 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations .(August 2014) |
Geoff Simkins | |
|---|---|
| Born | 13 October 1948 |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Instrumentalist |
| Instrument(s) | Alto saxophone |
Geoff Simkins (born 13 October 1948) is a British jazz musician who plays alto saxophone.
Simkins started playing jazz in his early teens. His first instrument was drums, but he quickly changed to the alto saxophone. He turned professional in 1977.
His early work included time with the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra and the Temperance Seven, but his principal stylistic influences have been the American alto player Lee Konitz and tenor player Warne Marsh.
Geoff has played at concerts, clubs and festivals in all parts of the UK, in Europe and beyond. He often works with American musicians who are visiting the UK, and over the years this list has grown to include Art Farmer, Bobby Shew, Al Cohn, Tal Farlow, Slide Hampton, Warren Vache, Al Grey, Kenny Davern, Bill Berry, Al Casey, Howard Alden, Ruby Braff, Bill Coleman and Conte Candoli. He has recorded with UK tenor player Danny Moss and with US trumpeters Billy Butterfield and Yank Lawson. Since the 1980s he has worked regularly with UK guitarist Dave Cliff.
Geoff is also a respected teacher, and as well as running improvisation courses in Brighton, UK, he has been a regular tutor at the famous Glamorgan Jazz Summer School in Wales (now discontinued, but later held at Trinity College of Music in London and, from 2012, at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff). In 1994 he was invited to be a tutor at the Czech Jazz Summer School and appeared at clubs in Prague and on Czech Television.
| Authority control databases: Artists |
|---|
 | This article about a jazz musician from the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This article about a saxophonist is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
Albert Ayler was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer.
The term "M-Base" is used in several ways. In the 1980s, a loose collective of young African American musicians including Steve Coleman, Graham Haynes, Cassandra Wilson, Geri Allen, Robin Eubanks, and Greg Osby emerged in Brooklyn with a brand new sound and specific ideas about creative expression. Using a term coined by Steve Coleman, they called these ideas "M-Base-concept" and critics have used this term to categorize this scene's music as a jazz style. But Coleman stressed "M-Base" doesn't denote a musical style but a way of thinking about creating music. Coleman also refuses the word "jazz" as a label for his music and the music tradition represented by musicians like John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Louis Armstrong, etc. However, the musicians of the M-Base movement, which also included dancers and poets, strived for common creative musical languages, so their early recordings show many similarities reflecting their common ideas, the experiences of working together, and their similar cultural background. To label this kind of music, jazz critics have established the word "M-Base" as a jazz style for lack of a better term, distorting its original meaning.
The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B♭ (while the alto is pitched in the key of E♭), and written as a transposing instrument in the treble clef, sounding an octave and a major second lower than the written pitch. Modern tenor saxophones which have a high F♯ key have a range from A♭2 to E5 (concert) and are therefore pitched one octave below the soprano saxophone. People who play the tenor saxophone are known as "tenor saxophonists", "tenor sax players", or "saxophonists".
Epitaph is a composition by jazz musician Charles Mingus. It is 4,235 measures long, takes more than two hours to perform, and was only completely discovered during the cataloguing process after his death. With the help of a grant from the Ford Foundation, the score and instrumental parts were copied, and the work itself was premiered by a 30-piece orchestra, conducted by Gunther Schuller and produced by Mingus's widow, Sue, at Alice Tully Hall on June 3, 1989, 10 years after his death, and issued as a live album. It was performed again at several concerts in 2007.
Ronnie Scott OBE was a British jazz tenor saxophonist and jazz club owner. He co-founded Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London's Soho district, one of the world's most popular jazz clubs, in 1959.
Howard Vincent Alden is an American jazz guitarist born in Newport Beach, California. Alden has recorded many albums for Concord Records, including four with seven-string guitar innovator George Van Eps.
Dave Cliff is a British jazz guitarist.
Henry Bertholf "Spike" Robinson was an American jazz tenor saxophonist. He began playing at age twelve, recording on several labels, including Discovery, Hep and Concord. However, he sought an engineering degree and followed that profession for nearly 30 years. In 1981 he returned to recording music.
The Temperance Seven is a British band originally active in the 1960s, specialising in 1920s-style jazz music. They were known for their surreal performances.
Genius + Soul = Jazz is a 1961 album by American musician Ray Charles, featuring big band arrangements by Quincy Jones and Ralph Burns. Charles is accompanied by two groups drawn from members of The Count Basie Band and from the ranks of top New York session players. It was recorded at Van Gelder Studio in two sessions on December 26 and 27, 1960 and originally released on the Impulse! label as Impulse! A–2.
Dave Edwards was an American big band-style musician who most notably was the lead alto saxophonist and multireedist for the long running weekly television series, The Lawrence Welk Show from 1968 through 1979.
Miles & Quincy: Live at Montreux is a collaborative live album by American jazz trumpeter Miles Davis and conductor Quincy Jones. It was recorded at the 1991 Montreux Jazz Festival and released by Warner Bros. Records in 1993.
John D'earth is an American post-bop/hard bop jazz trumpeter born in Framingham, Massachusetts, who has appeared on recordings by Dave Matthews and Bruce Hornsby as well as recording a number of CDs on his own. He currently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Groovin' High is a 1955 compilation album of studio sessions by jazz composer and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie. The Rough Guide to Jazz describes the album as "some of the key bebop small-group and big band recordings."
Crystals is an album by Sam Rivers released by Impulse! Records in 1974 in a stereo/quadraphonic format.
Dennis Taylor was an American musician, arranger, and author. Taylor had recording credits on saxophone as well as clarinet, and as an arranger.
City of Glass, an album originally issued as a 10" LP by Stan Kenton, consists entirely of the music of Bob Graettinger. The original album has been reconstituted in different LP re-issues, and the entire set of Kenton/Graettinger Capitol Records sessions is on the digital CD City of Glass.
Lettuce is a funk band originating from Boston, Massachusetts in 1992. Its members include guitarist Adam "Shmeeans" Smirnoff, Nigel Hall, Adam Deitch (drums/percussion), Erick "Jesus" Coomes (bass), Ryan Zoidis (saxophone) and Eric "Benny" Bloom (trumpet).
Jazz Concerto Grosso is an album by American jazz musicians Gerry Mulligan and Bob Brookmeyer featuring performances of compositions by Phil Sunkel recorded in 1957 and released on the ABC-Paramount label. The album was released on CD combined with the 1956 album "Every morning I Listen to... Phil Sunkel's Jazz Band".
The Gerry Mulligan Songbook is an album by American jazz saxophonist Gerry Mulligan featuring performances recorded in late 1957 and released on the World Pacific label.
