Results for "London"

Tony Bianco

Anthony Bianco is a drummer, percussionist and composer born in New York City, the son of a drummer and the grandson of a guitar player. Growing up in New York City he could experience the greatest sounds in jazz. He remembered seeing Elvin, Mingus, Art Blakey, Woody Shaw, Miles, Liebman, Tony Williams, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter. This intensified his love for this music. He got a steady gig in New York City in a warm-up band in a famous comedy club called Catch a Rising Star. It’s a legendary comic club that a lot of the great comedians came through (Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock, Robin Williams, Richard Belzer). The bass player on the gig was Lloyd Mair. He was a devotee of avant garde music and jazz. He knew some really interesting things about jazz. Tony learned a lot from him. Being at this club Tony played in interesting situations with Edgar Winter, Pat Benatar. In that time Tony explored his own ideas and met a lot of musicians. One became a close friend : tenor player Mac Goldsberry. Mac introduced Tony to a lot of the New York City players even though he was from Texas. Through him Tony played and recorded with Ed Schuller, Herb Robertson and Charlie Elgart. He started to write music at that time and made a recording with John Hart on guitar. At the same time he hooked up with (through Goldsberry) the singer, writer, jazz musician and poet Bob Lennox and his son Adam. Through Adam he first met Dave Liebman. They did a record and gig doing progressive rock music. At this time he also did a recording with Anthony Jackson, the legendary electric bass player and started to play more free jazz. But things in New York for him weren’t really going well. Tony met some musicians from the University of Miami (Mike Gillis, legendary guitar player) and went to Japan for a few months with them. On coming back to the U.S. one of the teachers from the University invited Tony to come to Miami. Dave Liebmann suggests to Tony to move to Berlin where some of his mates went to live and play jazz (Lennox, Goldsberry). Liebman said that he needed to get out of NYC to see himself. Tony moved to Berlin in 1991 and started to work with Alex von Schlippenbach and his wife Aki Takase, and Gerd Dudek. He had an opportunity to play with Reggie Workman on a Schlippenbach gig and learned more about the European free improv scene. At the same time Tony worked with the late legendary bass player Jay Oliver who influenced him in some rhythmic concepts and attitude. He also worked with the late gypsy guitarist Costa Lucas. His rhythmic concepts really took a turn when he worked with Hans Hartman (bass and stick player) and Turkish percussionist Mesut Ali. Tony lived in Berlin until 1995, returned to New York for a few months, then joined his wife in London. He met Loz Speyer who got him a drum set and introduced Tony to a lot of the straighter players. He met Alex McGuire who introduced him to Elton Dean, from where he met the rest of the free scene. He met Paul Dunmall played and recorded some great music together. He came up with a project called Freebeat with Elton Dean and sound engineer, Jon Wilkinson. It was a concept of playing through time signatures but playing also free through it. These ideas interested Dave Liebman. He recorded a similar but different project with Liebmann in Berlin (2003). The CD "In a Western Sense" handles some of these same concepts. Tony moved to London in 1996 and played and recorded with Paul Dunmall, Elton Dean, Simon Picard, Paul Rutherford, Keith Tippett, Paul Rogers, Marcio Matthos and John Edwards.

Earl Okin

Born: January 31, 1947

Earl Okin is one of the world’s finest Jazz singers.

In addition, he is probably the finest performer of Bossa Nova outside of Brazil.

Though occasionally performing with a trio, he normally performs solo, accompanying himself at the guitar or piano as most appropriate for the song.

Last but not least, he’s renowned for his legendary ‘vocal trumpet’ solos.

Based in London, Earl has given concerts around the world in theatres, clubs and festivals, and regularly performs at London’s premier Jazz Club, Ronnie Scott’s and cabaret and concert venues such as Les Crazy Coqs and the Royal Albert Hall.

The Staines/Tanzi Duo

Born: June 6, 1972

The Staines/Tanzi duo are a jazz duo featuring Oliver J. Staines (guitar) and Cris Tanzi (vocals). Having both worked as professional musicians for over ten years in a variety of settings and genres they have come together to blend their individual voices into something new in the creative space of the duo setting. You can catch the duo doing gigs in their own right or otherwise being hired to provide a rich setting for private or corporate events. They primarily perform the American Songbook and latin jazz standards but their entertaining performances often also feature treatments of more contemporary and popular pieces

Orla Murphy

Orla Murphy has been performing on the London jazz scene for the last few years and has performed in many notable music venues throughout the city, such as: The National Portrait Gallery, The Spice of Life, The National Theatre and The Octave. She has worked and recorded with many of London's leading jazz musicians such as: Simon Wallace, Jonathan Gee, Barry Green, Julie Walkington, Amy Baldwin, and Winston Clifford, to name a few. She has also performed throughout the UK, in Italy, Ireland and Scotland, with memorable performances at the Derry Jazz & Big Band Festival in Northern Ireland (May '07), the Glasgow International Jazz Festival (June '07) and Swansea Jazzland, Wales (July '07 & May '08). In the last year Orla released her debut album 'Wishful Thinking', which she co-produced with pianist Simon Wallace

Alexander Balanescu

Alexander Balanescu, violinist, composer and visual artist was born in Romania, raised in Israel and studied violin at London’s Trinity College of Music and the Julliard school in New York. He returned to London where he worked and cooperated with many of the major contemporary music groups. With his Balanescu Quartet he has acquired a reputation as one of the world’s leading contemporary artist. His quartet has commissioned over 25 works to date beginning with Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Kevin Volans and Balanescu himself, before going on to include the non-classical writers John Lurie, David Byrne, Keith Tippett, Carla Bley, Rabih Abou Khalil, Michael Nyman, Gavin Bryars, Ornette Coleman, Peter Greenaway, David Byrne, the Pet Shop Boys, Spiritualized, Kate Bush and Kraftwerk. Collaborations as a composer/performer include in dance with Merryl Tankard, Pina Bausch, Rosemary Lee, Suzy Blok, Johann Ulrich, Phillipe Saire and Virgilio Sieni and in Theatre Productions at Theatre de la Place, Liege, Belgrade State Theatre, Cabaret Dromesko, Rennes, and Watford Palace Theatre. Balanescu’s credits as a composer of film and TV music include the feature films Angels and Insects, Le Poulpe, Il Partigiano Johnny and Eisenstein, (TV) documentaries Dancing through Darkness and Spinoza and over 20 animated films… Alexander Balanescu is considered as one of the most visionary and exciting violinists of our time.

Issie Barratt

Born: November 29, 1964

Issie Barratt is an internationally active composer, arranger, conductor, baritone player, record producer and educator who has performed at a majority of leading venues in Northern Europe, south east India, central America and the east coast of Canada. She has been awarded many commissions from ensembles that include the Philharmonia Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Scottish National Jazz Orchestra, Bohuslän Big Band (Sweden), Norwegian Wind Ensemble, Voice of the North, Conservatoires UK Big Band and National Youth Choir of Great Britain, with her music often featuring international acclaimed soloists, frequently sharing the billing with fellow record label composers, Mike Gibbs and John Warren. Issie’s music has been featured in many festivals and conferences, including the Cheltenham Jazz Festival’s 2001 Rising Star series, the Leeds International Jazz Conferences 2002-2007, the International Association of Jazz Educators conference 2008 in Toronto, Copenhagen Jazz Festival 2010, Montreux Jazz Festival 2010 and the International Real-time Music Symposium 2011 in Oslo and recorded by the Delta Sax Quartet (“Dedicated to you but you weren’t listening”), Bohuslän Big Band (“Letter to Billie”) and Vortex Foundation Big Band (“Charybdis”) as well as her own 21-piece jazz orchestra ("Astral Pleasures") and contemporary quartet ("The Meinrad Iten Suite") both recorded on her own record label www.fuzzymoonrecords.co.uk (established in 2008)

Rick Jensen

Born: March 19, 1979

The Rick Jensen Trio was started in 1999,We are an improvising group, all of our music is spontaneous, making every performance completely unique. Many different musicians have played with the band, some only once and others have stuck around for a couple of years.Originally formed in Wellington, New Zealand, we are now based London and there are various musicians who come and go from the group, the line-up can change with each performance.The group isn't always a trio but thats usually what it works out to be. We've experimented with all kinds of combinations and instrumentation, often dictated by who was around and able to perform.The group has been as large as 6 and as small as 2

Liz Cass

Born: April 11, 1985

Liz Cass is an exciting young vocalist emerging on the London Jazz scene. It is not only for her stunning looks and velvety vocals, but her unique and captivating performance style. Inspired by movies and old-style glamour, she brings something new and special to her repertoire of classic Jazz songs. Liz has been performing jazz for over four years in the UK and abroad. Her start in music was co-writing and recording pop, collaborating with various London producers, but her interest in Jazz lured her away, and in 2004 she left for Sydney, and on arrival began networking and meeting musicians with the hope of kick-starting a Jazz career

Dorian Ford

Born: July 5, 1967

Dorian Ford started playing jazz in his early teens when he began regular attendance at a weekly workshop led by trumpeter, composer, broadcaster and music writer Ian Carr. Playing alongside many musicians who went on to form the backbone of the London jazz renaissance of the 1980’s, he won a scholarship to Berklee College of Music where he received the prestigious Chick Corea Jazz Masters Award. Piano studies were with Donald Brown, a regular in Art Blakey’s band at the time. Classical: His commitment to the craft and tradition of piano playing has led to extensive classical training with eminent teachers; Stephany Tiernan (USA), Anne Shasby and Katherina Wolpe, and master classes with Gweneth Pryor, John Tilbury, Brenda Lucas-Ogden and Simon Nichols. Recent classical performances include recitals of 20th Century lieder (Berg, Mompou, Stravinsky) with soprano, Katina Kangaris; 20th Century Latin American music (Piazzola, Brouwer, Ginestera) with Cuban cellist Pavel te Jeda; and pieces for two pianos (Bartok, Lutoslawski, Millhaud, Schubert) with pianist Claire Kitchin

Simon Lawrence

Born: January 26, 1980

Simon is fast becoming one the UK's top up and coming crooners and jazz composers. Since 2001 Simon has been writing and performing swing jazz in London venues including 606 Club, 100 Club, Soho Theatre, The BBC Club, The Big Chill, The Crypt, Hoxton Hall and Jazz After Dark. He has also performed for top corporate clients including Pepsi, Prudential and DeBeers Diamonds. Although Simon enjoys singing jazz standards, what he is really about is writing his own original jazz songs inspired by the writers he loves like Cole Porter, Harold Arlen and Jimmy Van Heusen. In this way Simon is hoping to create jazz songs for a new generation without them being 'pop jazz'