Alan Skidmore

Alan Skidmore
Born	Alan Richard James Skidmore (1942-04-21) 21 April 1942 (age 83) London, England
Genres	Jazz
Occupation	Musician
Instrument	Saxophone
Years active	1950s–present
Website	alanskidmore.info

Alan Richard James Skidmore (born 21 April 1942) ^[1] is an English jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore. ^[1]

Career

He was born in London, England. ^[1] Skidmore began his professional career in his teens, and early in his career he toured with comedian Tony Hancock. ^[2] In the 1960s, he began frequently appearing with the BBC Radio Big Band, ^[3] then worked with Alexis Korner, John Mayall, and Ronnie Scott. ^[4] Commissioned by the BBC in order to represent the UK at the Montreux Jazz Festival, ^[5] Skidmore formed a group with Harry Miller, Tony Oxley, John Taylor, and Kenny Wheeler. ^[2] This group won three of six awards at Montreux, following which Skidmore was invited to record an album of the group's performances, forming the basis for Once Upon a Time. ^[5] In the early 1970s, he started a saxophone-only band with John Surman and Mike Osborne. ^[2] He has also worked with Mose Allison, Kate Bush, Elton Dean, Georgie Fame, Mike Gibbs, George Gruntz, Elvin Jones, Van Morrison, Stan Tracey, Charlie Watts, and Mike Westbrook. ^{[2] [6]}

Discography

• Once upon a Time (Deram Records DN11/SDN11, issued 1970)
• TCB (Philips 6308 041, recorded 21 October 1970)
• Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (RCA/Neon, 1971)
• Jazz in Britain '68–69 with John Surman, Tony Oxley (Decca Eclipse ECS 2114, 1972, previously unreleased masters recorded at various sessions in 1968 and 1969)
• SOS with John Surman and Mike Osborne (Ogun, recorded Worthing, 9–11 February 1975)
• El Skid with Elton Dean, Chris Laurence, John Marshall (Vinyl Records, recorded Riverside Studios, 25–26 February 1977)
• European Jazz Quintet - Live at the Moers Festival (Ring-Moers 01018, recorded Moers, Germany, 29 May 1977)
• European Jazz Quintet (EGO, 1978)
• S.O.H. with Tony Oxley, Ali Haurand (EGO, 1979)
• S.O.H. with Tony Oxley, Ali Haurand (View Records VS 0018, Neuss, Germany, 25 April 1981)
• European Jazz Quintet III (Fusion, 1982)
• Tribute to Trane (Miles Music, recorded London, 18–19 February 1988)
• East To West with Stan Tracey (Miles Music MM 081CD, recorded Hong Kong, 1989, and Ronnie Scott's, London, February 1992)
• After the Rain (with string orchestra) (Miles Music 1998)
• The Call (Provocateur PVC 1018, Cape Town, April 1999 and London, May 1999)
• Ubizo (Provocateur PVC 1036, ca.2002)
• Bremen to Bridgwater with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (Cuneiform, 2004) recorded in 1971 and 1975
• S.O.H. Live in London (Jazzwerkstatt, 2007)
• Eclipse at Dawn with Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath (Cuneiform, 2008) recorded in 1971
• Jazz Live Trio with Kenny Wheeler (TCB, 2012) ^[7]

References

1. Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. ISBN   0-85112-580-8.
2. "Alan Skidmore". AllMusic . Retrieved 19 May 2020.
3. Male, Andrew (2021). "'Rawness, freedom, experimentation': the Brit jazz boom of the 60s and 70s". The Guardian. No. 18 August. Guardian News & Media Limited. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
4. Searle, Chris (2019). "'He has inspired my whole life in jazz'". Morning Star Online. No. 9 September. People’s Press Printing Society. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
5. Shipton, Alyn; Skidmore, Alan. "BBC Jazz Library - Alan Skidmore". BBC Radio 3 Jazz Library. BBC. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
6. "Discography". 27 June 2017. Archived from the original on 12 October 2006.
7. "Alan Skidmore | Album Discography". AllMusic . Retrieved 1 August 2021.

External links

• Official site