Anthony Robert Reeves (born 18 April 1943, New Eltham, South East London) is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "distinctive and complex bass sound" [1] and use of electronic effects.
Anthony Robert Reeves (born 18 April 1943, New Eltham, South East London) is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "distinctive and complex bass sound" [1] and use of electronic effects.
As a teenager Reeves learned orchestral double bass and played in local jazz-oriented groups (also sometimes the Wes Minster Five) with Colfes Grammar School, Lewisham schoolmates, [2] Dave Greenslade and Jon Hiseman; Reeves and Hiseman would later record with John Mayall on the album Bare Wires and then go on to form Colosseum. [1]
Keen on jazz, Reeves played in the New Jazz Orchestra and had learned many standard songs. He worked in the music industry for several years, first in the quality control department of Decca Records listening to output that ranged from medieval classical music to Chubby Checker, after four years becoming assistant producer to Tony D'Amato, then briefly a record plugger for Pye Records. In late 1964 he suggested for Pye release, and played on, the instrumental UK hit Sounds Orchestral's "Cast Your Fate to the Wind". He became assistant to Tony Hatch at Pye before leaving to become a freelance producer for CBS and Polydor and creative director of the Greenwich Gramophone Company. He also recorded with the Mike Taylor Quartet on the album Pendulum in 1965 and with Davy Graham on Folk, Blues and Beyond and Midnight Man in 1966. [3]
Shortly afterwards Reeves took up electric bass, just before Hiseman recommended him to Mayall. After two albums with Colosseum he left to concentrate on session work and production, working with the Woods Band, Sandy Denny (The North Star Grassman and the Ravens), Paul Kent, John Martyn (Bless the Weather), Day of Phoenix and Burning Red Ivanhoe from Denmark, and Chris DeBurgh. In 1972 he rejoined Dave Greenslade and formed the band Greenslade. Reeves remained with the band until 1974, recording three albums with them. As with Colosseum, his departure was motivated by a desire to focus on his career as a producer. [4]
In 1973 he played on Mike Taylor Remembered, a tribute to the musician, with Neil Ardley, Jon Hiseman, Ian Carr, Barbara Thompson and other major modern British jazz players. Subsequently he played with Curved Air and in jazz band called Big Chief, with former Colosseum saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and former Curved Air guitarist Mick Jacques. He still plays with Big Chief, Blue Amba and The Warthogs, and plays double bass at The Constitution pub in Camden Town (Davy Graham's local) every other Tuesday in the Cellar Bar, where he met multi-instrumentalist and songwriter JC Carroll, with whom he performs and records sporadically. They recorded a live album on their first show together in Ascot. They are understood to be working on an extended raga called looking for gold and an acoustic album.
Reeves is also head of the British sound technology firm MTR Professional Audio, in business for almost 30 years. [5]
John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter John Mayall. The band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues musicians. Many of the best known bands to come out of Britain in the 1960s and 1970s had members that came through the Bluesbreakers at one time, forming the foundation of British blues music that is still played heavily on classic rock radio. Among those with a tenure in the Bluesbreakers are Eric Clapton and Jack Bruce, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, and John McVie, Mick Taylor, Aynsley Dunbar, Jon Hiseman, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Tony Reeves, and numerous others.
John Mayall is an English blues and rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.
Curved Air are an English progressive rock group formed in 1970 by musicians from mixed artistic backgrounds, including classical, folk and electronic sound. The resulting sound of the band is a mixture of progressive rock, folk rock, and fusion with classical elements. Curved Air released eight studio albums, the first three of which broke into the Top 20 in the UK Albums Chart, and had a hit single with "Back Street Luv" (1971) which reached number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.
Richard Malden "Dick" Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for primarily playing tenor, soprano, and baritone saxophones, as well as piano, clarinet and alto saxophone.
The Graham Bond Organisation (GBO) were a British jazz/rhythm and blues group of the mid-1960s consisting of Graham Bond, Jack Bruce (bass), Ginger Baker (drums), Dick Heckstall-Smith and John McLaughlin (guitar). They recorded several albums and further recordings were issued when the group's members achieved fame in progressive rock and jazz fusion. On original releases, the spelling of the band's name varied between the British "S" and the American "Z".
Colosseum are an English jazz rock band, mixing blues, rock and jazz-based improvisation. Colin Larkin wrote that "the commercial acceptance of jazz rock in the UK" was mainly due to the band. Between 1975 and 1978 a separate band Colosseum II existed playing progressive rock.
Philip Neil Murray is a Scottish musician, best known as the former bassist of Whitesnake, the Brian May Band, Black Sabbath, and Gary Moore.
Graham John Clifton Bond was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s.
Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later formed what has been described as the "seminal" jazz rock/progressive rock band, Colosseum. He later formed Colosseum II in 1975.
Colosseum II was a British progressive jazz-rock band formed in 1975 by former Colosseum drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, which featured guitarist Gary Moore.
Valentyne Suite is the second album released by the band Colosseum. It was Vertigo Records' first album release, and reached number 15 in the UK Albums Chart in 1969. The album peaked at number 18 in Australia in 1970.
Daughter of Time is the fourth album by English jazz rock band Colosseum, released in 1970. The album remained for five weeks in the UK Albums Chart peaking number 23. Recorded in the midst of an upheaval in the band's lineup, only one of its eight tracks, "Three Score and Ten, Amen", features all six of the official band members.
LiveS The Reunion Concerts 1994 is a live album by English progressive jazz-rock band Colosseum. It includes two tracks from their reunion concert at the Zelt-Musik-Festival in Freiburg, Germany and six tracks from the second reunion concert at the E-Werk in Cologne, Germany.
Mark Clarke is an English musician, bass player and singer, best known for his work with Colosseum and Mountain, as well as brief stints with Uriah Heep and Rainbow.
Greenslade were an English progressive rock band, formed in the autumn of 1972 by keyboard player Dave Greenslade and bassist Tony Reeves, with keyboardist Dave Lawson and drummer Andrew McCulloch.
The Grass Is Greener is an album by Colosseum, released in January 1970.
Those Who Are About to Die Salute You is the debut album by Colosseum, released in 1969 by Fontana. It is one of the pioneering albums of jazz fusion. The title is a translation of the Latin phrase morituri te salutant that according to popular belief, gladiators addressed to the emperor before the beginning of a gladiatorial match.
Spyglass Guest is the third studio album by British progressive rock band Greenslade, released in 1974. It is their most commercially successful album to date, having reached number 34 in the UK Albums Chart. It was the final recording bassist Tony Reeves made with the group, leaving Greenslade shortly after the LP was completed.
Bare Wires is a studio album by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, featuring Mick Taylor on guitar, Chris Mercer and Dick Heckstall-Smith on saxophones, Jon Hiseman on drums, Henry Lowther on cornet and violin, and Tony Reeves on bass. It was released in 1968 on Decca Records. The album was the last John Mayall studio album to feature the name "Bluesbreakers". The album was also Mayall's first successful U.S. album reaching #59 on the Billboard 200.
The Collectors' Colosseum is a compilation album by Colosseum that was released in England in 1971.
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