Graham Collier
James Graham Collier OBE (born February 21, 1937 in Tynemouth , England , † September 9, 2011 in Chania , Greece ) was a British jazz musician (composer, bassist, band leader).
Life
Collier, the son of a drummer, first played the trumpet in local bands. At the age of sixteen he trained as a musician in the British Army and played for six years in their dance and jazz bands. He then won a Down Beat scholarship with a composition at the Berklee School of Music , where he studied from 1961 to 1963. During this time he also played with Jimmy Dorsey . After his return in 1964, he founded his ensemble with which he performed his own compositions. From 1987 until his retirement in 2000 he taught at the Royal Academy of Music . He was also a patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts . After his retirement he first lived in Ronda in southern Spain , and since 2008 with his partner, the author John Gill, in the Aegean Sea , where he had a house in Skopelos . Collier died of heart failure in Chania hospital.
Act
His group Graham Collier Music usually consisted of a sextet, which for a long time included saxophonists such as Alan Skidmore , John Surman or Alan Wakeman , the trumpeter Harry Beckett , the pianist John Taylor and drummer John Webb. The combo was occasionally expanded into larger formations for tours and productions.
Collier has released 19 albums with his own works. In his mostly large-scale works, Collier also tried out more flexible forms and novel improvisational principles. In The Day of the Dead he experimented with poems by Malcolm Lowry . Among his more recent recordings, The Third Color (1997) deserves special mention.
Collier initially worked as a teacher, composer for film, television and theater, but also as an author of jazz textbooks. During his time at the Royal Academy of Music , he also directed their big band. He also gave master classes at American, Asian and European universities.
Awards
- 1967 British Arts Council award
- 1987 Order of the British Empire
Works
Discographic notes
- Workpoints ( Cuneiform , 1967)
- Songs for My Father (Disconforme, 1970)
- Darius (Disconforme, 1974)
- New Conditions (Disconforme, 1976)
- Bread and Circuses (Jazzprint, 1990)
- Directing 14 Jackson Pollocks (Jazzcontinuum, 1997-2004)
Fonts
- Jazz - a guide for teachers and students (Heinrichshofen, Wilhelmshaven 1982; Engl. 1977) ISBN 3-7959-0283-5
- Inside Jazz (Quartet Books 1973)
- Compositional Devices (Berklee Press Publications, Boston, Mass. 1975)
- Cleo and John (Quartet Books 1976)
- Jazz Workshop the Blues (Universal Edition 1988) ISBN 0-900938-61-7
- Interaction - Opening Up the Jazz Ensemble (1998)
literature
- 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 .
- Leonard Feather , Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Oxford University Press, New York 1999, ISBN 0-19-532000-X .
- Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 , p. 230 f.
Web links
- Graham Collier at Allmusic (English)
- John Fordham: Obituary in: The Guardian
- Interview (2004, archived)
- Interview (2009)
Individual evidence
- ^ Brian Morton : Obituary in: The Independent
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Collier, Graham |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Collier, James Graham (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British jazz musician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 21, 1937 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Tynemouth , England |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 9, 2011 |
| Place of death | Chania , Greece |