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Robert Mitchell (born 1971) is an English jazz musician, composer and teacher.
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Robert Mitchell (born 1971) is an English jazz musician, composer and teacher.
Born in Ilford, London, Mitchell has forged a formidable reputation as a gifted pianist and composer. As part of the F-IRE Collective, Robert won the Jazz on 3 Innovation Award at the 2004 BBC Jazz Awards; he has also been nominated twice: for Rising Star in 2002, and Best New Work in 2003. He has worked with Norma Winstone, Steve Coleman, Greg Osby, Courtney Pine, Steve Williamson, Iain Ballamy, Mark Wingfield, Jeremy Stacey, David Lyttle, Ty, 2 Banks of 4, and IG Culture, in addition to leading the 4/6-piece Panacea, his trio (with Richard Spaven and Tom Mason), performing in duo with Omar Puente (Bridges), and performing as a solo pianist.
Mitchell studied at City University and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Early band memberships included Tomorrow's Warriors [1] and Gary Crosby's Nu Troop, plus award-winning bands Quite Sane and J-Life.
Panacea first performed in 2000, and have performed in the London Jazz Festival, Manchester Jazz Festival, Cheltenham Jazz Festival (Pillar Room), and the North Sea Jazz Festival (2006), and Vienne Jazz Festival (2008) and in such venues as the Pizza Express, Jazz Cafe, The Wardrobe, The Spin, The Spitz, Le Tavernier and Cargo. The group released its debut album Voyager on the Dune label in 2001. Its second album, Trust, was released on F-IRE in 2005. [1] In March 2006, the band recorded a session for BBC Radio 1's Gilles Peterson Worldwide show. The band was subsequently nominated for Session Of The Year at the 2006 Gilles Peterson Worldwide Awards.
The duo with Cuban violinist Omar Puente began in 2003. The performance of this duo in the Havana International Jazz Festival (2004) resulted in a TV programme being made about the pair for Cuban TV (A TODO JAZZ 2005). The debut album Bridges was released in 2006 on F-IRE. They have also performed to great acclaim in Morocco and Belgium, as well as the UK.
Mitchell's solo album, Equinox, was originally a BBC Radio 3/Jerwood commission, and was released in 2007. It was nominated for Best Work at the BBC Jazz Awards (2003). It was launched at Lifting The Lid, a three-day celebration of modern solo jazz piano instigated, organised and curated by Mitchell. He has performed solo in Sweden, Belgium, Latvia and across the UK. He opened for Wayne Shorter in Brighton in 2003 (at the Dome), and Branford Marsalis in the same year (at the Barbican, London).
Robert Mitchell 3io grew out of the long-running band Panacea. It features Tom Mason (on bass) and Richard Spaven (on drums). After starting in around 2003/04, it released its debut album The Greater Good in late 2008 (33 Jazz Records/Jazz Services). The trio also tour the UK during the same period.
In September 2011 the album Embrace was released. Reviewing the album for the BBC, Kevin Le Gendre wrote: "Mitchell’s command of avant-garde and mainstream piano vocabulary is impeccable." [2]
Mitchell is working with singer Jhelisa Anderson (cousin of Carleen Anderson), Dan Stern (saxophonist, clarinettist and composer), and Yolanda Charles (bassist and singer), among others.
Since 2003, Mitchell has been a visiting composer at the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Department. His education work has also included projects at WAC, City University London, Middlesex University, and as solo, ensemble teacher and examiner on the jazz course at the Royal Academy of Music.
Robert Wyatt is a retired English musician. A founding member of the influential Canterbury scene bands Soft Machine and Matching Mole, he was initially a kit drummer and singer before becoming paraplegic following an accidental fall from a window in 1973, which led him to abandon band work, explore other instruments, and begin a forty-year solo career.
Hue and Cry are a Scottish pop duo formed in 1983 in Coatbridge, Scotland by the brothers Pat Kane and Greg Kane. The duo are best known for their 1987 single "Labour of Love".
Soweto Kinch is a British jazz saxophonist and rapper.
Gwilym Simcock is a Welsh pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music. He was chosen as one of the 1000 Most Influential People in London by the Evening Standard. He was featured on the front cover of the August 2007 issue of the UK's Jazzwise magazine.
Huw Warren is a Welsh jazz pianist and composer whose work crosses several genres. He is known as co-leader and founder of the jazz quartet Perfect Houseplants.
Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. He is also a composer, arranger and producer.
Loose Tubes were a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to be the focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz. It was the main launchpad for the careers of many future leading British jazz players including Django Bates, Iain Ballamy, Eddie Parker, Julian and Steve Argüelles, Mark Lockheart, Steve Berry, Tim Whitehead, Ashley Slater. In 2015, the band reformed to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the band's formation, with concerts at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Brecon Jazz Festival and a sold out week at Ronnie Scott's.
Human Chain is a British jazz quartet led by composer and keyboard virtuoso Django Bates. The band has been Bates's main musical outlet since 1990 and has performed on most of his albums.
Iain Ballamy is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the 25 greatest jazz saxophonists of all time and was featured as one of the world's all-time greats in BBC Music Magazine's "100 Jazz Legends". The Guardian described him as "one of the world's distinctive saxophone voices". One of his closest musical collaborators is Django Bates.
F-IRE Collective is a creative music community founded by Barak Schmool. It has been described as the UK's leading and perhaps most influential modern jazz group. The Collective also has a record label.
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Omar Puente is a Cuban-born violinist and jazz musician, currently living in England. He has been called "a classical violinist with a heart that beats with a Cuban rhythm, a soul that is African, and a home in West Yorkshire".
Thomas Pohlitz Strønen is a Norwegian jazz drummer who has recorded more than 70 albums. He has worked with Iain Ballamy, Arve Henriksen, Mats Eilertsen, Ashley Slater, Eivind Aarset, Christian Fennesz, Nils Petter Molvaer, Bobo Stenson, John Taylor, Tore Brunborg, Morten Qvenild, Ingebrigt Håker Flaten, Sidsel Endresen, Bugge Wesseltoft, Tomasz Stanko, Koichi Makigami, Ernst Reijseger, Nils-Olav Johansen, and Stian Carstensen.
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