BEGINNINGS..

From my earliest days on guitar I've always written songs and ditties, but composing and arranging in the accepted sense only began alongside my growing interest in jazz. Joe Zawinul and Weather Report made the strongest impression on me, in the late '70s, and aside from jazz, Stravinsky, Bartok and Ravel fired my imagination too.

The emergence of Loose Tubes created the greatest opportunity any fledgling 'jazz' composer could ask for, and unconsciously we trod in the footsteps of Duke Ellington as pieces were conceived around specific individuals, their capabilities and idiosyncrasies, as opposed to 'stock' arranging for a line-up of instruments.

Loose Tubes repertoire therefore doesn't effortlessly transfer into regular big band line-ups (4 tpts, 4 t'bones, 5 saxes & rhythm), except in a few instances.

BIG BAND REPERTOIRE:

To check out pieces that I generally supply for big bands, some of which I've composed more recently, click here.

'JAM FACTORY' STYLE PIECES:

My increasing involvement in education has generated a raft of original pieces that are multifunctional, intended to work in the broadest range of contexts. Thus a piece will typically comprise main melody, harmony part(s), piano/guitar/bass guide sheets, with the melody and harmony parts all available in concert, Bb and Eb, and where appropriate in bass clef too.

The Jam Factory has provided the main impetus for this, and reflecting that band's breadth of abilities, pieces often have 'easy' and 'not-so-easy' parts, so as to be as inclusive as possible.

To investigate further, click here.

TRANSCRIPTIONS:

Ranging from quintets, up to very large ensembles, these are either fairly faithful and involved transcriptions (as with Pat Metheny's 'Are You Going With Me?', from the album 'Travels'), or otherwise re-heard corruptions (as with 'Almost All Blues', a re-working of the classic Miles Davis piece).

To investigate further, click here.

COMMISSIONS:

I have been commissioned over the years, particularly in the Loose Tubes' days by: The Arts Council of Great Britain and a clutch of Jazz Festivals.

In more recent times commissions have come from a variety of ensembles: the A.B.R.S.M.'s Jazz Syllabus, and M.E.N.C.A.P. (for my first ever Christmas Carol - New Light.)

Current/ongoing: Shrewsbury town's Market Square will witness premiere of a new set of music (written for 8 saxophones and 2 percussionists) on Sunday July 18th '04.

Commissioned by saxophonist Stuart Spiers, the performance is presented as part of Shrewsbury's summer-long Festivities.