Tim Whitehead (musician)

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Tim Whitehead
Born (1950-12-12) 12 December 1950 (age 73)
Liverpool, England
Genres Jazz
Occupation(s)Musician, composer
Instrument(s)Saxophone
Years active1970s–present
Website www.timwhitehead.co.uk

Tim Whitehead (born 12 December 1950) is a British jazz musician who plays soprano, alto and tenor saxophone and flute. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Career

Tim Whitehead (left) Freedom Jazz Dance at Ram Jam Records, Kingston.jpg
Tim Whitehead (left)

Whitehead played in a folk group during his school days. He then studied law at Manchester University, [7] but gave up his work as a lawyer in 1976 to concentrate on music. Together with guitarist Glenn Cartledge, he led the quartet "South of the Border", which won the Young Jazz Musicians of the Year Award. In 1977 he toured Germany with Ian Carr's "Nucleus"; the following year he toured with Graham Collier. [8] In 1980 he founded his quartet, Borderline, and led his own bands afterwards. Since 1984 he also belonged to the Loose Tubes, with whom he recorded the first three albums. In the 1990s, he played regularly with his band at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club, but also ran his own clubs and gave lessons. In 1995 The Times wrote that "Tim Whitehead's music is marked by a sense of grace and economy" [9] with a "growing reputation as one of Britain's most thoughtful composers and improvisers." [10] His album Personal Standards (1999), in which he dealt with classics of soul and pop music, was awarded Jazz Album of the Year in the BBC Music Magazine and led to a music education project at Trinity College of Music. [2]

Together with Colin Riley, he was awarded the Peter Whittingham Award in 2000 for his compositions. [11] In 2009 he was Artist in Residence at Tate Britain, (funded by an award from The Leverhulme Trust), which led to him producing the album "Colour Beginnings", with music transcribed from improvisations in front of and inspired by J. M. W. Turner's watercolour sketches. [12]

He was commissioned by the London Jazz Festival to compose "Turner And The Thames" for the 2013 and 2014 festivals. [2]

He is father of the singer Hattie Whitehead, [13] the actor Fionn Whitehead, and the performer Maisie Whitehead. [14]

Discography

With Loose Tubes

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References

  1. "TIM AND HATTIE WHITEHEAD". 606 Club .
  2. 1 2 3 "Biography". Tim Whitehead.
  3. "TIM WHITEHEAD". 606 Club.
  4. "Tim Whitehead". Jazz London Live. 28 September 2019.
  5. "Biography Tim Whitehead". All Music.
  6. "Tim Whitehead". The List.
  7. Chu, Ben (14 October 2013). "Wealth Check: 'I am a jazz fanatic so it's time I faced the music'" . Independent. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022.
  8. Heining, Duncan (28 August 2018). "Mosaics: The Life And Works Of Graham Collier". All About Jazz.
  9. Davis, Clive (14 January 1995). "Jazz". The Times . p. 2[S]. Retrieved 2 October 2021 via The Times Digital Archive.
  10. Parker, Chris (14 November 1996). "Transatlantic battle of the saxes". The Times. p. 40. Retrieved 28 September 2021 via The Times Digital Archive.
  11. "PREVIOUS WINNERS". Helpmusicians.org.uk.
  12. Whitehead, Tim (23 September 2010). "How Turner's paintings inspired jazz composer Tim Whitehead's new record". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 September 2021.
  13. "Tim and Hattie Whitehead". 606Club. 12 December 2022. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  14. "BIOGRAPHY". Maisiewhitehead.wordpress.com. 3 July 2012.