Filed under: Artist Profiles, Brass Instruments, Live Events, News, Uncategorized | Tags: "Making Whoopee"., "Winchester Cathedral, Acker Bilk, BOB DYLAN, Bob Kerr, Chris Barber, Dame Edna Everage, Earls Court London, Kenny Ball, Lionel Bart, London Palladium, London Weekend Television, Lonnie Donegan, Manhattan Transfer, Max Wall, Music-parts UK, New Vaudeville Band, Peter Cook & Dudley More, Peter Pollard, Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Pollard trumpets, Ralph McTell, Roger Daltrey of The Who, Russia, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Temperance Seven, Top of the Pops, Whoopee Band
The WHOOPEE BAND have performed on stage and TV in most European countries, had their own 45 minute TV show in Germany, not to mention their very own TV series for London Weekend Television in the 70’s, it was called “Making Whoopee”. They have worked with many leading stars including Lionel Bart, Peter Cook & Dudley More and Max Wall. They have toured with Ralph McTell, Manhattan Transfer and many more.
Such is the bizarre nature of this outfit they not only play Theatres and Festivals all over Europe and beyond, they even played at the legendary BOB DYLAN concerts in Earls Court London in the late seventies and when Roger Daltrey of The Who got married they even played at his wedding. The WHOOPEE BAND have appeared in concert at the Philharmonic Hall in St. Petersburg, Russia and in Denmark with Dame Edna Everage …………in various concerts with Chris Barber, Kenny Ball, Lonnie Donegan and Acker Bilk plus many many more………If Musicians are have a “do” who do they book?
Bob Kerr served his “apprenticeship” with such bands as The Temperance Seven, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and the New Vaudeville Band………….. Remember “Winchester Cathedral” ? well it was Bob who was chosen to sing this song through that now famous megaphone on Top of the Pops and the London Palladium to The Ed Sullivan Show in New York and most of the world all those years ago.
Bob has been running his WHOOPEE BAND since the late sixties. In this time the band have made many LP’s, CD’s, singles and Video’s and appeared in several major films.
Bob and the Boys regular travels over the last few years have taken them to Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, The Faro Isles, Iceland, Italy, Russia, Spain and of course Great Britain, playing Theatres, Music Festivals, Clubs and making regular appearances on TV in many countries (including Russia where their show was seen by 280 million people) .
Filed under: Artist Profiles, Live Events, News | Tags: "unifying efforts toward peace in the Middle East"., 1st Class, Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and the Arts, Carlos Kleiber, Claudio Abbado, Clemens Hellsberg, Commander of the French Foreign Legion, Daniel Barenboim, Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, Georges Prêtre, Herbert von Karajan, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, Musicparts UK, New Year's Concert, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Peter Pollard, Pollard trumpets, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Ozawa, The Vienna Philharmonic, Zubin Mehta
The Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert 2010 will be conducted for the second time by the French conductor Georges Prêtre. Philharmonic Chairman Clemens Hellsberg stated that the decision was made “in recognition of our many years of collaboration and Prêtre’s extensive experience with this genre.” The success of Prêtre’s debut at the New Year’s Concert 2008 “was for both conductor and orchestra very gratifying.”
Georges Prêtre has been honored several times for his artistic achievements in his home country and also in Austria. In 2004 he was named a Commander of the French Foreign Legion and in the same year was awarded the Austrian Honorary Cross for Science and the Arts, 1st Class.
Since 1987 the conductors of the New Year’s Concert have alternated yearly. Herbert von Karajan conducted in 1987, followed by Claudio Abbado (1988 and 1991), Carlos Kleiber (1989 and 1992), Zubin Mehta (1990, 1995, 1998, 2007), Riccardo Muti (1993, 1997, 2000, 2004), Lorin Maazel (1994, 1996, 1999, 2005), Seiji Ozawa (2002), Nikolaus Harnoncourt (2001, 2003), Mariss Jansons (2006), Georges Prêtre (2008) and Daniel Barenboim (2009). In 2010 Prêtre returns to the podium of the New Year’s Concert for the second time.
The traditional Vienna Philharmonic New Year’s Concert on January 1, 2009, was conducted for the first time by the Argentinean-Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. This all-round musician, who debuted as a pianist with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1965 and conducted the orchestra for the first time in 1989, combines his musical abilities with ideas and gestures which give his work significance beyond the concert hall. Among the many awards Barenboim has received was the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in Vienna in 2006, where the foundation’s board of trustees noted his “unifying efforts toward peace in the Middle East”.
Filed under: Artist Profiles, News | Tags: "A Jazz Life", bass enthusiasts, Chris Minh Doky, Jazz, Jazz Bassists, New York Jazz scene, Yamaha bass
Jazz is not a genre – it is a spirit.” With these words, Chris Minh Doky captures the essence of a life on the world stage among the elite in jazz. Today, 20 years after his international break, the jazz bassist’s very best recordings are gathered on a new double album.
His virtuosity and unique sound, is first and foremost what brought Chris Minh Doky to the top of the selective jazz world. As a composer and producer he moves across genres and has developed his own distinct sound based on a strong jazz tradition. Throughout the years, the bassist has achieved both critical and commercial acclaim from his collaborations with great artists from classical to pop, rock, hip hop and experimental.
The new double album collection packs one CD with Chris Minh Doky’s very best instrumental tracks as well as one CD that features his most memorable moments with some of the world’s finest singers. The special jazz spirit – the sensibility, the sensuality and the intimacy – is the common thread throughout the music.
“Music has to sound like it is happening right here, right now, in front of you,” says Chris Minh Doky. “I know that in the music we are listening to today, the jazz spirit can grow even stronger – regardless of genre.”
Jazz might not today be the typical style that tops the radio charts, yet Chris Minh Doky is in his native Denmark as well as internationally a platinum and gold selling recording artist and has received awards for Best Bassist, Best Concert and Band of the Year. There is no doubt that Chris Minh Doky’s mission, to make more people discover and feel the jazz spirit, has gotten of to more than a good start.
Since his emergence on the New York Jazz scene in the late eighties Chris Minh Doky has become an integral part of the international music scene and his natural approach to music has delivered numerous successful albums, both as a solo artist and as a producer. “A Jazz Life” is the ultimate retrospective of his first 20 years at the bass – an essential for all his fans, jazz and bass enthusiasts alike.
Filed under: Artist Profiles | Tags: Artist admired by Count Basie and Charlie Parker, Artist Who Inspired Phillip Glass, artists who mix jazz and classical, Elvis Costello, Louis Thomas Hardin, Moondog, Phillip Glass, Pioneering Musicians, The Viking Of 6th Avenue
Most Classical composers write Horn parts….but how many WORN horns? New York has many strange stories…here’s one of them! Meet Moondog, blind composer who lived on the streets of Manhattan and was greatly admired by everyone from Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker and Count Basie to Phillip Glass and Elvis Costello…
Moondog on the streets of New York in the sixties |
Moondog was the pseudonym of Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916–September 8, 1999), a blind American composer, musician, cosmologist, poet, and inventor of several musical instruments. Although these achievements would have been considered extraordinary for any blind person, Moondog further removed himself from society through his decision to make his home on the streets of New York for approximately twenty of the thirty years he spent in the city. But he wasn’t actually a homeless, as most of the time he had a room to live. For a while, he lived with respected composer Phillip Glass, and it’s easy to hear, in Glass work, a great deal of Moondog’s influence.
Moondog in New York |
A tall blind man with long hair and beard, wearing a handmade Viking helmet and primitive cloak, he regularly stationed himself at Sixth Avenue and 54th Street, which cops and cabbies knew as Moondog’s Corner. Dispensing his poetry, politics, sheet music and recordings (some on boutique labels, some on majors), he was sought out over the years by beats, hippies and foreign tourists, but also by the media and celebrities, from Walter Winchell and “Today” to Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali and Martin Scorsese.
The public begin to appreciate the extent of this man’s talents only in the final decades of Moondog’s life, primarily because of his stubborn refusal to wear anything other than his own home-made clothes, all based on his own interpretation of the Norse god Thor. Indeed, he was known for much of his life as ‘The Viking of 6th Avenue’.
The track “Stamping Ground”, with its odd preamble of Moondog saying one of his epigrams, was featured on the sampler double album Fill Your Head with Rock (CBS, 1970). The melody from the track “Bird’s Lament (In memory of Charlie Parker)” was later sampled by Mr. Scruff as the basis for his song “Get a Move On”, which was then used in commercials for the Lincoln Navigator SUV.
In a search for new sounds, Moondog also invented several musical instruments, including a small triangular-shaped harp known as the “Oo”, another which he named the “Ooo-ya-tsu”, and (perhaps his most well-known) the “Trimba”, a triangular percussion instrument that the composer invented in the late 40s. The original Trimba is still played today by Moondog’s friend Stefan Lakatos, a Swedish percussionist, to whom Moondog also explained the methods for building such an instrument.
In 1974 Moondog moved to Germany, where he died aged 83 in 1999. Almost ten years after his death, he’s still not a household name – as the British music critic Kenneth Ansell observed, “the classical orthodoxy has not rushed to embrace him”.
 Cover of Moondog 2, his second album |
But his mixture of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven with jazz was pioneering, and he’s starting to get more recognition. In 2007 there was a Moondog festival in New York, and a biography, “The Vikinig Of 6th Avenue” has also been published.
Watch: Moondog, “Lament #1″
sources:
Inspired? Check Dolphin’s Orchestral instruments and release your inner Moondog!
Filed under: Artist Profiles, Live Events | Tags: "Later With Jools Holland, "Pebble Mill", "Pressgang", "Watching", B*Witched, BBC Children In Need, Chaka Khan, Cher, Culture Club, Dolphin Music, Eurythmics, George Michael, Good Morning Show, Hamish Stuart, Huddersfield, ITV, James Brown, Jimmy's", Kylie Minogue, Learn to play the Sax, Lisa Stansfield, M-People, Mark Morrison, Motorhead, National Lottery Show", Paul Hardcastle, Paul McCartney, Paul Young, Pet-Shop Boys, Primal Scream, Ray Charles, Rico Reeds, Robert Palmer, Saxophone "Masterclass, saxophones, Sister Sledge, Smokey Robinson, Snake Davis, Soul11Soul, Swing Out Sister, Take That, Tanita Tikaram, The Paradise Club", Theme Tunes and TV Bands, Tina Turner, Tom Jones, Tonight with Jonathan Ross, Top of the Pops, Yanagisawa, Yorkshire
DOLPHIN MUSIC 11-15 Market Street Huddersfield West Yorkshire HD1 2EH A day of sax. 11am till 4pm Snake Davis Live @ Dolphin Music Always wanted to play the sax? Come and have a go! Guest appearance by sax expert Snake Davis, who will perform and also be available for a free consultation, plus a chance to win a sax on the day! Want to know how a reed is made? Come along and see the presentation from Jean Francois Bescond,from Rico Reeds Paris. Bring your sax along and try new reeds,mouthpieces and ligatures
Snake Davis is well established as one of the UK’s leading Saxophonists. He is in demand from the biggest names on the British Popular music scene, as well as visiting artists from overseas. In recent years he has been extremely busy and in the public eye. As resident saxophonist on “Tonight With Jonathon Ross” he played with the likes of, James Brown, Smokey Robinson, Chaka Khan and many more. He has been seen regularly on TV with the Eurythmics, M-People and B*Witched and presented a Saxophone “Masterclass” programme for ITV. He played all featured Saxophone and Flute parts – on record and tour – for Lisa Stansfield and M-People.
Records
M-People, Lisa Stansfield, Ray Charles, Tom Jones, Culture Club, Hamish Stuart, George Michael, Tina Turner, Paul Hardcastle, Take That, Cher, Kylie Minogue, Paul McCartney, Swing Out Sister, Dave Stewart, Paul Young, Mark Morrison, Pet-Shop Boys, Soul11Soul, Robert Palmer, Tanita Tikaram, Motorhead, Primal Scream,
Live
M-People, Eurythmics, Lisa Stansfield, Swing Out Sister, Ray Charles, Boy George, B*Witched, Edwin Starr, The Snake Davis Band, Rose Royce, Sister Sledge, Tavares, Odyssey, The Three Degrees, The Real Thing, Mary Wells, Ruby Turner, Martha Reeves, Eddie Holman, Popcorn Wylie, Chuck Jackson, Syreeta.
Producers
George Martin, Dan Hartman, Chris Porter, M-People, Richard Niles, Paul O’Duffy, Leon Silvers, Leon Ware, Dave Stewart, Steve Anderson, Jazzie B, Steve Levine, Ian Levine, Will Mowatt, Jon Douglas.
Film Scores
With Dave Stewart, Richard Niles, Pet Shop Boys, Sting and David Arnold.
TV Shows
Personal appearances playing own music on
“Later With Jools Holland”, “National Lottery Show”, “BBC Children In Need”, “Eurythmics On Tour”, “Good Morning Show”, “Top of the Pops” and “The Paradise Club” – where Snake played himself in the series.
Theme Tunes and TV Bands
“Watching”, “Jimmy’s”, “Pressgang”, “Tonight With Jonathon Ross”, “Pebble Mill” and “The Paradise Club”. Numerous TV and Radio Adverts
http://www.cassgb.org/index.php
Autumn 2008
Volume 33, Number 3
Filed under: Artist Profiles, Live Events | Tags: Dolphin Music, Eugene Rousseau, Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition, Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Kenneth Fischer, Otis Murphy, RNCM, Saint Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, Yamaha, Yamaha Saxophones
In November, the award winning saxophonist, Otis Murphy will be visiting the UK to perform masterclasses, workshops and giving solo performances around the UK. Featuring at the RNCM Saxophone Day on the 17th November, Otis will be spending the week at venues and conservatoires up and down the country.
Otis Murphy is an experienced saxophone soloist and has performed throughout the world taking in countries such as France, Switzerland, Germany and Japan. Over the years Mr. Murphy has received numerous awards that include prizes in the Saint Louis Symphony Young Artist Competition, the Heida Hermanns International Woodwind Competition in the United States, the Adolphe Sax International Saxophone Competition in Belgium, and the Jean-Marie Londeix International Saxophone Competition in France.
Otis Murphy joined the faculty of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music in 2001 at the age of 28, becoming one of the youngest faculty members in its history. Studying with some fantastic saxophonists such as Jean-Yves Fourmeau, Eugene Rousseau, and Kenneth Fischer, Otis has established himself as not only a great musician, but a great teacher too.
A much in demand clinician, Otis’s visit promises to be a fantastic opportunity for saxophonists to hear a great soloist and receive some invaluable advice. Watch this space for Otis’s tour dates!
Filed under: Artist Profiles, Live Events | Tags: Analia Llugdar, Anima, Bassoon, Chethams School of Music, Cornerstone Festival, Eliazabeth Winters, Elliot Carter Asko Concerto, Ensemble 10/10, George Benjamin At First light, Hanson Clarinet, Irvine Arditti, John Rea Singulari-T, Ken Hesketh, Le Nouvel Ensemble Modern, Liverpool Composers Competition, Liverpool Culture Company, Liverpool RLPO, Liverpool University, Lorraine Vaillancourt, Martin Matalon, Montreal, Oscar Adler & Co, Philip Venables, Roger Reynolds Violin Concerto, The Silken Thread, Todos Los Recuerdos Presentes Envolvian ese Sonido y al, Trame VIII, Wunderkammer, Yamaha Tenor Sax
Two of the world’s finest exponents of new music: Liverpool’s own RLPO Ensemble 10/10 http://www.liverpoolphil.com/content/abouttheorchestra/1010.aspx and Montreal’s Le Nouvel Ensemble Moderne join forces for a programme of concerts and workshops, as part of the Cornerstone Festival.
This innovative collaboration sees the world premiere of The Silken Thread, a new work by Liverpool Composer Competition winner Elizabeth Winters, on 19 November in St George’s Concert Room.
19 November, St George’s Concert Room
Martin Matalon: Trame VII (2008)
Analia Llugdar: Todos Los Recuerdos Presentes Envolvian ese Sonido y algo me miro (2007)
Ensemble 10/10
Ken Hesketh: Wunderkammer
Philip Venables: Anima
20 November, Great Hall, Cornerstone
Roger Reynolds: Violin Concerto (with Irvine Arditti)
George Benjamin: At First Light
Elliot Carter: Asko Concerto
For tickets contact the Cornerstone Festival box office on 0151 291 3578 or visit http://www.hope.ac.uk/cornerstone-festival-/welcome-to-the-cornerstone-festival-2008.html
NEM and Liverpool New Composers Competition are supported by the Liverpool Culture Company as part of the 2008 European Capital of Culture programme.
Dates
Opening 2008 18 Nov 2008 – 20 Nov 2008
| Day | Opening Times |
|---|---|
| Tuesday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
| Wednesday | 09:00 – 17:00 |
Filed under: Artist Profiles, Live Events | Tags: Dolphin Music, Liverpool, Cornerstone Festival, The Only Moving Thing, Eighth Blackbird, Steve Reich, David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, Susan Marshall, The New Yorker, Grammy-Award Winner, Bloomberg TV’s Muse, CBS’s Sunday Morning, St. Paul Sunday, The Next Big Thing, Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, University of Chicago., Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, Carnegie’s Zankel Hall, DePauw University, University of Michigan, Harris Theater, Millennium Park, Cedille Records, Singing in the dead of noght
| Cornerstone Festival | ||
| website | http://www.liverpool08.com/details.asp?id=TMP-188471 | |
| address | map this location→ | |
| Liverpool | ||
| UK | ||
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| The Only Moving Thing, eighth blackbird’s kinetic program featuring al newly commissioned works, crackles with vivid theatricality as the ensemble dives full-tilt into the agile and muscular world of five of today’s most prominent names in music and dance. Double Sextet, a new Steve Reich work for eighth blackbird, represents a return to the rhythmic intensity and drive that is synonymous with the composer’s most venerable works such as Drumming and Music for 18 Musicians. Pulsing with energy and life, the work will feature eighth blackbird performing simultaneously live and pre-recorded. Inspired by eighth blackbird’s distinctive predilection for memorization and the embodiment of their music through movement, singing in the dead of night is a continuous weave of music and motion; an intrepid collaboration between maverick composers David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe and seminal New York choreographer Susan Marshall.Described by The New Yorker as “friendly, unpretentious, idealistic and highly skilled,” the Grammy Award-winning eighth blackbird promises its ever-increasing audiences provocative and engaging performances. It is widely lauded for its performing style – often playing from memory with virtuosic and theatrical flair – and its efforts to make new music accessible to wide audiences. A New York Times reviewer raved, “eighth blackbird’s performances are the picture of polish and precision, and they seem to be thoroughly engaged…by music in a broad range of contemporary styles.” The sextet has been the subject of profiles in the New York Times and on NPR’s All Things Considered; it has also been featured on Bloomberg TV’s Muse, CBS’s Sunday Morning, St. Paul Sunday, Weekend America and The Next Big Thing, among others. In 2008 the group’s recording of “strange imaginary animals” won the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. The ensemble is in residence at the University of Richmond in Virginia and at the University of Chicago.
The centerpiece of eighth blackbird’s 2007-2008 season is its kinetic program “The Only Moving Thing”, featuring new commissions by Steve Reich, and maverick composers David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe. The group is also premiering Mirrors, a ground-breaking new multimedia work by composer Tamar Muskal and interactive digital artist Danny Rozin, as well as a new work by Stephen Hartke as part of the group’s “Sound Mirror” program. This season, eighth blackbird makes their debut at Carnegie’s Zankel Hall and the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, returns to the Kennedy Center, and is in residence at DePauw University and the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. eighth blackbird also inaugurates its hometown series at the Harris Theater at Millennium Park. In previous seasons the sextet has appeared in South Korea, Mexico, Canada, Amsterdam, and throughout North America, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the La Jolla Chamber Music Society, and has performed as soloist with the Utah Symphony and the American Composers Orchestra. During the summer the group has appeared several times at Cincinnati’s Music X, the Great Lakes Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, and Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. They have also appeared at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, and in 2006 made their debut at the Ojai Music Festival, where the group was named Music Director for the 2009 season. Since its founding in 1996, eighth blackbird has been active in commissioning new works from eminent composers such as George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, Joseph Schwantner, Paul Moravec, and Stephen Hartke, as well as ground-breaking works from Jennifer Higdon, Derek Bermel, David Schober, Daniel Kellogg, Carlos Sanchez-Gutierrez, and the Minimum Security Composers Collective. The group received the first BMI/Boudleaux-Bryant Fund Commission and the 2007 American Music Center Trailblazer Award and has received grants from BMI, Meet the Composer, the Greenwall Foundation, and Chamber Music America, among others. The ensemble is enjoying acclaim for its four CDs released to date on Cedille Records. The first, thirteen ways, was selected as a Top 10 CD of 2003 by Billboard magazine. beginnings, their second disc, was summed up by the New York Times: “The performances have all the sparkle, energy and precision of the earlier outings…It is their superb musicality and interpretive vigor that bring these pieces to life.” About fred, featuring the music of Frederic Rzewski, the San Francisco Chronicle reported: “The music covers all kinds of moods and approaches, from dreamy surrealism to caffeinated unison melodies, and the members of eighth blackbird deliver it all with their trademark panache.” Their fourth CD, titled strange imaginary animals, was released in November 2006. In 2006 the group debuted on the Naxos label in a performance of The Time Gallery, commissioned by eighth blackbird from 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec. The members of eighth blackbird hold degrees in music performance from Oberlin Conservatory, among other institutions. The group derives its name from the Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” The eighth stanza reads: I know noble accents +Matthew Duvall endorses Pearl Drums and Adams Musical Instruments.
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Filed under: Artist Profiles | Tags: Jamie Cullum, Ray Charles, 606 Club, Simon Bates, Dave Bishop, Aaron Liddard, Nigel Hitchcock, BG France, Franck Bischon, Royal marines, Rick Astley, London jazz, Elvis Costello, Lulu, Billy Ocean, Rick Wakeman, D:Ream, Chaka Khan, Emma Bunton, Seal, Peter Erskine, Q.E.2., Eiffel Tower, Ronnie Scotts, Jazz Cafe., Johnny Vaughan Tonight’, Channel 4’s Big Breakfast, ‘This Morning’, Discovery Channel, Follies, Chicago, Jesus Christ Superstar, Guildhall School of Music, Yamaha Custom Saxophones, Vandoren Reeds, Yamaha Music UK, Nick Carter, The Gareth Williams Trio, UK Jazz scene, NYJO, Tom Jones, Robbie Williams, Prince, Maceo Parker, Beverley Knight, Amy Whinehouse, Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Lily Allen
Professor of Saxophone for the Royal Marines, Simon Bates is known and respected for his stylistic versatility and instrumental prowess. Musical Director for Rick Astley’s re-launch tour in September, Simon is in great demand on the London jazz and session scene – his playing features on countless adverts, film scores, TV theme tunes and pop records. Simon has appeared live and recorded with a wide variety of bands and musicians including Elvis Costello, Lulu, Billy Ocean, Rick Wakeman, D:Ream, Chaka Khan, Emma Bunton, Seal and Peter Erskine. He has performed around the world in a wide variety of settings from the Q.E.2. and Eiffel Tower to Ronnie Scotts and the Jazz Cafe.
Simon appears frequently on television in programmes such as ‘Johnny Vaughan Tonight’ for which he was Musical Director and was featured on Channel 4’s Big Breakfast every Friday. Some of Simon’s compositions have appeared on the ITV show ‘This Morning’ and on the Discovery Channel. He has also written many advertising jingles, a multitude of library music, commissions from other bands and musicians and cues for all television networks.
Simon’s extraordinary ability to play virtually any instrument in the woodwind family plus windsynth and percussion in any style has led to regular appearances in West-End shows such as Starlight Express, Follies, Chicago and Jesus Christ Superstar.
Simon started to learn the violin at school but the draw of his father’s old clarinet was too much, and so he started to have lessons. With the intense competition of his twin brother, (now a freelance French Horn player), Simon progressed quickly and achieved Grade 8 on the clarinet at the tender age of 12 and viola at only 13. He started to play sax at the age of 14 and got his first paid gig in the same year. At the Colchester Institute, whilst studying for a classical music degree, he turned to jazz and improvised music and went on to the Guildhall School of Music where he gained a Postgraduate Advanced Certificate in Jazz and Studio Music and a L.G.S.M. Performance Diploma.
Simon Bates is an official endorsee of Yamaha Custom Saxophones, BG Ligatures and Vandoren Reeds.
A CELEBRATION OF JAZZ SAXOPHONE FEATURING NIGEL HITCHCOCK, AARON LIDDARD, DAVE BISHOP, SIMON BATES, NIK CARTER ∧ THE GARETH WILLIAMS TRIO.
As part of Yamaha UK’s ongoing commitment to the UK Jazz scene and the 606 Club in particular we are tonight presenting a show featuring five of the finest saxophonists around. All the players are Yamaha endorsees and the Club would like to extend their gratitude to Yamaha UK for enabling this great gig. NIGEL HITCHCOCK is unquestionably one of the finest saxophonists of his generation. This multi-award winning musician was lead alto with the NYJO at the age 12, graduating to busy session musician by the time he was 16. He has been a featured player with some of the finest musicians in the World, including work with the likes of Ray Charles, Tom Jones and Robbie Williams. In more recent years he has also added composing and arranging to his accomplishments, including works for full-scale orchestra. AARON LIDDARD is one of the UK music scene’s rising stars. In the last 5 years he has worked with the likes of Prince, Maceo Parker, Beverley Knight and Amy Whinehouse and in the process earned an impressive reputation as a fluent and incisive player. He includes live work and sessions world wide as well numerous TV and Video appearances and has become first call for a variety of A-list recording artists. DAVE BISHOP The doyen of studio players Dave is admired and respected throughout the business. His powerful but sophisticated playing has been heard on more successful albums, film sound tracks and tours than almost any other player. It’s probably easier to list the people he hasn’t played with but his 25+ years in the business includes work with the likes of Paul McCartney, Van Morrison, Tom Jones, and Robbie Williams on a glittering cv. SIMON BATES is a muscular and powerful sax player who includes the likes of Chaka Khan, Seal and Jamie Cullum on an impressive cv. An enormously experienced player Simon has performed in a wide variety of settings from classical and jazz to funk and pop and from international tours and festivals to Ronnie Scott’s. A well established educator he includes teaching posts at Thames Valley University and Morley College as well as being the author of a beginners’ saxophone course for Digital Music World (on-line worldwide tuition sponsored by Yamaha and Music Sales). NIK CARTER is another of the rising stars featured this evening. A recent alumnus of NYJO Nik’s impressive talent was soon rewarded by two World Tours with Lily Allen. He is currently working with a variety of pop, gospel and indie artists plus numerous sessions and TV work as well as continuing to perform with Lily. The supporting trio will be led by GARETH WILLIAMS, one of the country’s finest piano players.
Filed under: Artist Profiles | Tags: Assistant Professor of Trumpet at West Chester Universi, Dolphin Music, Dr. Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski, Midland-Odessa Symphony in Texas, Sonorous Brass Quintet, Trumpet, Yamaha
Yamaha is pleased to announce that Dr. Jean-Christophe Dobrzelewski has recently joined its ever-expanding Trumpet roster. The internationally respected soloist and educator has appeared in numerous solo performances with orchestras, wind ensembles and chamber groups all over the globe. Currently, Dr. Dobrzelewski is Assistant Professor of Trumpet at West Chester University’s School of Music. In addition to being an active freelancer in the Philadelphia area, Dr. Dobrzelewski is a founding member of the Sonorous Brass Quintet. Previously, he has held a position as Principal Trumpet of the Midland-Odessa Symphony in Texas.
Dr. Dobrzelewski received a “Prix de Trompette” from the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory of Music in Paris, a Master of Music Performance from the University of Maine, and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from Arizona State University. He has published a popular set of 16 volumes of Orchestral Excerpt books that are currently used for the New York Philharmonic trumpet auditions.
With more than 20 works commissioned for various chamber ensembles by North and Central American, as well as European composers, Dr. Dobrzelewski is a champion of new music. A believer that music is for everyone, he is very active in bringing music to the masses, performing in schools, churches, nursing homes, prisons, hospitals, and retirement communities.
