Seb Rochford | |
|---|---|
 Rochford in 2008 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Room of Katinas |
| Born | Aberdeen, Scotland |
| Genres | Jazz, experimental, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Drums |
Sebastian Rochford is a British drummer and composer. He has recorded and released music as leader of the British band Polar Bear, as Kutcha Butcha and as part of numerous collaborations.
Rochford was born in Aberdeen [1] and has a large family of two brothers and seven sisters. He is of English and Anglo-Indian descent. [2] His father, Gerard Rochford, was a poet. Rochford's first performances were with a punk band called Cabbage in Aberdeen. [1] He then studied at the Newcastle College of Music before moving to London. [1]
Rochford was band leader and composer of award-winning Polar Bear. The group released its first album Dim Lit in 2004 and its final album Same As You in 2015. The Polar Bear albums Held on the Tips of Fingers and In Each and Every One were nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005 and 2014 respectively. [3]
Rochford also played drums for Acoustic Ladyland, Basquiat Strings, Oriole, Menlo Park, Ingrid Laubrock Quintet, Bojan Zulfikarpasic's Tetraband, and was a founding member of Sons of Kemet. He has worked extensively with Joanna MacGregor and Andy Sheppard, led the band Fulborn Teversham and has an improvising duo with Leafcutter John. He also performs as a solo project under the name Room of Katinas. [4]
His new band Pulled By Magnets made its debut in London in late 2018. [5] The band sees Rochford reunited with frequent collaborator saxophonist Pete Wareham as well as bassist Neil Charles. Pulled By Magnets released their debut album Rose Golden Doorways in 2020. [6]
January 2023 saw the release of a duo album with pianist Kit Downes. Entitled A Short Diary, the record was released on ECM and is dedicated to Rochford's father, the poet Gerard Rochford. In an interview with ECM, Sebastian described the album as "“short diary (of loss)” and “a sonic memory, created with love, out of need for comfort.” [7]
In 2006, Rochford collaborated with Gwyneth Herbert in a production role for her album Between Me and the Wardrobe . [8] He played drums on Adele's Mercury-nominated album 19 . He has drummed for Pete Doherty's band Babyshambles, performing on their eponymous debut single, [9] and has continued to make guest appearances with them. He also played on the debut solo album by Carl Barât, Doherty's bandmate from Libertines.
In 2008, he drummed on the David Byrne and Brian Eno album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today , and rejoined Eno and Rick Holland for their album Drums Between the Bells . He produced and co-wrote a four-track EP with UK hip hop MC Mikill Pane, The Guinness & Blackcurrant EP, which was released independently in 2011. He played with Brett Anderson on Later Live... With Jools Holland on 1 November 2011. In 2014, Rochford played on Paolo Nutini's album Caustic Love and since 2015 he has toured with Patti Smith (alongside Tony Shanahan and Smith's son Jackson). He has also worked with Corrine Bailey Rae, Herbie Hancock and American theremin player Pamelia Kurstin. [10] [11] [12] [13]
In 2019 he co-composed the music the Chris Morris film The Day Shall Come and in 2020 he played with Charles Hazlewood's Paraorchestra with Brett Anderson and Nadine Shah for a BBC TV broadcast. In 2021 Rochford undertook a four month residency at London venue Servant Jazz Quarters, playing solo sets and as well as collaborations with Lara Jones, Jason Singh, Theon Cross, Shirley Tetteh and Neil Charles. [14] [15] [16]
In 2021/22, Rochford toured with Damon Albarn in support of his solo album The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows. [17] [ citation needed ]
In 2012, Rochford engaged in a 12-month digital 'singles club' under the name Days and Nights at the Takeaway, a reference to his studio in North London. Each single consisted of a collaboration in a variety of styles and was backed by a remix by a third party. Collaborators included Jehst, Spoek Mathambo, Jason Moran, Soumik Datta, Leo Abrahams, Drew McConnell, Brian Eno and Oliver Coates. Remixers included Micachu, Pete Wareham, Tom Skinner, Simon Bookish and Chris Sharkey. The series was released by The Leaf Label.
Rochford won the BBC Jazz Award for best newcomer in 2004, and was nominated for best musician in 2006. He was also nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2005, 2007, 2014 and 2018, the nominations including Polar Bear's Held on The Tips of Fingers and In Each and Every One [18] [13] plus the self-titled debut album by Basquiat Strings.
With Polar Bear
As Kutcha Butcha
Other
With Acoustic Ladyland
With Brigitte Fontaine
With Andy Sheppard
With Oriole
With Sons of Kemet
With Theo Girard
Acoustic Ladyland was a London-based jazz-punk band consisting of Pete Wareham on vocals and saxophone, Seb Rochford on drums, Chris Sharkey on guitar, and Ruth Goller on bass guitar.
Camouflage is an album by Acoustic Ladyland that was recorded in October 2003 and released by Babel Label in 2004. It was the band's first album.
Polar Bear is a British experimental jazz band led by drummer Seb Rochford with Pete Wareham and Mark Lockheart on tenor saxophone, Tom Herbert on double bass and Leafcutter John on electronics and occasionally guitar or mandolin.
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.
Steve Buckley is a British jazz musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist and most often plays alto and soprano saxophones, penny whistle and bass clarinet.
Ben Davis is a cellist from the United Kingdom known for his improvisation. His group Basquiat Strings was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 2007. He is a member of the F-IRE Collective.
Basquiat Strings is a British chamber jazz quintet led by the cellist Ben Davis, who composes all the music. It features an innovative line-up which hybridises the classical string quartet with the jazz rhythm section.
Pete Wareham is a British saxophonist, composer and band leader. He led the genre-defying North African/punk/jazz/dance band Melt Yourself Down and was a member of Nadine Shah’s Mercury Prize-nominated band, Seb Rochford’s Pulled By Magnets and also ran the influential group Acoustic Ladyland. Formerly of Rochford’s now disbanded Mercury Prize-nominated Polar Bear, Wareham has also played saxophone and flute with The Smile, Sons Of Kemet, Mica Levi, James Chance, Supergrass, Ben E King.
Kit Downes is a BBC Jazz Award winning, Mercury Music Award nominated, solo recording artist for ECM Records.
Jonny Phillips is an English jazz guitarist and composer. He played the violin and studied theory from the age of five, however he swapped to guitar at fifteen to study jazz, Brazilian and African music. After his studies at Newcastle College of Music, Phillips moved to London where he set up his group Oriole, with whom he has released three albums on the F-IRE Collective label. Oriole is perhaps one of the few groups to feature two Mercury nominated artists: Ben Davis on cello and Seb Rochford on drums. Phillips is now based in South London after three and a half years living in Andalusia, Spain.
Pamelia Stickney is an American theremin player. She has performed and recorded with many artists including David Byrne, Yoko Ono, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, David Garland, Seb Rochford, Otto Lechner and Simone Dinnerstein, and was instrumental to the final design of Robert Moog's Etherwave Pro Theremin, for which she was the primary test musician. Kurstin has made various film, television and radio appearances, most notably on Saturday Night Live. and in the 2004 documentary Moog.
Oriole are a London-based band fusing lyrical world music with jazz spontaneity, who create an aural form of Magical Realism. Oriole's members consist of many of the most well established figures in the new British Jazz scene and are perhaps one of the few groups to feature two Mercury nominated artists: Ben Davis on cello and Seb Rochford on drums. They have also released two albums on the F-IRE Collective label. The music of Oriole is composed by prolific guitarist Jonny Phillips (musician).
Leo Matthew Abrahams is an English musician, composer and producer. He has collaborated with Brian Eno, Katie Melua, Imogen Heap, Jarvis Cocker, Carl Barât, Regina Spektor, Jon Hopkins and Paul Simon. After attending the Royal Academy of Music in England, he started his musical career by touring as lead guitarist with Imogen Heap. Since 2005 he has released five solo albums, largely in an ambient style involving complex arrangements and a use of guitar-generated textures. He has also co-written or arranged a variety of film soundtracks, including Peter Jackson's 2009 release The Lovely Bones and Steve McQueen's Hunger. Abrahams has produced Regina Spektor's album Remember Us to Life. Hayden Thorpe's Diviner, Editors' Violence and Ghostpoet's Dark Days + Canapés.
Sons of Kemet was a British jazz group formed by Shabaka Hutchings, Oren Marshall, Seb Rochford, and Tom Skinner. Theon Cross replaced Marshall on tuba after the first album, and Eddie Hick replaced Rochford on drums after the third. The band disbanded in 2022.
Dim Lit is the debut album by British jazz band Polar Bear, formed and led by drummer Sebastian Rochford.
Polar Bear is the third album by Sebastian Rochford's British jazz band, Polar Bear.
Peepers is the fourth album by Sebastian Rochford's British jazz band Polar Bear.
Held on the Tips of Fingers is the second album by Sebastian Rochford's British jazz band Polar Bear.
In Each and Every One is the fifth album by Sebastian Rochford's British jazz band Polar Bear.
Same as You is the sixth studio album by British jazz band Polar Bear. It was released on 30 March 2015 by The Leaf Label.
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