Gordon James Beck was an English jazz pianist.

Beck was born in Brixton

Brixton

Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, and attended Pinner County Grammar School

Pinner County Grammar School

Pinner County Grammar School was a grammar school in Pinner, London from 1937 to 1982. In its latter years it became a college as Pinner Junior College and Pinner Sixth Form College. Famous pupils include Reg Dwight, otherwise known as Elton John, Simon Le Bon, Ron Goodwin and Gordon Beck all...

 (the school Reg Dwight (Elton John

Elton John

Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...

) and Simon Le Bon

Simon Le Bon

Simon John Charles Le Bon is an English musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and musician of the band Duran Duran and its offshoot, Arcadia.-Early life:...

 would later attend). He studied piano in his youth, but decided to go into a career as an engineering technical draughtsman

Technical drawing

Technical drawing, also known as drafting or draughting, is the act and discipline of composing plans that visually communicate how something functions or has to be constructed.Drafting is the language of industry....

. Largely self-taught, he returned to music after spending time in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 where he was exposed to the works of George Shearing

George Shearing

Sir George Shearing, OBE was an Anglo-American jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for MGM Records and Capitol Records. The composer of over 300 titles, he had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s...

 and Dave Brubeck

Dave Brubeck

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills...

.

He joined Tubby Hayes

Tubby Hayes

Edward Brian "Tubby" Hayes was an English jazz multi-instrumentalist, best known for his tenor saxophone playing in groups with fellow sax player Ronnie Scott and with trumpeter Jimmy Deuchar. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest British jazz instrumentalists.- Early life :Hayes was born...

 group in 1962 back in England he and later formed his own trio, made up of Tony Oxley

Tony Oxley

Tony Oxley is an English free-jazz drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records.-Biography:Tony Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by age eight, he first began playing the drums at seventeen. While in the Black Watch military band from 1957 to 1960 he studied music...

, Jeff Clyne

Jeff Clyne

Jeffrey Ovid 'Jeff' Clyne was a British jazz bassist .-Biography:...

, and himself. From 1969 to 1972 he toured with Phil Woods

Phil Woods

Philip Wells Woods is an American jazz bebop alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader and composer.-Biography:...

's European Rhythm Machine. He was a member of Nucleus

Nucleus (band)

Nucleus were a pioneering jazz-rock band from Britain who continued in different forms from 1969 to 1989. In their first year they won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival, released the album Elastic Rock, and performed both at the Newport Jazz Festival and the Village Gate jazz club.They were...

 during 1972-74 and after that formed the group Gyroscope.

He also recorded albums with Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth

Allan Holdsworth is an English guitarist and composer. He has released twelve studio albums as a solo artist and played many different styles of music over a period of four decades, but first drew attention for his work in jazz fusion...

, Henri Texier

Henri Texier

Henri Texier, born , is a French jazz double bassist born in Paris.He is perhaps best-known for his 1960s work with Don Cherry and for his 1980s band the "Transatlantik Quartet", which featured Joe Lovano, Steve Swallow and Aldo Romano...

, Didier Lockwood

Didier Lockwood

Didier Lockwood is a French jazz violinist. He played in the progressive rock/jazz fusion band Magma in the 1970s and is known for his use of electric amplification and experimentation on different sounds on the electric violin....

and others.

External links

• [ All Music]
• BBC Radio 2
• Discography