Dave O'Higgins

David "Dave" O'Higgins (born September 1, 1964 in Birmingham ) is a British jazz saxophonist (tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, flute) and composer .

Life

O'Higgins began playing trumpet and drums and took piano lessons . At the age of 16, he began performing with the alto saxophone in addition to drums . He played with the Derbyshire Youth Jazz Orchestra and Harold Kyte's Stapleford Big Band (1982). He switched to the tenor saxophone when he played in his own band in Spondon, Derbyshire. From 1983 to 1986 he was with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and moved to London in 1983 , where he studied at City University and Wavendon Summer School. He also had his own bands from 1983 and played in 1986 with Cleo Laine and John Dankworth . From 1986 to 1990 he played with Roadside Picnic (with bassist Mario Castronari) and in 1989 with the Pizza Express Modern Jazz Sextet . His bands included the Gang of Three (1987-1989) and Dave Higgins and the Oblivion Brothers (1989-1991). He toured with Icelandic group Mezzoforte and with Derek Nash's Sax Appeal in the late 1980s . He also toured in the late 1980s and early 1990s with various pop groups (such as Matt Bianco ) in Europe and Japan, sometimes playing keyboards . In the 1990s he toured solo in South Africa, played in Martin Taylor's Spirit of Django Band (several albums), with Salif Keita , Jim Mullen (Havana Jazz Festival 1992), Jason Rebello , with Itchy Fingers and Clark Tracey's sextet (with which he recorded). He continues to lead his own bands (such as the Dave O'Higgins Quartet) and has released several albums as a leader or solo, including All Good Things (EFZ, 1992), Fast Food Shuffle (Candid 2002), Push (Short Fuse 2004), The Grinder's Monkey (Short Fuse 1999). With Pete Wraight he has the Two Minds Big Band . He has released several albums as a leader or solo, including All Good Things (EFZ, 1992), Fast Food Shuffle (Candid 2002), Push (Short Fuse 2004), The Grinder's Monkey (Short Fuse 1999).

He also recorded with John Serry and Jamie Cullum (Pointless Nostalgic 2002) and works as a freelancer. Among other things, he accompanied Sheila Jordan and played with the big band of Matthew Herbert at the Montreux Jazz Festival .

Lexical entry

• John Chilton Who's Who of British Jazz , Continuum 2004
• Ian Carr , Digby Fairweather , Brian Priestley : Rough Guide Jazz. The ultimate guide to jazz music. 1700 artists and bands from the beginning until today. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 1999, ISBN 3-476-01584-X .

Web links

• Homepage
• Discogs