Effective period / Period of releases: 2003 - 2015

Members: Mark Lockheart, Sebastian Rochford, Pete Wareham, Tom Herbert, John Burton (2)

British post-jazz band led by drummer Seb Rochford. Signed to the Babel Label, their first album Dim Lit was a small scale success. Their second record, Held on the Tips of Fingers merged elements of cool jazz, funk, dance music, free jazz, electronica and drum and bass and was, by comparison, a massive crossover hit, earning Polar Bear a nomination for the Mercury Music Prize in 2005. The success was all the more unusual for an almost purely instrumental album. The album was nominated for a BBC Jazz Award 2006. They are part of the F-IRE Collective. The band includes Seb Rochford (drums), Pete Wareham (Tenor saxophone), Mark Lockheart (Tenor saxophone), Tom Herbert (Double Bass), and Leafcutter John (electronics).