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Steve Gregory | |
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| Birth name | Stephen Gregory |
| Born | 1945 (age 78–79) London, England |
| Instrument(s) | Saxophone, flute |
Stephen Gregory (born 1945) is an English jazz saxophonist and composer. He plays tenor, alto, soprano and baritone saxophone as well as the flute.
Gregory was born in London. At St. Paul's School, he learned guitar and piano and played clarinet in the school orchestra. He turned down a place at the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama to become a professional musician. Soon he was playing with the Alan Price Set and was in demand for session work, playing for artists such as Fleetwood Mac (on the second album Mr. Wonderful and early takes of "Need Your Love So Bad"), Ginger Baker's Air Force (on Ginger Baker's Air Force 2 ), and others. Alongside Bud Beadle, he provided the saxophone for the 1969 hit "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones. He also played with Georgie Fame and Geno Washington.
Gregory began to branch out, continuing to play with Georgie Fame but also recording and playing with bands like Ginger Baker's Air Force, Gonzalez, Linda Lewis, Boney M. and Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. Gregory also played saxophone on Andy Fairweather Low's 1975 album La Booga Rooga . [1] He also spent some time in Nigeria, playing with Fela Kuti at his Afrika Shrine.
In the 1980s, Gregory decided to go freelance. He took on television work and continued with session work. In 1983 he played the saxophone on George Michael's hit "Careless Whisper". [2] Michael had already hired and fired several other sax players for the song, who the BBC characterized as struggling to play all the notes with "the right amount of fluidity and still breathe," [3] Michael eventually heard what he was looking for from Gregory. [4] In interview with DJ Danny Sun, Gregory said he was the 9th sax player to attempt the riff and recalled that Michael's secretary had phoned him up at about midday and asked him to give the solo a try. [5] [ better source needed ]
In the 1980s Gregory also worked with artists such as Bryn Haworth, Chris Rea, Alison Moyet, Freddie King, Maxi Priest, China Crisis, Queen (played solo on "One Year of Love") and Amazulu. He also was member of the 1983/84 world reunion tour of the Animals.
In the 1990s, Gregory played with Wet Wet Wet, Van Morrison, and then joined the Dennis Bovell Dub Band, touring around the world with Linton Kwesi Johnson. He released his first solo album, an acid/jazz/fusion set, Bushfire, on LKJ Records featuring Georgie Fame and John Deacon from Queen.
Gregory occasionally performs with the jazz band Pastiche.
The saxophone is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to produce a sound wave inside the instrument's body. The pitch is controlled by opening and closing holes in the body to change the effective length of the tube. The holes are closed by leather pads attached to keys operated by the player. Saxophones are made in various sizes and are almost always treated as transposing instruments. A person who plays the saxophone is called a saxophonist or saxist.
David James Mattacks is an English rock and folk drummer, best known for his work with British folk rock band Fairport Convention.
Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and African rhythms and pioneered both jazz fusion and world music.
Harold McNair was a Jamaican-born saxophonist and flautist.
Clifford Everett "Bud" Shank Jr. was an American alto saxophonist and flautist. He rose to prominence in the early 1950s playing lead alto and flute in Stan Kenton's Innovations in Modern Music Orchestra and throughout the decade worked in various small jazz combos. He spent the 1960s as a first-call studio musician in Hollywood. In the 1970s and 1980s, he performed regularly with the L. A. Four. Shank ultimately abandoned the flute to focus exclusively on playing jazz on the alto saxophone. He also recorded on tenor and baritone sax. His most famous recording is probably the version of "Harlem Nocturne" used as the theme song in Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer. He is also well known for the alto flute solo on the song "California Dreamin'" recorded by The Mamas & the Papas in 1965.
The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in the key of E♭, smaller than the B♭ tenor but larger than the B♭ soprano. It is the most common saxophone and is used in popular music, concert bands, chamber music, solo repertoire, military bands, marching bands, pep bands, carnatic music, and jazz.
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".
Andrew Fairweather Low is a Welsh guitarist and singer. He was a founding member and lead singer of 1960s pop band Amen Corner, and in recent years has toured extensively with Roger Waters, Eric Clapton and Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
Ginger Baker's Air Force was a jazz-rock fusion supergroup led by drummer Ginger Baker.
Richard Edwin Morrissey was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute.
Georgie Auld was a jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.
Otto James "Toby" Hardwicke was an American saxophone player associated with Duke Ellington.
John Burch was an English pianist, composer and bandleader, equally at home playing traditional jazz, bebop, blues, skiffle, boogie-woogie and rock.
Geraint Meurig Vaughan Watkins is a Welsh singer, songwriter, rock and roll pianist and accordionist. He has backed many notable artists, including Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds, Van Morrison, Mark Knopfler, Paul McCartney, Roy St. John, Shakin' Stevens and most recently Status Quo. He has also pursued a solo career and issued a number of albums under his own name, the most recent of which, Rush of Blood, was released in September 2019.
Stan Robinson was an English jazz tenor saxophonist and flautist.
Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames were a British rhythm and blues group during the 1960s whose repertoire spanned R&B, pop, rock and jazz.
John David Williams is a Welsh bassist and songwriter known equally for his work with Dave Edmunds and for his songwriting.
Edward Thornton, better known as "Tan Tan", is a Jamaican trumpeter, whose career began in the 1950s.
Derek Nash is a British jazz saxophonist, band leader, arranger and recording engineer.
La Booga Rooga was the second solo album by Andy Fairweather Low, and was released by A&M Records in 1975.
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