Django Bates
Encyclopedia
Django Bates is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. He currently lives in Copenhagen
where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory
and leader of the StoRMChaser
orchestra.
, Kent
, United Kingdom
. He rose to prominence in Loose Tubes
, a jazz orchestra which was considered one of the UK's most exciting and inspirational groups of the 1980s.
He founded his small group Human Chain
in 1979. In 1991, he started his own 19-piece jazz orchestra Delightful Precipice
. He also put together the Powder Room Collapse Orchestra (which recorded Music for The Third Policeman
), and created Circus Umbilicus, a musical circus show.
In recent years, Bates has concentrated on writing large scale compositions on commission (see list below). These include "Dream Kitchen" for percussionist Evelyn Glennie
, "Fine Frenzy" for the Shobhana Jeyasingh Dance Company, and a piano concerto for Joanna MacGregor
and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
entitled "What It's Like to be Alive". He also wrote the first ever concerto for electric keyboard entitled "2000 Years Beyond UNDO", which was performed at the millennium Barbican Festival.
He has worked closely with director Lucy Bailey on several theatre projects, including Gobbledegook for The Gogmagogs, Baby Doll, (Birmingham Rep, National Theatre
, Albery Theatre), Stairs to the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre
), The Postman Always Rings Twice (West Yorkshire Playhouse
, Albery Theatre) and Titus Andronicus
(The Globe Theatre). They also worked on a short film You Can Run. Other theatre work includes Greg Doran’s production of As You Like It
(RSC), and Campbell Graham’s Out There!.
Django was the inaugural Artistic Director of the music festival FuseLeeds in 2004. He used this opportunity to initiate the first orchestral commission for Jonny Greenwood
(Radiohead
). Django also commissioned sixty composers including Laurie Anderson
, Gavin Bryars
, Sir Patrick Moore and John Zorn
, to write one bar each. He then quilted these bars into the piece "Premature Celebration" which was performed by Evan Parker
and the London Sinfonietta
to celebrate Evan’s 60th birthday.
The Wire
voted Django "Best UK Jazz Composer" in 1987 and 1990. In 1997, he won the Jazzpar Prize
, the world's only international award for jazz.
In addition to his work as a leader, Bates has been prominently featured as a sideman as a member of Dudu Pukwana
's Zila, Tim Whitehead
's Borderline, Ken Stubbs' First House, Bill Bruford
's Earthworks
, Sidsel Endresen
and in the bands of George Russell and George Gruntz
. He has performed alongside Michael Brecker
, Tim Berne
, Christian Jarvi, Vince Mendoza
, David Sanborn
, Kate Rusby
and Don Alias
.
In 2008, he was nominated for the PRS New Music Award
Secondary School
. Whilst at this school, he also attended the Centre for Young Musicians in London (1971–77) where he learned trumpet, piano, and violin. In 1977-78 he studied at Morley College
. He then went to the Royal College of Music
but left after only two weeks. There were notices on the pianos reading “Not to be used for the playing of Jazz music.”
He was awarded a fellowship by the Leeds College of Music
in 1995.
jazz programme alongside Jim Black
and Dave Douglas
.
In July 2005 Django Bates was appointed as Professor of Rhythmic Music at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory
(RMC) in Copenhagen
. The new professor's role is to raise the international profile of the RMC, cultivate excellence within it, whilst further developing their own work in ways that inspire and energise.
In September 2010 he was appointed visiting professor of jazz at the Royal Academy of Music
in London.
In September 2011 Django Bates was appointed Professor of Jazz at HKB Bern Switzerland Europes's oldest Conservatory of Jazz
and postmodern music
).
On piano, his style is influenced by players such as Bill Evans
, Keith Jarrett
, and John Taylor
. The qualities which carry through to his playing include a highly lyrical approach with an emphasis on harmony and sophisticated chord voicings.
With Billy Jenkins
With First House
With Bill Bruford's Earthworks
With Iain Ballamy
With Sidsel Endresen
With Julian Argüelles
With others
"When I'm not writing or rehearsing my own music, I tend to find other ways of filling that time than listening to music I already know," 2005
"My earliest memory of performing was a James Taylor composition, from a Stephane Grappelli album I noticed my dad liked. It was quite simple, so I worked it out. Every time he walked into the room I would play it to see if I could get him to pay me any attention. A sad little aim, but it was probably the whole cause of me becoming a musician." 2005
"Being outside the establishment has always seemed important to me. There are always promoters and producers who want to meddle with your music . . . More and more I find myself wanting to speak up about these things. Ah, the wonderful smell of burning bridges!" 2005
"England at the moment is a cause for concern. It is a difficult place to be, artistically. But I'm not going to whinge about it. To go to another country - have the opportunity to carry on what I want to do, but in a helpful environment - means that hopefully I can come back and help this situation. Ironic, isn't it, but the only way I might be able to play a proper gig in London is if I get money from the Danish government." 2005
"I know what I want to do with an improvising band; I've been really strict about getting what I want, not accepting long stretches of music that I'm not remotely in control about, jams; I'm not interested in that. I want there to be special character to each piece and the only way you can get that is to define the roles quite clearly of the different musicians. But they still have massive input. I write certain basslines because I know that Michael Mondesir can play them. I also know that he can turn them into his own. I really like playing with that. It's the same with Iain (Ballamy). I write very specific lines for him, and that's good because they're not things that a saxophonist would naturally go for. They're probably very tricky but they're what I want to hear. I just make sure I leave him space to be Iain Ballamy, which is what he's fantastic at. Martin France - again I give him quite detailed percussion parts, but I know that he's always going to add more to what I write." 2005
"The arts improve everyone's quality of life, so invest in them with pride. Lose the snobbery that places some genres on a false pedestal: invest fairly in our huge range of artistic talent. While arts education programmes proliferate, there are fewer and fewer places for graduating musicians, dancers and actors to perform. Support centres of excellence like Gateshead's Sage, but let's not forget smaller, creative venues. Protect these from speculators, and rescue those promoters who struggle to present well-crafted, cutting-edge new work on a local level. This policy won't generate financial profit, but will create confident, self-respecting communities and will enrich this country infinitely." 2005
"Being outside the establishment has always seemed important to me. Not just because I'm an awkward git, but because creatively it's where you have to be." 2005
"Evan [Parker] is the proof that during shallow times, musicians can still exist on their own terms." 2004
"And now there's this issue, about Wynton Marsalis
's view of jazz - that it's not to be taken lightly, or experimented with. I think that's very negative and very sad." 2000
"Being a musician is incompatible with self-importance because it is surreal in itself. Selling vibrations in the air. What's more surreal than that?"
"Oh, you've heard of jazz."
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory
Rhythmic Music Conservatory
The Rhythmic Music Conservatory is a music conservatoire in Copenhagen, Denmark. The RMC was founded in 1986 as an independent institution of higher education under the Danish Ministry of Culture and is the only school in Denmark specializing in contemporary music training programmes.In 2005, it...
and leader of the StoRMChaser
StoRMChaser (band)
StoRMChaser is a Danish jazz big band/orchestra led by British composer and keyboard virtuoso Django Bates.-History:StoRMChaser is Bates’ most recent project to date and is drawn from the young post-graduate students from the courses he leads at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark...
orchestra.
Career
Django Bates was born in BeckenhamBeckenham
Beckenham is a town in the London Borough of Bromley, England. It is located 8.4 miles south east of Charing Cross and 1.75 miles west of Bromley town...
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He rose to prominence in Loose Tubes
Loose Tubes
Loose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
, a jazz orchestra which was considered one of the UK's most exciting and inspirational groups of the 1980s.
He founded his small group Human Chain
Human Chain
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....
in 1979. In 1991, he started his own 19-piece jazz orchestra Delightful Precipice
Delightful Precipice
Delightful Precipice is a 19-piece British jazz big band/orchestra led by Django Bates.Delightful Precipice contains many individual solo artists, music educators and bandleaders as ensemble members, including Julian Arguelles, Iain Ballamy, Eddie Parker, Steve Buckley, Mark Lockheart, Barak...
. He also put together the Powder Room Collapse Orchestra (which recorded Music for The Third Policeman
Music for The Third Policeman
Music for The Third Policeman is an album by the composer and musician Django Bates and the Powder Room Collapse Orchestra. It was released by Ah Um records in 1990....
), and created Circus Umbilicus, a musical circus show.
In recent years, Bates has concentrated on writing large scale compositions on commission (see list below). These include "Dream Kitchen" for percussionist Evelyn Glennie
Evelyn Glennie
Dame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...
, "Fine Frenzy" for the Shobhana Jeyasingh Dance Company, and a piano concerto for Joanna MacGregor
Joanna MacGregor
Joanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
entitled "What It's Like to be Alive". He also wrote the first ever concerto for electric keyboard entitled "2000 Years Beyond UNDO", which was performed at the millennium Barbican Festival.
He has worked closely with director Lucy Bailey on several theatre projects, including Gobbledegook for The Gogmagogs, Baby Doll, (Birmingham Rep, National Theatre
Royal National Theatre
The Royal National Theatre in London is one of the United Kingdom's two most prominent publicly funded theatre companies, alongside the Royal Shakespeare Company...
, Albery Theatre), Stairs to the Roof (Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre
Chichester Festival Theatre, located in Chichester, England, was designed by Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya, and opened by its founder Leslie Evershed-Martin in 1962. Subsequently the smaller and more intimate Minerva Theatre was built nearby in 1989....
), The Postman Always Rings Twice (West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse
The West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds, England is a theatre which opened in March 1990 as part of the regeneration of the Quarry Hill area of the city...
, Albery Theatre) and Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus
Titus Andronicus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, and possibly George Peele, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first tragedy, and is often seen as his attempt to emulate the violent and bloody revenge plays of his contemporaries, which were...
(The Globe Theatre). They also worked on a short film You Can Run. Other theatre work includes Greg Doran’s production of As You Like It
As You Like It
As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1599 or early 1600 and first published in the folio of 1623. The play's first performance is uncertain, though a performance at Wilton House in 1603 has been suggested as a possibility...
(RSC), and Campbell Graham’s Out There!.
Django was the inaugural Artistic Director of the music festival FuseLeeds in 2004. He used this opportunity to initiate the first orchestral commission for Jonny Greenwood
Jonny Greenwood
Jonathan Richard Guy "Jonny" Greenwood is an English musician and composer, best known as a member of the English rock band Radiohead. Greenwood is a multi-instrumentalist, but serves mainly as lead guitarist and keyboard player. In addition to guitar and keyboard, he plays viola, harmonica,...
(Radiohead
Radiohead
Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke , Jonny Greenwood , Ed O'Brien , Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway .Radiohead released their debut single "Creep" in 1992...
). Django also commissioned sixty composers including Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
, Gavin Bryars
Gavin Bryars
Richard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
, Sir Patrick Moore and John Zorn
John Zorn
John Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
, to write one bar each. He then quilted these bars into the piece "Premature Celebration" which was performed by Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
and the London Sinfonietta
London Sinfonietta
The London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
to celebrate Evan’s 60th birthday.
The Wire
The Wire (magazine)
The Wire is a British avant garde music magazine, founded in 1982 by jazz promoter Anthony Wood and journalist Chrissie Murray. The magazine initially concentrated on contemporary jazz and improvised music, but branched out in the early 1990s to various types of experimental music...
voted Django "Best UK Jazz Composer" in 1987 and 1990. In 1997, he won the Jazzpar Prize
Jazzpar Prize
The Jazzpar Prize was an annual Danish prize within jazz founded by Arnvid Meyer. The winner was chosen from five nominees, among internationally recognized performers of jazz. The award used to be 200,000 Danish crowns and a bronze statue by Jørgen Haugen Sørensen...
, the world's only international award for jazz.
In addition to his work as a leader, Bates has been prominently featured as a sideman as a member of Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana
Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
's Zila, Tim Whitehead
Tim Whitehead
Tim Whitehead is an American ice hockey coach. Whitehead is currently the head coach of the University of Maine. He has led the Black Bears to two championship game appearances. Previously, he was the head coach at the University of Massachusetts Lowell....
's Borderline, Ken Stubbs' First House, Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
's Earthworks
Earthworks (band)
Bill Bruford's Earthworks was a British jazz band led by drummer Bill Bruford. The band recorded several albums for Editions EG, Discipline Global Mobile and Summerfold Records....
, Sidsel Endresen
Sidsel Endresen
Sidsel Endresen is a Norwegian jazz singer.She was part of the Jon Eberson Group from 1981 to 1987, resulting in five CDs and two "Spellemannprisen" awards...
and in the bands of George Russell and George Gruntz
George Gruntz
George Gruntz is a Swiss jazz pianist, organist, harpsichordist, keyboardist and composer most noteworthy for his work with artists such as Phil Woods, Roland Kirk, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Art Farmer, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin and Mel Lewis.From 1972 to 1994 he served as artistic director for...
. He has performed alongside Michael Brecker
Michael Brecker
Michael Leonard Brecker was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Acknowledged as "a quiet, gentle musician widely regarded as the most influential tenor saxophonist since John Coltrane," he has been awarded 15 Grammy Awards as both performer and composer and was inducted into Down Beat Jazz...
, Tim Berne
Tim Berne
Tim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
, Christian Jarvi, Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza
Vince Mendoza is a music arranger and composer.Mendoza was born in Connecticut and studied guitar as a child, influenced by classical music, soul and jazz. He then took up the trumpet, which he continued to play throughout his time at Ohio State University, where he played in the Jazz Ensemble and...
, David Sanborn
David Sanborn
David Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
, Kate Rusby
Kate Rusby
Kate Anna Rusby is an English folk singer and songwriter from Penistone, South Yorkshire. Sometimes known as The Barnsley Nightingale, she has headlined various British national folk festivals, and is regarded as one of the most famous English folk singers of contemporary times...
and Don Alias
Don Alias
Charles 'Don' Alias was an American jazz percussionist.Alias was best known for playing congas and other hand drums...
.
In 2008, he was nominated for the PRS New Music Award
Education
Django Bates attended SedgehillSedgehill
Sedgehill Secondary School is a coeducational school in south-east London, England. In 2008, the School had just over 1,800 pupils with over half from ethnic minorities.Has been a Specialist School for the Performing Arts for since 2003....
Secondary School
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
. Whilst at this school, he also attended the Centre for Young Musicians in London (1971–77) where he learned trumpet, piano, and violin. In 1977-78 he studied at Morley College
Morley College
Morley College is an adult education college in London, England. It was founded in the 1880s and has a student population of 10,806 adult students...
. He then went to the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
but left after only two weeks. There were notices on the pianos reading “Not to be used for the playing of Jazz music.”
He was awarded a fellowship by the Leeds College of Music
Leeds College of Music
Leeds College of Music, located in Leeds’ Quarry Hill cultural quarter, is the largest music college in the United Kingdom, with over 1,000 full-time and 1,000 part-time students. The college is best known for its leading role in jazz education and started one of the first jazz degrees in Europe...
in 1995.
Teaching
In 2002, he was a tutor at the renowned Banff CentreBanff Centre
The Banff Centre, formerly known as The Banff Centre for Continuing Education, is an arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference complex located in Banff, Alberta...
jazz programme alongside Jim Black
Jim Black
Jim Black is a jazz drummer who has performed with Tim Berne and Dave Douglas, among others. He attended Berklee College of Music....
and Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas (trumpeter)
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
.
In July 2005 Django Bates was appointed as Professor of Rhythmic Music at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory
Rhythmic Music Conservatory
The Rhythmic Music Conservatory is a music conservatoire in Copenhagen, Denmark. The RMC was founded in 1986 as an independent institution of higher education under the Danish Ministry of Culture and is the only school in Denmark specializing in contemporary music training programmes.In 2005, it...
(RMC) in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. The new professor's role is to raise the international profile of the RMC, cultivate excellence within it, whilst further developing their own work in ways that inspire and energise.
In September 2010 he was appointed visiting professor of jazz at the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
in London.
In September 2011 Django Bates was appointed Professor of Jazz at HKB Bern Switzerland Europes's oldest Conservatory of Jazz
Musical style
Django Bates' music draws on a vast range of stylistic influences. It is driven by a philosophy that places a high value on being at the forefront of creativity and innovation. In this respect, he aligns himself with the avant garde and Post Modern movements (also see avant-garde jazzAvant-garde jazz
Avant-garde jazz is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. Avant-jazz often sounds very similar to free jazz, but differs in that, despite its distinct departure from traditional harmony, it has a predetermined structure over which ...
and postmodern music
Postmodern music
Postmodern music is either simply music of the postmodern era, or music that follows aesthetical and philosophical trends of postmodernism. As the name suggests, the postmodernist movement formed partly in reaction to modernism...
).
On piano, his style is influenced by players such as Bill Evans
Bill Evans
William John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett
Keith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...
, and John Taylor
John Taylor (jazz)
John Taylor is a British jazz pianist; he has occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesiser. He is one of Europe's most celebrated jazz pianists and composers.-Performing career:...
. The qualities which carry through to his playing include a highly lyrical approach with an emphasis on harmony and sophisticated chord voicings.
Commissions
- 1989 - Tentle Moments, orchestra
- 1991 - Candles Still Flicker in Romania's Dark, orchestra
- 1992 - Three English Scenes: Good Evening … Here is the News, Abandoned Railway Station, Forms of Escape, symphony orchestra
- 1993 - Midnight Oil, Jane Chapman
- 1993 - Out There, music theatre production with Campbell Graham
- 1993 - Lullaby for Megan
- 1996 - My Dream Kitchen, Evelyn GlennieEvelyn GlennieDame Evelyn Elizabeth Ann Glennie, DBE is a Scottish virtuoso percussionist. She was the first full-time solo percussionist in 20th-century western society.-Early life:Glennie was born and raised in Aberdeenshire...
- 1996 - The Loneliness of Being Right, Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
and Human ChainHuman ChainHuman 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.... - 1996 - What it's like to be alive, piano concerto for Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
- 1997 - The Catering Trade, Ensemble Bash
- 1997 - Some More Upsets, Human ChainHuman ChainHuman 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....
with London SinfoniettaLondon SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and... - 1997 - One in a Million, short film score (BBC 2 and the Arts Council)
- 1998 - Travel Cartoons for the Blind, Apollo Saxophone Quartet
- 1999 - Gobbledygook, The Gogmagogs, Patrick Barlow (string quintet)
- 1999 - A Fine Frenzy, Shobana Jeyasingh Dance CompanyShobana Jeyasingh Dance CompanyShobana Jeyasingh Dance Company is a British dance group based in London and founded in 1988 by the company's artistic director and choreographer, Shobana Jeyasingh. The company has toured internationally including in Hong Kong, Singapore, Seoul, New York and throughout the United Kingdom . It is...
and Apollo Saxophone Quartet - 1999 - Necessity, Matthew Barley (cello)
- 1999 - Circus Umbilicus, large jazz orchestra
- 1999 - Bird Tableau (Feasibility Studies), for 3 flutes
- 2000 - As You Like It, theatre score: director Greg Doran
- 2000 - Baby Doll, theatre score: director Lucy Bailey.
- 2000 - Pond Life, Smith QuartetSmith QuartetThe Smith Quartet is a UK based string quartet founded in 1988 that specializes in the performance of contemporary classical music, and is actively performing worldwide and recording . They have premiered over 100 works by composers such as Kevin Volans, Graham Fitkin, Michael Nyman, Karl Jenkins,...
(string quartet) - 2000 - 2000 Years Beyond Undo, electric keyboard concerto,
- 2001 - M.A.W.B. (Man Alone With Bottle), James CrabbJames CrabbJames Crabb, is a classical accordion player.Scottish born James Crabb is widely regarded as one of the world’s leading ambassadors of the classical accordion. He studied at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen with classical accordion pioneer Mogens Ellegaard and was awarded the Carl...
- accordion - 2001 - Stairs to the Roof, theatre score: director Lucy Bailey
- 2002 - Priceless, BBC National Orchestra of WalesBBC National Orchestra of WalesThe BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra.The BBC NOW has its...
- 2003 - How the String Quartet Came to Exist, Brodsky QuartetBrodsky QuartetThe Brodsky Quartet is a British string quartet, in existence since 1972, though only Ian Belton and Jacqueline Thomas are original members.In addition to performing classical music, and in particular the classic string quartet repertoire of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók and Shostakovich,...
- 2003 - Jazz from Hell, orchestration for London SinfoniettaLondon SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
- 2004 - Premature Celebration for Evan ParkerEvan ParkerEvan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, London SinfoniettaLondon SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and... - 2004 - Umpteenth Violin Concerto, Ernst Kovacic
- 2004 - The Postman Always Rings Twice, theatre score: director Lucy Bailey
- 2005 - You Can Run, short film score: director Lucy Bailey.
- 2006 - Alison in Space, a BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
and Royal Philharmonic SocietyRoyal Philharmonic SocietyThe Royal Philharmonic Society is a British music society, formed in 1813. It was originally formed in London to promote performances of instrumental music there. Many distinguished composers and performers have taken part in its concerts...
commission for Alison BalsomAlison BalsomAlison Louise Balsom is an English trumpet soloist.-Early life:Balsom was born in Hertfordshire. She attended the Tannery Drift Primary School, then the Greneway Middle School and the Meridian School, all in Royston, Hertfordshire...
- trumpet and keyboards - 2006 - Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's Globe theatreShakespeare's GlobeShakespeare's Globe is a reconstruction of the Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse in the London Borough of Southwark, located on the south bank of the River Thames, but destroyed by fire in 1613, rebuilt 1614 then demolished in 1644. The modern reconstruction is an academic best guess, based...
score: director Lucy Bailey - 2008 - Timon of Athens, Shakespeare's Globe theatre score: director Lucy Bailey
- 2009 - Julius Caesar , RSCRoyal Shakespeare CompanyThe Royal Shakespeare Company is a major British theatre company, based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England. The company employs 700 staff and produces around 20 productions a year from its home in Stratford-upon-Avon and plays regularly in London, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and on tour across...
theatre score: director Lucy Bailey. - 2009 - Gaza, Hessischer RundfunkHessischer RundfunkHessischer Rundfunk is the public broadcaster for the German state of Hesse. The main offices of HR are in Frankfurt am Main. HR is a member of the ARD.- Studios :...
big band - 2009 - Midnight Roundabout, Hessischer Rundfunk big band
- 2009 - Loose Tubes, Hessischer Rundfunk big band
- 2010 - House of Games" by David Mamet Almeida Theatre
- 2011 - We Are Not Lost, We are Simply Finding Our Way, BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
- 2011 - Everyones Song But Kenny's, BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
- 2011 - Chatter", BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
- 2011 - Active Irresponsibility'" BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
- 2011 - Elastic Resilience" BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
- 2011 - Froot Bole" BBC Radio 3, Jazz On Three, Cheltenham International Jazz Festival
As leader
- Human Chain (1986)
- Cashin' InCashin' In (album)Cashin' In is the second album by Human Chain, featuring Django Bates, Steve Argüelles and Stuart Hall. It was released on the EG label in 1988.-Track listing:# "Cashin' In" – 5:12...
(1988) - Music for The Third PolicemanMusic for The Third PolicemanMusic for The Third Policeman is an album by the composer and musician Django Bates and the Powder Room Collapse Orchestra. It was released by Ah Um records in 1990....
(1990) - Summer Fruits (and Unrest) (1993)
- Autumn Fires (and Green Shoots) (1994)
- Winter Truce (and Homes Blaze) (1995)
- Good Evening...Here is the News (1995)
- Like Life (1997)
- Quiet Nights (1998)
- You Live and Learn...(Apparently) (2004)
- Spring is Here (Shall we Dance?) (2008)
- Beloved Bird (2010)
As sideman
With Loose TubesLoose Tubes
Loose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
- Loose TubesLoose Tubes (album)Loose Tubes is the debut album by the English big band Loose Tubes, that was released on the Loose Tubes Limited record label as an LP in 1985...
(1985) - Delightful Precipice (1986)
- Open LetterOpen Letter (Loose Tubes album)Open Letter is the third album by the English big band Loose Tubes, that was released on the EG label in 1988.Allmusic gives the album 3 out of 5 stars.-Track listing:# "Sweet Williams" – 8:54...
(1988)
With Billy Jenkins
Billy Jenkins
Billy Jenkins is an English blues guitarist, composer, and bandleader.Initially Jenkins became famous as a member of Burlesque, then as part of Trimmer & Jenkins. A short period he followed as a member of Ginger Baker's Nutters. For several years, he ran Wood Wharf Studios...
- Greenwich (1985)
- Uncommerciality Vol 1 (1986)
- Scratches of SpainScratches of SpainScratches of Spain is an album by the English guitarist and bandleader Billy Jenkins, featuring the Voice of God Collective. It was released on the Babel Records label in 1987.-Track listing:# "Monkey Men" – 6:15# "Cuttlefish" – 6:09...
(1987)
With First House
- Erendira (1985)
- CantilenaCantilena (album)Cantilena is the second album by the English jazz group First House, featuring Ken Stubbs, Django Bates, Mick Hutton and Martin France. It was released on the ECM label in 1989.Allmusic awards this album with 4.5 out of 5 stars.-Track listing:...
(1989)
With Bill Bruford's Earthworks
Earthworks (band)
Bill Bruford's Earthworks was a British jazz band led by drummer Bill Bruford. The band recorded several albums for Editions EG, Discipline Global Mobile and Summerfold Records....
- EarthworksEarthworks (album)Earthworks is the debut album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks, a jazz band led by drummer Bill Bruford and featuring Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Mick Hutton...
(1987) - Dig?Dig?Dig? is the second album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks, featuring Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Tim Harries. It was released on EG Records in 1989....
(1989) - All Heaven Broke LooseAll Heaven Broke LooseAll Heaven Broke Loose is the third album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks, featuring Django Bates, Iain Ballamy and Tim Harries. It was released on EG Records in 1991....
(1991) - Stamping GroundStamping GroundStamping Ground is a live album by Bill Bruford's Earthworks, released on EG Records in 1994.The Allmusic review by Bill Meredith awards this album with 4.5 stars and states: "Bruford's chordal patterns sound practically symphonic amid his epic starts and stops — further proof of the originality of...
(1994) - Heavenly Bodies (1997)
With Iain Ballamy
Iain Ballamy
Iain Ballamy is a British composer, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone player.- Career :Ballamy was schooled at 1975-80 George Abbot School, Guildford. He then studied Musical Instrument Technology from 1980-1982 Merton College...
- Balloon ManBalloon Man (album)Balloon Man is the debut album by English saxophonist Iain Ballamy, featuring Django Bates, Steve Watts and Martin France. It was released on the EG label in 1989...
(1989) - All Men AmenAll Men AmenAll Men Amen is the second album by English saxophonist Iain Ballamy, featuring Django Bates, Steve Watts and Martin France. It was released on the B&W label in 1995.Allmusic gives the album 4.5 out of 5 stars.-Track listing:...
(1995)
With Sidsel Endresen
Sidsel Endresen
Sidsel Endresen is a Norwegian jazz singer.She was part of the Jon Eberson Group from 1981 to 1987, resulting in five CDs and two "Spellemannprisen" awards...
- So I Write (1990)
- Exile (1993)
With Julian Argüelles
Julian Argüelles
Julian Argüelles is a saxophonist. He is currently a member of the HR Big Band in Frankfurt am Main, Germany....
- Skull View (1997)
- Escapade (1999)
With others
- Dudu PukwanaDudu PukwanaMtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
- Life in Bracknell and Willisau (1983) - Tim Whitehead’s Borderline - English People (1983)
- Social Systems - Research (1987)
- The Dedication OrchestraThe Dedication OrchestraThe Dedication Orchestra is a jazz ensemble formed as a tribute to the exiled South African musicians who formed the core of the The Blue Notes and the Brotherhood of Breath, it features Alan Skidmore, Radu Malfatti, Django Bates, Kenny Wheeler, Elton Dean, Lol Coxhill, Evan Parker, Paul Rutherford...
- Spirits Rejoice (1992) - Hank RobertsHank RobertsHank Roberts is an American jazz cellist and vocalist. He plays the electric cello, and his style is a mixture of rock, jazz, avant garde, folk and classical influences...
- Little Motor People (1993) - Tim BerneTim BerneTim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
's Caos Totale - Nice View (1994) - Christy Doran - Play the music of Jimi Hendrix (1994)
- Bendik Hofseth - Colours (1997)
- Søren Nørbo Trio - Debates (2005)
- Marius Neset - Golden XPlosion (2011)
Reviews of recorded work
- Bowie, Big Bands, Rap - Django Bates thinks outside the box, The Times, 23 July 2004.
- Django Bates does all the wrong things, at the right time. You're in for a surprise, says John Fordham: CD OF THE WEEK: Django Bates "You Live and Learn (Apparently)" (Lost Marble) 4/5 stars. The Guardian 25 June 2004
- The shape of jazz just come. Review of "You Live and Learn (Apparently)", The Economist, 16 December 2004.
- In Praise of Django Bates Review of "You Live and Learn (Apparently)", Downbeat
- Django Bates, You Live and Learn (Apparently) The Guardian, 25 June 2004
- Review of Winter Truce (And Homes Blaze)
Reviews of live work
- Evan Parker / Django Bates at the Vortex. The Guardian, 30 January 2011.
- Beloved Bird Trio at the Vortex. The Guardian, 14 April 2010.
- Soren Norbo/ Django Bates at the Vortex. The Guardian, 8 February 2007.
- Berne/Bates/Parker at the Vortex. The Guardian, 22 December 2006.
- "Django Bates' Bird Tableau" - Vortex Jazz Club. Financial Times, 31 August 2006.
- "FuseLeeds launches with a night of surprises". Django Bates / London Sinfonietta including "Umpteenth Violin Concerto" and "Premature Celebration for Evan Parker". The Guardian, 5 March 2004.
- "Django Bates goes back to school": Django Bates/ Guildhall Jazz Band Guildhall School of Music, London. 3/5 stars. The Guardian, 8 December 2003.
- "Django Bates breaks all the rules" - Cheltenham Jazz Festival. 4/5 stars. The Guardian, 7 May 2002.
- "A musical cocktail of incredible diversity." Bates, John Taylor (jazz)John Taylor (jazz)John Taylor is a British jazz pianist; he has occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesiser. He is one of Europe's most celebrated jazz pianists and composers.-Performing career:...
and John SurmanJohn SurmanJohn Douglas Surman is an English jazz saxophone, bass clarinet and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music as a basis...
at The Space. The Independent 27 March 1999. - "Django Bates / Quiet Nights, Royal Northern College of Music", Manchester Evening News 18/11/1998.
- "Django's got a new keyboard." Independent On Sunday 30 November 1997.
- "Django Bates' Delightful Precipice, McEwan's Old Fruitmarket, Glasgow", The Herald 7 July 1997.
- "Good Evening... Here Is the News", Sunday Times 11 August 1996.
- "Human Chain at Hackney Empire" The Guardian, 27 July 1995.
- "Winter Truce (And Homes Blaze)", The Guardian 2 June 1995.
- "Winter Truce (And Homes Blaze)", The Globe and Mail 2 September 1995.
- "Summer Fruits (and Unrest)", Down Beat 1 October 1995.
- "Gang of Three / Human Chain at the ICA, London", The Times 7 April 1988.
Articles
- "Investing in Human Happiness". Jazz UK, January 2007
- "Preview: Django Bates on Tour with Soren Norbo Trio". The Guardian, 3 February 2007
- "100 most talented young people in Britain". TatlerTatlerTatler has been the name of several British journals and magazines, each of which has viewed itself as the successor of the original literary and society journal founded by Richard Steele in 1709. The current incarnation, founded in 1901, is a glossy magazine published by Condé Nast Publications...
magazine 1999. - "Re Bates", J. Fordham: Jazz UK, no.25 1999, 8.
- "Catalytic Subverter", J. Fordham: Jazz Express, no.214 1998, 28.
- "Jazz - Django's got a new keyboard", Independent On Sunday, 30 November 1997.
- "Young Jazz Musicians 1997 The London Studios", The Guardian, 10 September 1997.
- "Balanced on a precipice", feature from The Herald, 4 July 1997.
- "Get Rid of the Goatee", The Guardian, 25 July 1997.
- "Briton wins Danish jazz award - Jazzpar Prize", The Times. 4 October 1996.
- "British Jazz Musician Wins Top International Award", The Guardian. 4 October 1996.
- "Interview mit Django Bates", H. Haubold: Neue Musikzeitung, xliii (1994), Oct–Nov, 38.
- "Delightful Precipice - Jazz", Financial Times. 22 October 1993.
- "Turned Loose to Play Around", J. Fordham: The Guardian. 15 October 1993.
- "Django Bates: Big Band Dreamer", W. Montgomery: Wire, no.116 1993, 16.
- "Django Bates", H. J. Schaal: JP, xlii/11 1993, 14.
- "Big Band Piano: We’re not in Kansas City any More", B. McCullough: Keyboard, xv/11 1989, 76.
- "Synthesize, improvise, satirise; Jazz", The Times. 10 September 988.
- "Worldview: England’s Django Bates: Multi-striped Keyboardist who Escapes behind a Horn", Freff: Keyboard, xiii/12 1987, 22.
- "Django Bates: the Brilliant Spark." R. Cook: The Wire, no.32 1986, 27.
- "Simply prodigious talent", The Times. 2 December 1985.
Film and television
- "Play Your Own Thing: A Story of Jazz in Europe". Documentary directed by Julian Benedict.
- "Jazz Britannia Live at the Barbican". Solo piano performance of "Freely". BBC FOUR 12/02/2005
- "Jazz Britannia" Contributor. BBC FOUR.
- "Here's a piano I prepared earlier: Experimental music in the 1960s". Contributor. BBC FOUR.
- "Sound on Film: One in a Million." A surreal narrative by composer Django Bates and director Terry Braun. A young composer and her daughter try to select winning lottery numbers. BBC TWO 07/01/1997
- "Strings, Bows and Bellows". Joanna, Django Bates & Rolf Hind perform Django's "Tentle Morments" on three pianos. BBC TWO 13/05/1995
- "Sounds Different: Music Out of Time". Ian CarrIan CarrIan Carr was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator.-Early years:Carr was born in Dumfries, Scotland, the elder brother of Mike Carr...
& his band "Nucleus" are seen during a two day workshop with young musicians. Participants are Guy BarkerGuy BarkerGuy Barker is an English jazz trumpeter and composer. Barker was born in Chiswick, London, the son of an actress and a stuntman. He started playing the trumpet at the age of twelve, and within a year had joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra...
, Django Bates, Steve BerrySteve BerrySteve Berry is an American author, professor and former attorney currently living in St. Augustine, Florida. He is a graduate of Mercer University's Walter F. George School of Law....
, Neil Sitwell, Steve Sitwell, David Trigwell, Glen Vallint & Chris WhiteChris WhiteChris White or Christopher White may refer to:*Chris White , British jazz/rock saxophonist*Chris White , bassist and songwriter with The Zombies*Chris White , jazz bassist...
. BBC TWO 28 November 1980 - Loose TubesLoose TubesLoose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
at Bath International Festival, May 1986, and in Green Park Station. BBC TWO 3 January 1987 - http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/267654"Celebration: Loose TubesLoose TubesLoose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
"]. Documentary. The 21-piece jazz orchestra its first national tour. The musicians are shown conducting a jazz 'workshop' in Sheffield, as well as performing. Directed by Christopher Swann. Produced by Granada TelevisionGranada TelevisionGranada Television is the ITV contractor for North West England. Based in Manchester since its inception, it is the only surviving original ITA franchisee from 1954 and is ITV's most successful....
. Channel Four, January 1987. - "[nju: yor:k]" A shortfilm by Bernd Pick, 1997. Using only the music of Django Bates. Can be seen at Youtube (Tag:Django Bates).
Radio
- "Mixing It". Jaga JazzistJaga JazzistJaga Jazzist is an experimental jazz band from Norway that rose to prominence when the BBC named their first album, A Livingroom Hush , the best jazz album of 2002. The core of the band are brothers and main songwriters Lars and Martin Horntveth...
in collaboration with Django Bates. BBC RADIO 3 22/7/2005 - "Jazz On 3" - Django Bates' Human ChainHuman ChainHuman 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....
. BBC RADIO 3 15/07/2005 - "Courtney Pine's Jazz Crusade" guest is Django Bates. BBC RADIO 2 23/8/2004
- "Mixing It". Guest is Django Bates. BBC RADIO 3 16/7/2004
- "Front Row". Django Bates talks about his first album in 6 years "You Live and Learn (Apparently)". BBC Radio Four 28/06/2004
- "Hear and Now" - FUSE Festival. "Pond Life", a four movement string quartet by Django Bates performed by the Smith QuartetSmith QuartetThe Smith Quartet is a UK based string quartet founded in 1988 that specializes in the performance of contemporary classical music, and is actively performing worldwide and recording . They have premiered over 100 works by composers such as Kevin Volans, Graham Fitkin, Michael Nyman, Karl Jenkins,...
. BBC RADIO 3 13/3/2004 - "Front Row" - Django Bates on commissioning one bar from 60 composers to make a piece for the "Premature Celebration" of Evan ParkerEvan ParkerEvan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
's 60th birthday. BBC Radio Four 01/03/2004 - "Between the Ears: The Museum of Lost Keyboards". Armando IannucciArmando IannucciArmando Giovanni Iannucci is a Scottish comedian, satirist, writer, director, performer and radio producer. Born in Glasgow, he studied at Oxford University and left graduate work on a PhD about John Milton to pursue a career in comedy....
guides us around a museum of keyboard instruments which exist only in the mind. Music composed and performed by Django Bates. BBC Radio Three 13/12/2003 - "Twenty Minutes". Geoffrey Smith looks at the history of the relationship between jazz and classical music. With contributions from Mark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony TurnageMark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
and Django Bates. BBC RADIO 3 17/5/2002 - "Performance on 3" - The BBC National Orchestra of WalesBBC National Orchestra of WalesThe BBC National Orchestra of Wales is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both a broadcasting orchestra and national orchestra.The BBC NOW has its...
and Iain BallamyIain BallamyIain Ballamy is a British composer, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone player.- Career :Ballamy was schooled at 1975-80 George Abbot School, Guildford. He then studied Musical Instrument Technology from 1980-1982 Merton College...
perform Django Bates' "Priceless". BBC RADIO 3 17/5/2002 - "Music Matters". Django Bates discusses "Priceless". BBC RADIO 3 5/5/2002
- "Jazz on 3". Human Chain at London's Vortex Club. BBC RADIO 3 21/9/2001
- "Jazz Legends". Django Bates selects performances by Bill EvansBill EvansWilliam John Evans, known as Bill Evans was an American jazz pianist. His use of impressionist harmony, inventive interpretation of traditional jazz repertoire, and trademark rhythmically independent, "singing" melodic lines influenced a generation of pianists including: Chick Corea, Herbie...
, Cannonball Adderley and Charlie HadenCharlie HadenCharles Edward Haden is an American jazz musician. He is a double bassist, probably best known for his long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman...
. BBC Radio Three 04/08/2000 - "Performance on 3" from the Barbican. Django Bates (keyboards), Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
, Britten SinfoniaBritten SinfoniaBritten Sinfonia is a chamber orchestra ensemble based in Cambridge, UK. It was created in 1992, following an initiative from Eastern Arts and a number of key figures including Nicholas Cleobury, who recognised the need for an orchestra in the East of England. It is a flexible ensemble composed of...
and Nicholas CleoburyNicholas CleoburyNicholas Cleobury is an English conductor.He was organ scholar at Worcester College, Oxford, conductor of Schola Cantorum of Oxford and held assistant organist posts at Chichester Cathedral and Christ Church, Oxford before turning to orchestral and operatic work...
. Programme includes "Three English Scenes" and "New York, New York" arranged by Bates. BBC RADIO 3 29/2/2000 - "Jazz on 3". Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Django Bates, Josefine CronholmJosefine CronholmJosefine Cronholm is a celebrated Swedish jazz vocalist who has won numerous awards. Her debut album Wild Garden was released in 2002. She also provided a cover of The Carpenters' Close to you for the film MirrorMask...
, Stian CarstensenStian CarstensenStian Carstensen is a multi-instrument Norwegian musician.-Biography:Carstensen was born in Eidsvoll. He started as an accordion player at the age of 9. He first learned from his father, and later from a classical player which he attended for 4 years. During this time he played in Norwegian TV,...
, Michael Mondesir, Martin FranceMartin FranceMartin France is an English jazz drummer based in London. He has been the rhythmic backbone on more than 60 albums working with some of the world's finest musicians....
and Paul ClarvisPaul ClarvisPaul Clarvis is an English percussionist, born in Enfield, London, on 9 April 1963.He is renowned for bringing his unique style of music to many genres and can be heard on recordings by Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Annie Lennox, Sting, Bryan Ferry, John Williams, Andy...
. BBC RADIO 3 24/4/1999 - "Mixing It". Django Bates selects some favourite tracks. BBC RADIO 3 3/4/1999
- "Live from London". Chat show features music from Django Bates - "Horses in the Rain". BBC Radio Four 27/03/1999
- "Music Machine". In Conversation with..." Django Bates discusses Keith JarrettKeith JarrettKeith Jarrett is an American pianist and composer who performs both jazz and classical music.Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey, moving on to play with Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s he has enjoyed a great deal of success in jazz, jazz fusion, and classical music; as...
's `My Song'. BBC RADIO 3 10/12/1998 - "Jazz Notes". Umo Jazz Orchestra, with guest Django Bates. BBC RADIO 3 17/3/1998
- "BBC Proms 97". Joanna MacGregor and Ensemble Bash. Programme includes Django Bates: "The Catering Trade" (first London performance). BBC RADIO 3 23/7/1997
- "Hear and Now". Apollo Saxophone Quartet and the Goldberg Ensemble. Programme includes Django Bates: "Travel Cartoons for the Blind". BBC RADIO 3 23/5/1997
- "Hear and Now". Sam Hayden: Time Is Money. Django Bates: "Food for Plankton; Some More Upsets; Misplaced Swans; L'Apres-Midi de M Dufy". BBC RADIO 3 4/4/1997
- "In Tune". ...including Django Bates: "Candles Still Flicker". Human ChainHuman ChainHuman 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....
, London SinfoniettaLondon SinfoniettaThe London Sinfonietta is an English chamber orchestra founded in 1968 and based in London. The ensemble specialises in contemporary music and works across a wide range of genres, performing modern classics alongside world premieres, and includes music by electronica artists as well as folk and...
/ Diego MassonDiego MassonDiego Masson is a French conductor, composer, and percussionist.The son of artist André Masson and brother of the singer and actor Luís Masson, Diego Masson studied piano and composition at the Paris Conservatoire...
. BBC RADIO 3 1/5/1997 - "Jazz Notes". Django Bates joins the BBC Big Band to perform a selection of his most recent compositions for his own group, Delightful Precipice, including the first UK performance of `Rest and Be Thankful'. With Iain BallamyIain BallamyIain Ballamy is a British composer, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone player.- Career :Ballamy was schooled at 1975-80 George Abbot School, Guildford. He then studied Musical Instrument Technology from 1980-1982 Merton College...
(saxophones). RADIO 3 16/5/1996. - "The World Tonight". "Tentle Morments" from Django Bates "Good Evening, Here is the News". Django Bates (British pianist, winner of Jazzpar prize) & John CummingsJohn CummingsJohn Scott Cummings is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Easington from 1987 until 2010.-Early life:...
(London based music promoter). 04/10/1996 - Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
. Piano recital. Includes "It's Only a Paper Moon" by Harold Arlen, arranged by Django Bates. BBC RADIO 3 6/1/1995 - "Music in Our Time." Four new string quartets played by the Smith QuartetSmith QuartetThe Smith Quartet is a UK based string quartet founded in 1988 that specializes in the performance of contemporary classical music, and is actively performing worldwide and recording . They have premiered over 100 works by composers such as Kevin Volans, Graham Fitkin, Michael Nyman, Karl Jenkins,...
and interviews with the composers. Includes Django Bates: "Pond-life" (BBC commission). BBC RADIO 3 5/3/1995 - Django Bates' Delightful Precipice. Includes interview with Bates. Tightrope, Armchair march, Eden express, Fox Across the Road, Queen of Puddings, You can't Have Everything, The Loneliness of Being Right, Candles Still Flicker, Peculiar Terms of Intimacy, Discovering Metal, Open Letter to Dave DeFries. Recorded at Adrian Boult HallAdrian Boult HallThe Adrian Boult Hall is the main concert hall of the Birmingham Conservatoire in central Birmingham, England. It is named after the conductor Adrian Boult....
, Birmingham. Radio Three 14/5/1994 - Tim Berne's Caos Totale. Tim BerneTim BerneTim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
's with Django Bates. Recorded at the Bloomsbury Theatre. BBC RADIO 3 5/3/1994 - "Impressions" 9/10/1993
- "Jazz at the Bath Festival". Human Chain (Django Bates, Iain BallamyIain BallamyIain Ballamy is a British composer, soprano, alto and tenor saxophone player.- Career :Ballamy was schooled at 1975-80 George Abbot School, Guildford. He then studied Musical Instrument Technology from 1980-1982 Merton College...
, Stuart HallStuart Hall (musician)Stuart Hall is a British multi-instrumentalist from the UK. He is equally renowned for his talent on violin, guitar and double bass, and several less mainstream string instruments such as the oud, pedal steel, bouzouki, saz, banjo, kemence, tres, lyra & gudulka....
, Martin FranceMartin FranceMartin France is an English jazz drummer based in London. He has been the rhythmic backbone on more than 60 albums working with some of the world's finest musicians....
with pianist Joanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregorJoanna MacGregor is a classical, jazz and contemporary pianist.-Biography:MacGregor grew up in North London, and was educated at home by her Seventh-day Adventist parents until she attended South Hampstead High School at the age of 11. Her mother is a piano teacher who studied at the Royal...
. MacGregor plays solo in pieces by Nancarrow, Cowell, Ligeti and Rzewski. 10/7/1993 - "Midnight Oil". Django Bates' songs for Jane Chapman. BBC RADIO 3 19/3/1993
- "Jazz Parade". BBC Big Band, conducted by Django Bates. BBC RADIO 2 22/1/1993
- "Outside In Festival". 11/02/1992
- "Magnum Opus". George Russell Orchestra, including Courtney PineCourtney PineCourtney Pine CBE is an English jazz musician. At school he studied the clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet, bass Clarinet and keyboards...
and Chris BiscoeChris BiscoeChris Biscoe is an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, a player of the alto, soprano, tenor and baritone saxophone, the alto clarinet, piccolo and flute...
, Kenny WheelerKenny WheelerKenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
and Django Bates. Recorded at the Haymarket TheatreHaymarket TheatreThe Theatre Royal Haymarket is a West End theatre in the Haymarket in the City of Westminster which dates back to 1720, making it the third-oldest London playhouse still in use...
, London. 24/08/1987 - "Magnum Opus". Loose TubesLoose TubesLoose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
perform at the Logan Hall, London. Sad Africa - 6'35" BATES, Sunny - 5'34" EACOTT, Delightful Precipice - 7'50" BATES, Blue - 7'17" BERRY We Are, Are You? 5'01" HARBORNE, Eden Express - 8'52" BATES, Mo mhuirnin ban - 4'12" TRAD arr. BATCHELOR, Sosbun Brakk 5'43" PARKER Hermeto's Giant Breakfast - 12'24" DEFRIES, Psycopath-a-go-go - 4'48" BERRY, Accepting suites from strangers - 8'25" BATES, Arriving - 4'40" BATCHELOR, Mister Zee - 7'44" BERRY. 01/05/1987 - "The Proms 1987: Loose Tubes" (1) BERRY, Steve "Mister Zee" (2) Eddie PARKER "Sosbun Brakk" (3) CREWE/GAUDIO "Can't take my eyes off you" (4) BATES, Django: "Sweet Williams" (5) BERRY, Steve: "Blue" (6) BATES, Django: "Accepting suites from strangers" (7) Chris BATCHELOR "Sticklebacks" (8) Dave DEFRIES "Open letter to Dudu Pukwana" (9) Chris BATCHELOR "Arriving" (10) BATES, Django: "Yellow hill". Radio 3 30/8/87
- BBC Peel Session - Scritti Politti featuring Django Bates and Jamie TalbotJamie TalbotJames Robert "Jamie" Talbot is an English jazz alto saxophonist.Talbot played with the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and then with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra while young.He attended the Royal College of Music in 1978-79, then recorded throughout the decades of the 1980s and 1990s with...
. September 1982.
Quotes
"the brain of classical music with the groin of jazz""When I'm not writing or rehearsing my own music, I tend to find other ways of filling that time than listening to music I already know," 2005
"My earliest memory of performing was a James Taylor composition, from a Stephane Grappelli album I noticed my dad liked. It was quite simple, so I worked it out. Every time he walked into the room I would play it to see if I could get him to pay me any attention. A sad little aim, but it was probably the whole cause of me becoming a musician." 2005
"Being outside the establishment has always seemed important to me. There are always promoters and producers who want to meddle with your music . . . More and more I find myself wanting to speak up about these things. Ah, the wonderful smell of burning bridges!" 2005
"England at the moment is a cause for concern. It is a difficult place to be, artistically. But I'm not going to whinge about it. To go to another country - have the opportunity to carry on what I want to do, but in a helpful environment - means that hopefully I can come back and help this situation. Ironic, isn't it, but the only way I might be able to play a proper gig in London is if I get money from the Danish government." 2005
"I know what I want to do with an improvising band; I've been really strict about getting what I want, not accepting long stretches of music that I'm not remotely in control about, jams; I'm not interested in that. I want there to be special character to each piece and the only way you can get that is to define the roles quite clearly of the different musicians. But they still have massive input. I write certain basslines because I know that Michael Mondesir can play them. I also know that he can turn them into his own. I really like playing with that. It's the same with Iain (Ballamy). I write very specific lines for him, and that's good because they're not things that a saxophonist would naturally go for. They're probably very tricky but they're what I want to hear. I just make sure I leave him space to be Iain Ballamy, which is what he's fantastic at. Martin France - again I give him quite detailed percussion parts, but I know that he's always going to add more to what I write." 2005
"The arts improve everyone's quality of life, so invest in them with pride. Lose the snobbery that places some genres on a false pedestal: invest fairly in our huge range of artistic talent. While arts education programmes proliferate, there are fewer and fewer places for graduating musicians, dancers and actors to perform. Support centres of excellence like Gateshead's Sage, but let's not forget smaller, creative venues. Protect these from speculators, and rescue those promoters who struggle to present well-crafted, cutting-edge new work on a local level. This policy won't generate financial profit, but will create confident, self-respecting communities and will enrich this country infinitely." 2005
"Being outside the establishment has always seemed important to me. Not just because I'm an awkward git, but because creatively it's where you have to be." 2005
"Evan [Parker] is the proof that during shallow times, musicians can still exist on their own terms." 2004
"And now there's this issue, about Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Marsalis
Wynton Learson Marsalis is a trumpeter, composer, bandleader, music educator, and Artistic Director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Marsalis has promoted the appreciation of classical and jazz music often to young audiences...
's view of jazz - that it's not to be taken lightly, or experimented with. I think that's very negative and very sad." 2000
"Being a musician is incompatible with self-importance because it is surreal in itself. Selling vibrations in the air. What's more surreal than that?"
"Oh, you've heard of jazz."
Links
- Django Bates' homepage
- Django's MySpace page
- JazzPar Prize 1997
- Django Bates Writes Own Biography All About Jazz Dec 6th 2005
- Django Bates interviewed by Pascal Wyse The Guardian, 2nd Dec 2005.
- Django Bates and David Okumu interviewed by John Fordham 4th Feb 2005.
- Django Bates biography from 1993
- Django Bates biography at Grove
- Django Bates' nomination for the PRS New Music Award
- Bates interview by Ethan Iverson for BBC