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Alan Barnes
Alan Barnes is a prolific international performer, composer, arranger, bandleader and touring soloist. He is best known for his work on clarinet, alto and baritone sax, where he combines a formidable virtuosity with a musical expression and collaborative spirit that have few peers.
His range and brilliance have made him a “first call” for studio and live work since his precocious arrival on the scene more than thirty years ago.
His recorded catalogue is immense. He has made over thirty albums as leader and co-leader alone, and the list of his session and side-man work includes Bjork, Bryan Ferry, Michel LeGrande, Clare Teale, Westlife, Jools Holland and Jamie Cullum. He has toured and played residencies with such diverse and demanding figures as Ruby Braff, Freddie Hubbard, Scott Hamilton, Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen and Conte Candoli.
In British jazz, the young Barnes was recognized – and hired – by the established greats of the time: Stan Tracy, John Dankworth, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, and Humphrey Lyttelton. But he is equally respected for his longstanding and fruitful collaborations with contemporaries such as David Newton, Bruce Adams, and Martin Taylor.
Alan Barnes’s unique musicianship, indefatigable touring, and warm rapport with audiences have made him uniquely popular in British jazz. He has received over 25 British Jazz Awards, most recently in 2014 for clarinet, and has twice been made BBC Jazz Musician of the Year.
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Sara Oschlag: Yeah!
by Neil Duggan
Sara Oschlag cannot be accused of being overly prolific. The Danish-born, UK-based artist last released an album in 2013. Since then she has been focusing her time on building a reputation as one of the UK's leading jazz vocalists and amassing over 12 million followers on YouTube. In addition, she has performed as a featured vocalist with Ronnie Scott's Jazz Orchestra, appeared at the Love Supreme Festival and sung at numerous events across Europe. Having honed her craft and built ...
Continue ReadingAlan Barnes & David Newton: 'Tis Autumn
by Neil Duggan
You may have heard of the 10,000-hour rule, perhaps from Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers, where he describes how it takes around 10,000 hours of intensive practice to master complex skills like playing the saxophone or the piano. That amounts to around 20 hours a week for a decade. Imagine, then, the calibre of performance that saxophonist Alan Barnes and pianist David Newton have attained. Having met as teens studying at Leeds College of Music in the 1970s, they have been ...
Continue ReadingStrictly Smokin' Big Band: Strictly Smokin' & Friends
by Neil Duggan
They can be stuffy and old-fashioned. That is the view that many, especially the younger demographic, have about big bands. Making serious headway into changing those perceptions is Michael Lamb. He is the main composer, arranger and trumpeter for the Strictly Smokin' Big Band. He set up the band in 2003 and they have steadily developed to be the top big band in the North East of England and one of the most exciting in the UK. What ...
Continue ReadingAlan Barnes All Stars: The Marbella Jazz Suite
by Jack Bowers
All Stars they're labeled, and All Stars they are. Saxophonist Alan Barnes leads eight of Great Britain's most accomplished post bop musicians through their paces on the Marbella Jazz Suite, a series of scenic sketches drawn by Barnes to honor the Spanish city where he and the band performed at the Marbella Jazz Festival in May, 2004.
Believe it or not, every song on the album--even “Freddie Green --alludes to some aspect of the city of Marbella, the festival, or ...
Continue ReadingThe Sax Section: Oh Gee!
Source:
JazzWax by Marc Myers
From time to time, I post on albums that showcase saxophone sections. What can I say, I'm a sucker for reeds. The last time I posted on such an album was in June, when I wrote about Jay Cameron's International Sax Band from 1955 and provided a long list of my favorite sax section albums (go here). Here's the list thus far... Woody Herman's Four Brothers band (1947), Gene Roland's Boppers (1949), The Brothers!—Al Cohn, Bill Perkins and Richie Kamuca ...
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Alan Barnes & William Ellis - Live! Scarborough Jazz Festival, September 25th
Source:
Ian Patterson
William Ellis is one of the world's leading jazz photographers and also an informative and highly entertaining speaker who has given talks on his work internationally. In this show, as his photographs are screened, William gives us the story behind each shot, and saxophonist Alan Barnes leads an all-star band performing a piece by each selected musician. Saxophonists Wayne Shorter, Sonny Rollins and Illinois Jaquet will be spotlighted, and the inclusion of trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Clark Terry ...
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The Jeremy Monteiro Trio with Special Guest Alan Barnes at The Living Room from May 18-22, 2010
Source:
Michael Ricci
The Living Rooms reputation for showcasing high caliber international jazz musicians is well-deserved. The walls of this sophisticated lounge bar may well be decorated with the black and white images of the jazz greats of yesteryear but it is the living legends of the jazz world that take to the stage. In May, The Living Room is thrilled to welcome the Jeremy Monteiro Trio with special guest, the renowned British saxophonist, Alan Barnes. Performing for just 5 nights from May ...
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Alan Barnes' All-Stars ‘Swinging Down Broad Street’
Source:
All About Jazz
The city of Birmingham is to host to an array of jazz events this summer as part of the Urban Fusion events programme.
The Urban Fusion ‘Summer of Jazz’ brings together some of the genre’s leading entertainers at various events across the city. Performers range from up-and-coming contemporary jazz artists such as Gwyneth Herbert and Soweto Kinch to veteran jazz legend Andy Hamilton. The line-up also boasts American superstars Joey De Francesco, the Hanna Richardson Trio and the Red Holloway ...
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Barnes’ melodic sense bypasses the usual scale-running clichés that pepper the playing of lesser bop disciples.
Peter Marsh, BBC Music Review.
His stylistic range is quite phenomenal… He has a wonderful capacity for suggesting a given style without actually imitating anyone.
Dave Gelly, Masters Of The Jazz Saxophone.
I was relishing the prospect of Barnes’s casually consummate musicianship, deadpan humour (he could be a comedian, if jazz ever fails him), and indomitable belief in a respected place for the music’s rich history in this eclectic and often forgetful world.
John Fordham - The Guardian.
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