stole it.

The award-winning musician, who worked with late singer Amy Winehouse, was left devastated when thieves broke into his vehicle and snatched the handmade 1963 Selmer Mark VI sax while he was watching a play in London earlier this year (Apr13).

He launched a massive Twitter.com campaign and put up posters in the area offering a cash reward for the return of the instrument, which has immense sentimental value to Kinch as he spent months busking on the streets to make enough money to buy it.

Kinch was overjoyed when he received a phone call last month (May13) from an unnamed individual demanding the ransom and was so keen to retrieve the sax that he did not inform the police about his intended meeting.

He tells Britain's Evening Standard, "I probably should have considered my safety a bit more, but I was not going to wait around. Part of me was irritated but I was just so relieved it was there. It was emotional to be reunited with it.

"It's just great to be back with something so familiar that's such a big part of me."

Kinch refused to divulge how much he shelled out for the instrument's safe return.