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About Gail Thompson
Instrument: Saxophone, baritone
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Gail Thompson
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Born:
A gifted British baritone player, composer, flutist, and big-band leader, Gail Thompson’s music is comparable to that of Quincy Jones or Abdullah Ibrahim. Along with her hard bop jazz sound, she stirs in a soulful touch of African spirit and rhythm. Near the end of the ’80s, Thompson traveled by truck through Africa to reach Kenya. The experience clearly left its mark on her compositions. Thompson has performed with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers making her the only female Messenger ever, the Charlie Watts Orchestra, and the National Youth Orchestra; she has worked for Mick Jagger’s music company as director and she worked with Courtney Pine to help found the Jazz Warriors
Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz
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by David Burke
The following is a revised excerpt from Chapter 3: Full Force Gail" of Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz by David Burke (Desert Hearts, 2021). In the 1980s, a new generation of black British musicians began to reconfigure the country's jazz scene, changing the face -and sound-of what had previously been a ...
Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz
![Read "Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz" reviewed by Chris May](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/photos/2010/ec8aaba8785cea7507d9caa23e81e920.jpg)
by Chris May
Giant Steps: Diverse Journeys in British Jazz David Burke 240 Pages ISBN: 9781908755483 Desert Hearts 2021 David Burke's survey of British jazz musicians of colour does not begin promisingly. The first sentence of his Foreword reads: Jazz is, of course, African-American in provenance, just as the greatest ...
Maria Baptist: Music for Jazz Orchestra
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by Jack Bowers
Like it or not, a new wave of young composer / arrangers has surfaced, scrupulously guiding big bands into heretofore uncharted waters, now and then smooth, at other times choppy, but always intriguing and inspired. Maria Schneider, George Gruntz, Jim McNeely and Carla Bley were among the pacesetters, followed in short order by such (relative) newcomers ...
JADU
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Label: Enja Records
Released: 2001
Track listing: Stopover Sydney; Dumela Azania; Surfers
Gail Thompson and the Jazz Africa All Nations Big Band: JADU
![Read "JADU" reviewed by Jack Bowers](https://s3.amazonaws.com/allaboutjazz/coverart/large/5a9121fd0d5034170107fecac4842400.jpg)
by Jack Bowers
Gail Thompson, a rising young star on the British Jazz scene, founded the Jazz Africa Project about a dozen years ago. From that initiative came the Jazz Africa All Nations Big Band, which has been delighting audiences all over Great Britain ever since. The ensemble gained further recognition at the 1995 Duisburg “Viva la Black!” Festival ...