Steve Lacy was an American jazz saxophonist and composer recognized as one of the important players of soprano saxophone. Coming to prominence in the 1950s as a progressive dixieland musician, Lacy went on to a long and prolific career. He worked extensively in experimental jazz and to a lesser extent in free improvisation, but Lacy's music was typically melodic and tightly-structured. Lacy also became a highly distinctive composer, with compositions often built out of little more than a single questioning phrase, repeated several times.
Cecil Percival Taylor was an American pianist and poet.
John Taylor was a British jazz pianist, born in Manchester, England, who occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesizer. In his obituary, The Guardian described him as "one of the great jazz pianists and composers of his generation" and at a musical level comparable to Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, McCoy Tyner and Brad Meldhau.
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also been a group leader and solo performer in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music. His improvisations draw from the traditions of jazz and other genres, including Western classical music, gospel, blues, and ethnic folk music.
Evan Shaw Parker is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation.
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards.
Scott Healy is an American pianist, keyboardist and composer best known as the keyboardist for Conan O'Brien. He was the keyboard player for the Jimmy Vivino and the Basic Cable Band on Conan on TBS. His association with O'Brien dates back to the original Late Night with Conan O'Brien show in 1993, and the subsequent The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien. He was nominated for a Grammy for 'Best Instrumental Composition' for 'Koko On The Boulevard'
Keith Graham Tippetts, known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "...spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary music, as well as modern jazz for more than half-a-century". He held "an unparallelled place in British contemporary music," and was known for "his unique approach to improvisation". Tippett appeared and recorded in many settings, including a duet with Stan Tracey, duets with his wife Julie Tippetts, solo performances, and as a bandleader.
Bradford Alexander Mehldau is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.
Robert Coull Wellins was a Scottish tenor saxophonist who collaborated with Stan Tracey on the album Jazz Suite Inspired by Dylan Thomas's "Under Milk Wood" (1965).
Craig Marvin Taborn is an American pianist, organist, keyboardist and composer. He works solo and in bands, mostly playing various forms of jazz. He started playing piano and Moog synthesizer as an adolescent and was influenced at an early stage by a wide range of music, including by the freedom expressed in recordings of free jazz and contemporary classical music.
An organ trio is a form of jazz ensemble consisting of three musicians; a Hammond organ player, a drummer, and either a jazz guitarist or a saxophone player. In some cases the saxophonist will join a trio which consists of an organist, guitarist, and drummer, making it a quartet. Organ trios were a popular type of jazz ensemble for club and bar settings in the 1950s and 1960s, performing a blues-based style of jazz that incorporated elements of R&B. The organ trio format was characterized by long improvised solos and an exploration of different musical "moods".
Dominic Lash is a Bristol based double bassist and film theorist. He was formerly a central figure in the musicians' collective Oxford Improvisers. Important long-term musical collaborators include Angharad Davies, Bruno Guastalla, Alexander Hawkins, Tim Hill, Steve Noble, Samantha Rebello, Pat Thomas, Philipp Wachsmann and Alex Ward. He has also performed with saxophonists John Butcher and Evan Parker and violinist Tony Conrad. Recent work includes a UK tour with US guitarist Joe Morris, Australian drummer Tony Buck and saxophonist Tony Bevan. Festival appearances have included the Manchester Jazz Festival, Akbank Jazz Festival (Istanbul) and Tampere Jazz Happening.
Huw Thomas Watkins is a British composer and pianist. Born in South Wales, he studied piano and composition at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where he received piano lessons from Peter Lawson. He then went on to read music at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied composition with Robin Holloway and Alexander Goehr, and completed an MMus in composition at the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Julian Anderson. Huw Watkins was awarded the Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, where he used to teach composition. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow at the Royal College of Music.
John Russell was an acoustic guitarist who worked in free improvisation beginning in the 1970s. He promoted concerts and appeared on more than 50 recordings.
John Law is a British jazz pianist and composer, born in London to British and Austrian parents.
Matt Bauder is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He is the bandleader of the jazz trio Hearing Things, the jazz quintet Day in Pictures, and the modern doo-wop group White Blue Yellow & Clouds. He is a member of the long-form improvisation trio Memorize the Sky, jazz collective Ghost Train Orchestra, and was formerly a member of the touring lineups for Arcade Fire and Iron & Wine.
For the Blue Notes is a live album by the Louis Moholo-Moholo Unit, led by drummer Moholo-Moholo, and featuring saxophonists Ntshuks Bonga and Jason Yarde, trumpeter Henry Lowther, trombonist Alan Tomlinson, vocalist Francine Luce, pianist Alexander Hawkins, and double bassist John Edwards. It was recorded on March 4, 2012, at Theatre Manzoni in Milan, Italy, and was released in 2014 by Ogun Records. The album pays tribute to The Blue Notes, the South African jazz ensemble of which Moholo-Moholo is the only surviving member.
4 Blokes is an album by the Louis Moholo-Moholo Quartet, led by drummer Moholo-Moholo, and featuring saxophonist Jason Yarde, pianist Alexander Hawkins, and double bassist John Edwards. It was recorded on November 12, 2013, at Fish Factory Studios in London, and was released in 2014 by Ogun Records.
Keep Your Heart Straight is an album by pianist Alexander Hawkins and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo. Featuring a mix of composed and freely-improvised material, it was recorded on October 24, 2011, at the Fish Factory in London, and was released in 2012 by Ogun Records.
