Dennis Armitage
Dennis Armitage (born May 28, 1928 in Leeds ; † November 5, 2005 in Zurich ) was a British jazz pianist, saxophonist and painter.
Life
Armitage took piano lessons at the age of 7 and made his first public appearances as a pianist at the age of 15.
At the age of 16 he played in a big band for the first time . During his military service he was a member of the Buff Regiment . After a two-year tour of England, Armitage went to Switzerland in 1951 and became a member of the Hazy Osterwald Sextet . In the 15 years up to the separation in 1967 Armitage could be heard in numerous concerts in Europe, Africa and America.
In 1967 Armitage began his solo career as a musician. At the same time he was also active as an arranger and composer. He played as a musician in many radio orchestras and performed in a duo with Marianne Racine . He has worked with the Swiss Broadcasting Big Band for twenty years. In addition to works for big bands, he also created compositions for brass bands , the most famous of which is the Alphorn Concerto for Alphorn and Wind Orchestra, composed in 1993 . Since 1983 the musician and composer worked with the publisher Marc Reift , in whose Editions Marc Reift the works of Armitage appeared. The native of England celebrated appearances as a jazz pianist at the parallel to the Lucerne Festival under the motto Piano Off-Stage! jazz events taking place in the bars of the city of Lucerne .
As a painter and draftsman, he chose the pseudonym Darmi .
Web links
- Works by and about Dennis Armitage in the catalog of the German National Library
- Short portrait with photo from Editions Marc Reift. (PDF; 211 kB) Accessed September 1, 2008 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Armitage, Dennis |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British saxophonist and painter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 28, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Leeds |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 5, 2005 |
| Place of death | Zurich |