Richard Edwin "Dick" Morrissey (9 May 1940,
HorleyHorley is a town in Surrey, England, situated south of the twin towns of Reigate and Redhill, and north of Gatwick Airport and Crawley.With fast links by train to London from Horley railway station, it has grown popular with commuters in recent years...
,
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
- 8 November 2000,
DealDeal is a town in Kent England. It lies on the English Channel eight miles north-east of Dover and eight miles south of Ramsgate. It is a former fishing, mining and garrison town...
,
KentKent 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...
) was a
BritishThe 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...
jazzJazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
musician and composer. He played the tenor sax, soprano sax and
fluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
.
Background
Dick Morrissey emerged in the early 1960s in the wake of
Tubby HayesEdward 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...
, Britain’s pre-eminent sax player at the time. Self-taught, he started playing clarinet in his school band at the age of sixteen and then joining the Original Climax Jazz Band. Going on to join trumpeter Gus Galbraith's Septet, where alto-sax player
Peter KingPeter John King is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.- Early life :Peter King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on August 11, 1940. He took up the clarinet and saxophone as a teenager, entirely self taught...
introduced him to
Charlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
's recordings, he began specialising on tenor saxophone shortly after.
Making his name as a hard bop player, he appeared regularly at the
Marquee ClubThe Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
from August 1960, and recorded his first solo album at the age of 21,
It’s Morrissey, Man!It's Morrissey, Man! was The Dick Morrissey Quartet's debut album. It was recorded on April 27th, 1961. The liner notes were written by Benny Green. In 1998, Polygram's Redial division, run by Richard Cook, reissued the album as a CD.- Track listing :#"St...
(1961) for Fontana, featuring Stan Jones on piano,
Colin BarnesColin Barnes is an English former professional footballer born in Notting Hill, London, who played as a forward in the Football League for Torquay United....
on drums, and
The Jazz CouriersThe Jazz Couriers were a British jazz quintet formed in April 1957 and which disbanded in August 1959.The quintet's first line-up consisted of Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott on tenor saxophones, with Terry Shannon , Malcolm Cecil and Bill Eyden and made their debut on the opening night at the new...
founding member
Malcolm CecilMalcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.A founding member of the UK's leading jazz quintet of the late 1950s, The Jazz Couriers, he went on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 50s and...
on bass. He spent most of 1962 in Calcutta, India as part of the
Ashley KozakAshley Kozak , is a jazz bassist, record producer and artists' manager, best known as having been Donovan's manager....
Quartet, playing three 2-hour sessions seven days a week, before returning to the UK and forming his quartet with
Harry SouthHarry South was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who later moved into work for film and television....
- who had also been in the quartet in Calcutta - on piano. They were joined by former The Jazz Couriers bassist
Phil BatesPhilip Francis Bates, born Brixton, London, 19 June 1931, is an English jazz double bassist.After playing regular gigs at London’s 51 Club with Harry Klein and Vic Ash throughout 1956, he joined The Jazz Couriers with Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott...
and variously, another ex-The Jazz Couriers member,
Bill EydenBill Eyden was a renowned English jazz drummer....
,
Jackie DouganJackie Dougan was a British jazz drummer.A member of Tommy Whittle's and Eddie Thompson's groups in the 1950s, he joined the Dick Morrissey Quartet in the early 1960s...
or
Phil SeamenPhillip William "Phil" Seamen was an English jazz drummer.With a solid background in big band music, Seamen played and recorded in a wide range of musical contexts with virtually every key figure of 1950s and 1960s British jazz...
on drums. The Dick Morrissey Quartet recorded three LPs, Have You Heard? (1963); the live recording
Storm Warning!Storm Warning! is the fourth Dick Morrissey Quartet album. It was recorded in November 1965.- Track listing :# "Storm Warning" - # "What Is There to Say" -...
(1965) on Mercury; and
Here and Now and Sounding Good!Here and Now and Sounding Good! was the sixth Dick Morrissey Quartet recording. It was released in 1966. The tracks included were a tribute to Dick Morrissey's friends and fellow British jazz musicians.- Track listing :# "Off the Wagon"...
(1966). The quartet, played regular London gigs at
The Bull's HeadThe Bull's Head, Barnes, often referred to as "The Bull", is a London jazz club that was one of the first and most important jazz venues in Britain...
, Barnes and at Ronnie Scott's, whose manager,
Pete KingPeter "Pete" Stephen George King was a British jazz tenor saxophonist. He was the manager of London's famous jazz club, Ronnie Scott's, for almost 50 years.-Biography:...
, once said that Ronnie's was kept going in those days due to the crowds Dick Morrissey pulled in. During this time he also played extensively in bands led by Ian Hamer and Harry South, including The Six Sounds, featuring Ken Wray and Dick Morrissey, a band which by 1966 had developed into the Ian Hamer Sextet featuring South, Dick Morrissey,
Keith ChristieKeith Ronald Christie was an English jazz trombonist. He was the brother of Ian Christie....
, Kenny Napper and Bill Eyden, among other leading UK-based jazz musicians.
He also played briefly in
Ted Heath'sTed Heath, musician and big band leader, led Britain's greatest post-war big band recording more than 100 albums and selling over 20 million records...
Big Band, which featured many name jazz musicians over the years, as well as appearing as a featured guest on the classic
Johnny DankworthSir John Phillip William Dankworth, CBE , known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist...
and his Orchestra recording, What the Dickens! and the Harry South Big Band. Likewise, together with fellow tenors
Stan RobinsonStan Robinson is an English jazz tenor saxophonist.Robinson started playing professionally at Manchester’s Club 43 before travelling to London and appearing at Ronnie Scott’s Club in the 60s...
and Al Gay, baritone sax Paul Carroll, and trumpets
Ian 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...
,
Kenny WheelerKenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
and Greg Brown, Dick Morrissey formed part of (
Eric BurdonEric Victor Burdon is an English singer-songwriter best known as a founding member and vocalist of rock band The Animals, and the funk rock band War and for his aggressive stage performance...
and)
The Animals' Big BandThe Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
that made its one-and-only public appearance at the
5th Annual British Jazz & Blues FestivalThe National Jazz and Blues Festival was the precursor to the Reading Rock Festival and was the brainchild of Harold Pendleton, the manager of the prestigious Marquee Club in Soho....
in Richmond (1965).
By the mid-60s, he had over two consecutive years come in second place behind Hayes in the
Melody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
Jazz Poll (1966 & 1967) and many US musicians touring Britain at the time, notably Brother Jack McDuff, a live recording with
Jimmy WitherspoonJimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
, two LPs with J.J. Jackson, and
Sonny StittEdward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
together with guitarist
Ernest RanglinErnest Ranglin O.D. is a Jamaican guitarist and composer. Best known for his session work at the famed Studio One, Ranglin helped give birth to the ska genre in the late 1950s...
(live at Ronnie Scott's) recorded with him during the Sixties and early Seventies.
Dick Morrissey performed regularly at the
National Jazz FestivalThe National Jazz and Blues Festival was the precursor to the Reading Rock Festival and was the brainchild of Harold Pendleton, the manager of the prestigious Marquee Club in Soho....
in the 1960s; his last appearance under his own name there was at the 6th festival held at Windsor (1966), although he would return to the festival with
ifIf was a progressive rock band formed in Britain in 1969.Referred to by Billboard as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.-History:They toured...
in 1972 for their only appearance.
In 1969, Dick Morrissey, by then many-time winner and runner-up of the
Melody MakerMelody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
Jazz Poll, teamed up with another Melody Maker award-winner, guitarist
Terry SmithTerence 'Terry' Smith is a British Jazz guitarist.-Biography:Twice winner of the Melody Maker Music Polls, Smith spent the early 1960s playing with the Tony Lee Trio, before becoming Scott Walker's musical director and accompanying The Walker Brothers on their Japan tour in 1968...
, with whom he had worked in J.J. Jackson’s Band, to form an early jazz-rock group,
ifIf was a progressive rock band formed in Britain in 1969.Referred to by Billboard as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.-History:They toured...
.
Morrissey-Mullen
When
ifIf was a progressive rock band formed in Britain in 1969.Referred to by Billboard as "unquestionably the best of the so-called jazz-rock bands", in the period spanning 1970-1975, they produced 8 studio-recorded albums and did some 17 tours of Europe, the US and Canada.-History:They toured...
disbanded in 1975, Dick Morrissey went to Germany on a tour with
Alexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
and then to the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
to tour and record with the Average White Band, and met up with Glaswegian guitarist,
Jim MullenJim Mullen is a Glasgow-born jazz guitarist with a distinctive style, like Wes Montgomery before him, picking with the thumb rather than a plectrum.-Biography:...
, who had played with
Brian Auger'sBrian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
Oblivion Express with some of the members of AWB, and together they formed
Morrissey - MullenMorrissey Mullen was a British jazz-funk/fusion group of the 1970s and 1980s.Considered one of the most popular jazz groups in London, the band was led by Dick Morrissey on tenor and soprano saxes and flute, and Jim Mullen on guitar, who joined forces in 1975, their playing together for sixteen ...
(aka M&M), recording their first album,
UpUp was the debut album by British jazz-fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen. Produced by Herbie Mann, it was recorded in New York in 1976, and featured the Average White Band as the rhythm section, together with other leading New York-based session musicians....
(1976) in New York. On returning to Great Britain,
Morrissey - MullenMorrissey Mullen was a British jazz-funk/fusion group of the 1970s and 1980s.Considered one of the most popular jazz groups in London, the band was led by Dick Morrissey on tenor and soprano saxes and flute, and Jim Mullen on guitar, who joined forces in 1975, their playing together for sixteen ...
formed a band which rapidly became Britain’s most highly acclaimed jazz-fusion band of the day, initially including two top session musicians from
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
,
Frank Gibson, Jr.Frank Gibson, Jr., born 1946, New Zealand, is a jazz drummer and drum tutor. His father, also Frank Gibson, was drummer and leader of the first rock’n’roll band in the country, Frank Gibson’s Rock’n’Rollers....
and
Bruce LynchBruce Lynch, born 1948, New Zealand, is an electric and acoustic bassist, producer and arranger.Arriving in the UK in the mid-70s, he became a highly sought-after studio and session musician touring extensively with Cat Stevens, including the 1976 Earth Tour, as well as appearing on six albums...
.
M&M recorded seven albums over the 16 years they were together, with Morrissey and Mullen collaborating on each other’s solo albums, notably
After DarkAfter Dark is a solo album by Dick Morrissey featuring Morrissey-Mullen co-leader Jim Mullen and the regular line-up of the band. It was recorded the same year as the duo's It’s About Time album, and although not strictly speaking a Morrissey-Mullen album, it is usually included in their...
(1983) with
John CritchinsonJohn William Frank Critchinson, "Critch", is an English jazz pianist. He was born in east London, 24 December 1934.In the early 50s he worked, as a part-time musician, with Ronnie Scott, Tubby Hayes, Jimmy Deuchar, among others. In 1979, at the recommendation of his mentor, Bill Le Sage, he joined...
,
Ron MathewsonRon Mathewson is a Scottish jazz double bassist and bass guitarist born in Lerwick, Shetland Isles, Scotland. Mathewson is best known for his years spent working with Ronnie Scott, but has also done recordings with Stan Getz, Joe Henderson, Ben Webster, Philly Joe Jones, Roy Eldridge, Oscar...
,
Martin DrewMartin Drew was an English jazz drummer, who played with Ronnie Scott and Oscar Peterson .-Career:...
, Barry Whitworth. The line-up for later gigs also featured
John BurchJohn Burch , was a British pianist, composer and band leader equally at home playing traditional jazz, bebop, blues, skiffle, boogie-woogie and rock....
on piano, with whom Dick Morrissey would also form an informal group called "Our Band", also featuring
Louis StewartLouis Stewart is an Irish jazz guitarist, and the recipient of an honorary doctorate from Trinity College Dublin. He began his international career in 1968, when he was awarded the special jury prize at The Montreux International Jazz Festival...
and/or Jim Mullen on guitar, as well as the above-mentioned Ron Mathewson and Martin Drew.
During that period, Dick Morrissey also recorded
SouliloquySouliloquy is an album recorded by Dick Morrissey in 1986. It was his second solo album for Coda.- Track listing :#"Clouds" #"East Sunrise" #"Lord Mayo"...
(1986), featuring
Max MiddletonDavid Maxwell "Max" Middleton . He is an English composer and keyboardist and was originally a docker on the Liverpool docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussive playing style of the Hohner Clavinet...
, Kuma Harada, Robert Ahwai (all three of whom had also appeared on
Morrissey - MullenMorrissey Mullen was a British jazz-funk/fusion group of the 1970s and 1980s.Considered one of the most popular jazz groups in London, the band was led by Dick Morrissey on tenor and soprano saxes and flute, and Jim Mullen on guitar, who joined forces in 1975, their playing together for sixteen ...
's first UK-recorded album,
Cape WrathCape Wrath was the second album recorded by British jazz-fusion duo Morrissey - Mullen, although it was the first they recorded in the United Kingdom...
, in 1979),
Steve FerroneSteven "Steve" Ferrone is a British drummer.He was a member of the Average White Band, and has recorded and performed with numerous other high-profile acts, including Slash, Chaka Khan, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Scritti Politti...
,
Danny Cummings-Musical biography:The first Latin percussion instrument that Danny Cummings ever acquired was a second-hand conga he persuaded his parents to buy him for his 21st birthday. "I remember thinking that black fiberglass drum marked the beginning of a new era for me," says Cummings...
,
Bob WestonSee Bob Weston for the American bassist and recording engineer.Robert Joseph 'Bob' Weston is a British musician best known for his brief role as guitarist and songwriter with the rock band Fleetwood Mac....
and
Lenny ZakatekLenny Zakatek also known as "The Voice" is a pop and rock singer and musician who has lived in London since the age of thirteen...
.
Other collaborations
As well as leading his own jazz combos, as a "musicians' musician", Dick Morrissey was in continuous demand as a guest artist with other British or UK-based jazz musicians, most especially with trios and quartets. Thus he was often to be found jamming with established names such as
Tubby HayesEdward 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...
,
Bill Le SageBill Le Sage, born William A. Le Sage, born London - died , London, was a British pianist, vibraphonist, arranger, composer and bandleader. His credits include the score for the 1960 film The Tell-Tale Heart....
,
Roy BuddRoy Frederick Budd , was a British jazz musician and composer, known for his film scores.Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Budd became interested in music from an early age and had built up a vast musical repertoire by the age of eight...
, Ian Hamer,
Ian 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...
,
Tony LeeTony Lee was a British jazz pianist who played with the likes of Tommy Whittle, Tom Jones, Dusty Springfield, Barney Kessel, Sonny Stitt, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Terry Smith, Tubby Hayes, Dick Morrissey and legendary UK drummer Phil Seamen.He appeared on at least two recordings with Seamen - Phil...
, Tony Archer,
Michael GarrickMichael Garrick MBE was an English jazz pianist and composer, and a pioneer in mixing jazz with poetry recitations.-Biography:...
(who dedicated him his 1965 composition "Leprechaun Leap"),
Spike RobinsonHenry Berthold "Spike" Robinson was a tenor saxophonist. He began playing at age twelve, making recordings with famous jazz and bop musicians on several labels including Discovery, Hep and Concord. However, he sought an engineering degree and followed that profession on a fulltime basis for nearly...
,
Allan GanleyAllan Ganley was a respected English jazz drummer and arranger, who played with many famous names....
, alto saxophonist
Peter KingPeter John King is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.- Early life :Peter King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, on August 11, 1940. He took up the clarinet and saxophone as a teenager, entirely self taught...
,
Ray WarleighRaymond 'Ray' Kenneth Warleigh , is a leading UK-based alto saxophonist and flautist...
, etc.
In between regular M&M gigs, Dick Morrissey would also meet up with old friends
Ian "Stu" StewartIan Andrew Robert Stewart was a Scottish keyboardist, co-founder of The Rolling Stones and inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...
,
Charlie WattsCharles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
,
Alexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
,
Jack BruceJohn Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles...
,
Colin HodgkinsonColin Hodgkinson is a British rock, jazz and blues bassist, who has been active since the 1960s.-Career:...
,
Don WellerDon Weller , is a British jazz musician, tenor saxophonist and composer.-Career:...
,
Zoot MoneyGeorge Bruno Money, known as Zoot Money is a British vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band...
,
John PicardJohn Francis Picard, born Tottenham, London, 17 May 1934 is a British jazz trombonist.After serving in the RAF, during which he played at weekends with Cy Laurie, he spent a further four months with Laurie before joining Humphrey Lyttleton, from 1954 until 1961. From 1962 to the early 1970s he...
and Colin Smith, to play
boogie-woogieBoogie-woogie is a style of piano-based blues that became popular in the late 1930s and early 1940s, but originated much earlier, and was extended from piano, to three pianos at once, guitar, big band, and country and western music, and even gospel. Whilst the blues traditionally depicts a variety...
/jazz/rock with the back-to-the-roots fun band,
Rocket 88Rocket 88 is the name of a United Kingdom-based boogie-woogie band formed in the late 1970s by Ian "Stu" Stewart, Charlie Watts, Alexis Korner and Dick Morrissey....
, that Stewart put together with boogie-woogie pianist
Bob HallRobert 'Bob' Hall , is a leading English boogie-woogie pianist. A long-time collaborator of Alexis Korner, he also performed regularly with bottleneck bluesman Dave Kelly and his sister, Jo Ann Kelly.-Career:...
.
Apart from the early recordings with visiting US performers mentioned above, Dick Morrissey also toured and/or recorded with
Charly AntoliniCharly Antolini is a Swiss jazz drummer.Antolini started playing the traditional Swiss Basler drum and in 1956 went to Paris where he played with Sidney Bechet, Bill Coleman among others, and playing in the Oldtime Jazz Band "The Tremble Kids" with trumpeter Oscar Klein and clarinettist Werner...
,
Alexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
(several albums),
Hoagy CarmichaelHoward Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
, participating on Hoagy's last album,
In HoaglandIn Hoagland is an album by Georgie Fame, Annie Ross and Hoagy Carmichael, featuring a band of leading UK jazz musicians and arrangements by Harry South...
(1981) featuring Georgie Fame and
Annie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
, with arrangements by Harry South, Mike Carr,
Georgie FameGeorgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
,
Brian AugerBrian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
,
Dusty SpringfieldMary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'BrienSources use both Isabel and Isobel as the spelling of her second name. OBE , known professionally as Dusty Springfield and dubbed The White Queen of Soul, was a British pop singer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s...
,
Freddie MackFreddie Mack , sometimes also spelled Freddy Mack and also known as Mr. Superbad, was a retired light-heavyweight boxer who later enjoyed success in the UK as a singer and DJ.-Biography:...
,
Pete YorkPete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
,
Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
,
Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
,
Phil CarmenPhil Carmen is a Swiss musician and producer of Canadian heritage.-Early career:...
,
Herbie MannHerbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
,
ShakatakShakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
,
Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
(The haunting and uplifting solo in "Start" from his third "Melting Face" album),
Jon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
(and as a member of the New Life Band's The Song of Seven Tour in 1980),
Demis RoussosArtemios Ventouris Roussos is a Greek singer and performer, best known for being the main musical partner of movie soundtrack composer Vangelis and a string of international hit records as a solo performer in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Jon & Vangelis and
VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
, as well as playing the haunting saxophone solo on the
VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
composition "Love Theme" for the 1982 film
Blade RunnerBlade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
.
Other musicians and performers Dick Morrissey shared the stage with include David "Fathead" Newman,
Tommy KörbergBert Gustav Tommy Körberg is a Swedish singer, actor, and musician. In 1969, he won Swedish Recording Industry Award Grammis in a category Best Debut Performance. English-speaking audiences know him best for his role in the Benny Andersson–Björn Ulvaeus–Tim Rice musical Chess...
,
Boz ScaggsWilliam Royce "Boz" Scaggs is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. He gained fame in the 1970s with several Top 20 hit singles in the United States, along with the #2 album, Silk Degrees. Scaggs continues to write, record music and tour.-Early life and career:Scaggs was born in Canton,...
,
Johnny GriffinJohn Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...
,
David SanbornDavid 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...
,
Steve GaddSteve Gadd is an American session and studio drummer, notable for his work with popular musicians from a wide range of genres.-Biography:...
,
Richard TeeRichard Tee was a pianist, studio musician, singer and arranger.Tee graduated from the High School of Music and Art and attended the Manhattan School of Music. Though better known as a studio and session musician, Tee led a jazz ensemble, the Richard Tee Committee, and was a founding member of the...
,
Billy CobhamWilliam C. Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who has called Switzerland home since the late 1970s....
,
Michael BreckerMichael 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...
,
Randy BreckerRandal "Randy" Brecker is an American trumpeter and flugelhornist. He is a highly sought after performer in the genres of jazz, rock, and R&B, and has performed or recorded with Stanley Turrentine, Billy Cobham, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Sandip Burman, Charles Mingus, Blood, Sweat & Tears,...
,
Sonny FortuneSonny Fortune is an American jazz alto saxophonist and flautist. He also plays soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone and clarinet.-Biography:...
,
Sonny SharrockWarren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock was an American jazz guitarist. He was once married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he sometimes recorded and performed....
and
Teddy EdwardsTheodore Marcus "Teddy" Edwards was an American jazz tenor saxophonist based on the West Coast of the US. Some consider him to be one of the most influential jazz saxophonists.-Biography:...
(with whom he jammed a "duel" at London's
100 ClubThe 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1, originally called The Feldman Swing Club.The 100 Club attained legendary status in modern British music, having played host to live music since 24 October 1942....
in the early 1980s),
Mel CollinsMel Collins is a British saxophonist and flautist and session musician.He has worked in a wide variety of contexts ranging from R&B and blues rock to jazz, but is perhaps known for his work in progressive rock, as with King Crimson, Camel and the Alan Parsons Project.-Career:Collins has worked...
,
Dick Heckstall-SmithDick Heckstall-Smith was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most important English blues-rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s.-Early years:...
,
John 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...
,
Graham BondGraham John Clifton Bond was an English musician, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s....
,
Klaus DoldingerKlaus Doldinger is a German saxophonist, especially well-known for jazz and as a composer of film music. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards .-Life and work:...
, Al Casey,
Miller AndersonMiller Anderson is a UK based blues guitarist and singer.Apart from pursuing his own solo career, he was a member of the Keef Hartley Band. Other groups Anderson has been associated with are; the Spencer Davis Group, Broken Glass, The Dukes, Savoy Brown, T.Rex and Chicken Shack...
, Bridget St. John and so on.
Whatever the style of music he was playing, be it pop, rock, hard bop or straight ahead jazz, Dick Morrissey showed that music could be appreciated at many different levels, and that even the most simplistic pop or rock song could be embellished with an authentic jazz groove. In this way he was able to reach new audiences and albeit indirectly, introduce people to jazz. When at different stages of his career, journalists asked him to define his style, he would refer to
Duke EllingtonEdward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
's definition: "It's all music" and pointing out that for Ellington there were only two types of music: "good" or "bad". To that end, his last few recordings concentrated more than ever on jazz standards and the
Great American SongbookThe Great American Songbook is a hypothetical construct that seeks to represent the best American songs of the 20th century principally from Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musicals, from the 1920s to 1960, including dozens of songs of enduring popularity...
.
Death
Dick Morrissey died on 8 November 2000, aged 60, after many years fighting various forms of
cancerCancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
. To the end of his life, he could be seen and heard, seated in his wheelchair, playing to a full house at his local pub "The Alma" in Deal, Kent. His last gig was a reunion with the Morrissey/Mullen band (inc Jim Mullen and Pete Jacobsen) at The "Astor" Theatre in Deal. His funeral, held in Deal, was attended by many of his fellow musicians including Allan Ganley. Following his death, the UK national press published the following obituaries (excerpts):
In the obituary published in
The TimesThe Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, British music critic
Chris WelchChris Welch is a music journalist, reviewer and critic with Melody Maker, famous during the 1960s and 1970s for reporting on the rise of such bands as The Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Traffic, If, Cream and Jeff Beck. During that time he also reported on the UK jazz scene.- Career...
wrote that Dick Morrissey was a
"fiery musician who straddled the worlds of jazz and rock, but with a style built firmly on bebop and widely regarded as the most brilliant British saxophonist to emerge in the wake of Tubby HayesEdward 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...
. His advocacy of jazz-rock fusion successfully brought jazz to a rock audience and rock to a jazz audience".
Steve Voce writing an obituary for
The IndependentThe Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
added:
"The key to Dick Morrissey's talent, in a career that spanned four decades, was his ability to get through to an audience. He was one of the great communicators of jazz and ... able to communicate with his listeners and quickly to establish a bond with them ... [l]ike Charlie ParkerCharles Parker, Jr. , famously called Bird or Yardbird, was an American jazz saxophonist and composer....
before him, he was somehow able to lift audiences that knew little or nothing about his music".
Although one could from time to time imagine a feel of the American players Sonny RollinsTheodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St...
or Johnny GriffinJohn Arnold Griffin III was an American bop and hard bop tenor saxophonist.- Early life and career :Griffin studied music at DuSable High School in Chicago under Walter Dyett, starting out on clarinet before moving on to oboe and then alto sax...
in Morrissey's work, he was outstanding among British players for his originality. Despite the sophistication of his ideas there was often a down-home quality to his punchy and hard swinging solos, and this was a reflection of one of his idols, the tenorist Stanley TurrentineStanley William Turrentine, also known as "Mr. T" or "The Sugar Man", was an American jazz tenor saxophonist.-Biography:Turrentine was born in Pittsburgh's Hill District into a musical family...
. He was a lightning improviser and the flood of his inventions flew through his fingers with ease, for he was a masterful player."
Ronald AtkinsRonald Henry Atkins is a British Labour Party politician. At 93 years of age, Ronald Atkins was the eldest member of Preston City Council, until he stepped down in 2010....
, writing in
The GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, put it thus:
"John ColtraneJohn William Coltrane was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. Working in the bebop and hard bop idioms early in his career, Coltrane helped pioneer the use of modes in jazz and later was at the forefront of free jazz...
's approach to the tenor had yet to make much of an impact in Britain, and Morrissey came up with a startling and warmly appreciated blend of Stan GetzStanley Getz was an American jazz saxophone player. Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, his prime influence being the wispy, mellow timbre of his idol, Lester Young. Coming to prominence in the late 1940s with Woody Herman's big band, Getz is described by critic Scott...
and Sonny Rollins, the phrasing of one allied to the abrasive tones of the other. He was also influenced by the example of Tubby Hayes, whose lightening-quick [sic] forays through complex harmonies he was probably the first to emulate".
The obituary in
The Daily TelegraphThe Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
read:
"Dick Morrissey, who has died aged 60, was among the finest European jazz musicians of his generation. His command of the tenor saxophone was masterly, but it was the unforced fluency of his playing, expressed in a characteristically broad and sweeping tone, that attracted the greatest admiration.
Stylistically, Morrissey was so flexible that he was able to fit happily into many contexts, from straightforward hard-bop, through jazz-rock and jazz-funk to soul-inflected pop music. He possessed the remarkable knack of making everything he played sound not only exciting but happy."
Albums
- It’s Morrissey, Man!
It's Morrissey, Man! was The Dick Morrissey Quartet's debut album. It was recorded on April 27th, 1961. The liner notes were written by Benny Green. In 1998, Polygram's Redial division, run by Richard Cook, reissued the album as a CD.- Track listing :#"St...
(1961) - The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- Have You Heard? (1963) - The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- There and Back (live 1964/1965 – released 1997) - The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- Storm Warning!
Storm Warning! is the fourth Dick Morrissey Quartet album. It was recorded in November 1965.- Track listing :# "Storm Warning" - # "What Is There to Say" -...
(live Nov. 1965) - The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- Here and Now and Sounding Good!
Here and Now and Sounding Good! was the sixth Dick Morrissey Quartet recording. It was released in 1966. The tracks included were a tribute to Dick Morrissey's friends and fellow British jazz musicians.- Track listing :# "Off the Wagon"...
(September 1966) - The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- Sonny’s Blues: Live at Ronnie Scott’s (live 1966) - Sonny Stitt
Edward "Sonny" Stitt was an American jazz saxophonist of the bebop/hard bop idiom. He was also one of the best-documented saxophonists of his generation, recording over 100 albums in his lifetime...
with The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- Spoon Sings and Swings (live 1966) - Jimmy Witherspoon
Jimmy Witherspoon was an American jump blues singer.-Early life and career:James Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. He first attracted attention singing with Teddy Weatherford's band in Calcutta, India, which made regular radio broadcasts over the U. S. Armed Forces Radio Service during...
with The Dick Morrissey Quartet
- After Dark
After Dark is a solo album by Dick Morrissey featuring Morrissey-Mullen co-leader Jim Mullen and the regular line-up of the band. It was recorded the same year as the duo's It’s About Time album, and although not strictly speaking a Morrissey-Mullen album, it is usually included in their...
- Dick Morrissey (1983)
- Souliloquy
Souliloquy is an album recorded by Dick Morrissey in 1986. It was his second solo album for Coda.- Track listing :#"Clouds" #"East Sunrise" #"Lord Mayo"...
– Dick Morrissey (1986)
- Resurrection Ritual - Dick Morrissey (1988)
- Love Dance - Dick Morrissey (live 1989)
- Charly Antolini Meets Dick Morrissey
Charly Antolini Meets Dick Morrissey is the second album recorded by Swiss drummer Charly Antolini and UK tenor sax player Dick Morrissey. The tracks are jazz and pop standards and were recorded live at Pizza Express' Pizza on the Park, London on 5 December 1990.- Track listing :#"Secret Love"...
(live 1990)
With If
- if - aka if 1 (1970)
- if 2
If 2 is the second release by the English Jazz rock band If. It was released as a vinyl LP in 1970 and re-issued as a CD in 2006 on Repertoire Records with liner notes by UK music critic Chris Welch....
(1970)
- if 3
If 3 is the third release by the English jazz rock band If. It was released in 1971 and reached #171 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart.The track "Forgotten Roads" featured on the band's live appearance on German TV's Beat-Club in September 1971....
(1971)
- if 4
If 4 is the fourth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and the last album to feature the original recording line-up.-Side one:# "Sector 17" – 10:34# "The Light Still Shines" – 5:06...
(1972)
- Waterfall
Waterfall is the fifth album released by the English jazz rock band If. It was first issued in 1972 and reached #195 on the Billboard Pop Albums Chart...
(1972)
- Double Diamond
Double Diamond is the sixth album by British jazz-rock group If. With only Dick Morrissey left from the original band, the new line-up featured Fi Trench and Pete Arnesen , Steve Rosenthal , Kurt Palomaki and Cliff Davies...
(1973)
- Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces
Not Just Another Bunch of Pretty Faces is the seventh studio album by British jazz-rock band If, released in 1974.- Side one :# "In the Winter of Your Life" – 4:59# "Stormy Every Weekday Blues" – 6:07...
- if (1974)
- Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads
Tea Break Over, Back on Your 'Eads, released in 1975, was the eighth and final studio album by British jazz-rock band If. It was followed by compilation CDs covering tracks from the first four LPs featuring the band's previous line-up....
- if (1975)
With Morrissey-Mullen
- 1976: Up
Up was the debut album by British jazz-fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen. Produced by Herbie Mann, it was recorded in New York in 1976, and featured the Average White Band as the rhythm section, together with other leading New York-based session musicians....
(Embryo RecordsEmbryo Records was a jazz and rock record label founded by Herbie Mann as a division of Atlantic Records, itself distributed by the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records. The label released albums in the years 1969 through 1977.-Discography:...
)
- 1979: Cape Wrath
Cape Wrath was the second album recorded by British jazz-fusion duo Morrissey - Mullen, although it was the first they recorded in the United Kingdom...
- 1981: Badness
Badness is the third album released by British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen. Released in 1981, it entered the UK Album Charts on 18 July 1981 at no. 65, eventually reaching no...
- 1982: Life on the Wire
Life on the Wire is British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen's fourth album. It was released in 1982, reaching no. 47 in the UK charts.- Track listing :# "Life on the Wire" # "Takin' Time" # "Face of a Child" # "Come and Get Me"...
- 1983: It’s About Time
It's About time is the sixth album released by British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen.The album was produced by Richard Niles, who also wrote some of the songs....
- 1983: After Dark
After Dark is a solo album by Dick Morrissey featuring Morrissey-Mullen co-leader Jim Mullen and the regular line-up of the band. It was recorded the same year as the duo's It’s About Time album, and although not strictly speaking a Morrissey-Mullen album, it is usually included in their...
- 1985: This Must Be the Place
This Must Be the Place is a 1985 album by British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen.- Track listing :#"A Tear for Crystal"#"Mean Time"#"This Must Be the Place"#"With You"#"Southend Pierre"#"Visions"#"All I Want to Do"- Personnel :...
- 1988: Happy Hour
Happy Hour is an album released by the British jazz fusion duo Morrissey-Mullen. It was to be their last studio album and was followed by a compilation album released after Dick Morrissey's death, Everything Must Change: The Definitive Collection.- Track listing :#"Other Streams"#"Singing in the...
- 2003: Everything Must Change: The Definitive Collection
Collaborations
- What the Dickens!
What the Dickens! is a 1963 recording by Johnny Dankworth, accompanied by his orchestra and guests, some of the leading UK jazz musicians of the day. It is a suite based on characters and scenarios associated with Charles Dickens...
- Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra (1963)
- Roy Budd - Roy Budd
Roy Frederick Budd , was a British jazz musician and composer, known for his film scores.Born in Mitcham, Surrey, Budd became interested in music from an early age and had built up a vast musical repertoire by the age of eight...
(1965)
- Presenting the Harry South
Harry South was an English jazz pianist, composer, and arranger, who later moved into work for film and television....
Big Band (January 1966)
- Sound Venture
Sound Venture is a jazz album recorded by Georgie Fame and the Harry South Big Band in 1966. Featuring many of the Britain’s top jazz musicians, and arranged by leading big band arranger Harry South, the album was a break from Fame’s earlier R&B hits....
– Georgie FameGeorgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
and the Harry South Big Band (October 1966)
- Acropolis - Ian Hamer Sextet (live 1966)
- Two Faces of Fame – Georgie Fame (1967)
- Retrospect Through 21 Years Of BBC Jazz Club - Various Artists (1968)
- The Greatest Little Soul Band in the Land
The Greatest Little Soul Band in the Land was J.J. Jackson's first UK-recorded album following his hit single "But It's Alright", also recorded in the UK.- Track listing :#"Tobacco Road" The Greatest Little Soul Band in the Land was J.J. Jackson's first UK-recorded album following his hit single...
– J.J. Jackson (1969)
- J. J. Jackson's Dilemma
J.J. Jackson's Dilemma is the second UK-recorded album by J.J. Jackson. It was recorded in London in 1970.- Track listing :#"Indian Thing" #"Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" #"Let the Sunshine In"...
(1970)
- To Seek a New Home
Down Home Style is an album by American organist Brother Jack McDuff recorded in England in 1969 and released on the Blue Note label.-Reception:The Allmusic review awarded the album 3 stars.-Track listing:# "Yellow Wednesday" - 6:35...
- Brother Jack McDuff (1970)
- Whitehorn – Geoff Whitehorn
Geoffrey Charles 'Geoff' Whitehorn is a guitarist and singer-songwriter, who has played as a member of If, Crawler and Procol Harum.- History :...
(1974)
- Worlds Collide - Hudson Ford
Hudson Ford were a UK rock band-style duo, formed when John Ford and Richard Hudson left Strawbs in 1973. The original lineup featured Hudson and Ford along with Chris Parren on keyboards, Mickey Keen on guitars, and Gerry Conway on drums. Conway left in May 1974 prior to the recording of "Free...
(1975)
- Don’t Get Around Much Anymore - Live at Bullerbyn
Don't Get Around Much Anymore - Live at Bullerbyn is a live 1975 jazz recording by Rolf Ericson of a two-evening jam session at the Bullerbyn jazz club, Stockholm, Sweden...
(live 1975)
- The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux
The Atlantic Family Live at Montreux is a live recording made at the 1977 Montreux Jazz Festival. It featured the Don Ellis Orchestra together with the Average White Band and guest musicians...
- (live 1977)
- A Pauper in Paradise
A Pauper in Paradise is the fifth studio album by Italian-Canadian singer Gino Vannelli.- Track listing :All music and lyrics by Gino Vannelli.Side 1# "Mardi Gras" – 3:26# "Valleys of Valhalla" – 4:23...
- Gino VannelliGino Vannelli is an Italian-Canadian singer, songwriter, musician and composer.-Early years:Born in Montreal, Quebec, Vannelli is one of three sons born to Russ and Delia Vannelli. Russ, his father, was a big band musician. As a child, Gino's greatest passion was music, and he began playing...
(1977)
- The Party Album
The Party Album, also known as The Party LP is a 1978 live blues recording by Alexis Korner. The album features Alexis Korner and various guest musicians singing a mix of both classic blues songs as well as some of Korner's own...
- Alexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
(live 1978)
- It's Just a Lifetime - Craig Nuttycombe (1978)
- Just Easy - Alexis Korner
Alexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
(1978)
- Ravenna - Kim Diamond (1979)
- Peter Gabriel (III)
Peter Gabriel is Peter Gabriel's third album. The album contains two of Gabriel's most famous songs, the U.K. Top 10 hit "Games Without Frontiers" and the political song "Biko", about the late anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko...
- aka Melt – Peter GabrielPeter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
(1979)
- That's What Friends Are For - Georgie Fame
Georgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
and the Blue Flames (1979)
- Liner - Liner
Blackfoot Sue was a British pop / rock band, formed in 1970 by the twin brothers Tom and David Farmer and Eddie Golga. A single released in August 1972, "Standing in the Road" on the Jam label No. JAM 13, reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. Lack of further tangible success left them labelled...
(1979)
- White Trails – Chris Rainbow
Chris Rainbow is a Scottish rock singer and musician who had two minor hit songs, "Give Me What I Cry For" and "Solid State Brain" in the 1970s....
(1979)
- Streets of Fire - Duncan Browne
Duncan Browne was an English singer-songwriter.-Career:Browne attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, studying both music theory and drama. He chose to become a musician when in 1967 he met Andrew Loog Oldham, and signed with his Immediate Records label...
(1979)
- Lost in Austin - Marc Benno
Marc Benno is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist.Benno was a member of The Asylum Choir with Leon Russell in the late 1960s, and launched a solo career in the early 1970s, with his 1972 effort Ambush being the most commercially successful...
(1979)
- Alexis Korner and Friends (1980)
- "Strawberry Letter 23" - Bunny Brown (1980)
- Song of Seven
Song of Seven is the second solo album from Yes singer Jon Anderson, and his first to utilize an actual band . It was released during his first hiatus from Yes and supported by his first solo tour...
– Jon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
(1980)
- Mr Money - Zoot Money
George Bruno Money, known as Zoot Money is a British vocalist, keyboardist and bandleader best known for his playing of the Hammond organ and association with his Big Roll Band...
(1980)
- Wonderin - Rollercoaster (1980)
- Live in Sheffield 1980 - Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
/ New Life Band (recorded live December 1980 - released 2007)
- Honky – Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson is an English keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of the Keith Emerson Trio, John Brown's Bodies, The T-Bones, V.I.P.s, P.P. Arnold's backing band, and The Nice , he was a founder of Emerson, Lake & Palmer , one of the early supergroups, in 1970...
(1981)
- The Friends of Mr. Cairo
The Friends of Mr Cairo is the second album by Jon and Vangelis.There are two editions of this album, with different sleeves. Both versions were released in 1981 within a few weeks of each other. The title track, "The Friends Of Mr Cairo", peaked at #1 for 5 consecutive weeks on the Canadian...
– Jon & Vangelis (1981)
- In Hoagland
In Hoagland is an album by Georgie Fame, Annie Ross and Hoagy Carmichael, featuring a band of leading UK jazz musicians and arrangements by Harry South...
– Hoagy CarmichaelHoward Hoagland "Hoagy" Carmichael was an American composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader. He is best known for writing "Stardust", "Georgia On My Mind", "The Nearness of You", and "Heart and Soul", four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.Alec Wilder, in his study of the...
/Georgie FameGeorgie Fame is a British rhythm and blues and jazz singer and keyboard player. The one-time rock and roll tour musician, who had a string of 1960s hits, is still a popular performer, often working with contemporaries such as Van Morrison and Bill Wyman.-Early life:Fame took piano lessons from the...
/Annie RossAnnie Ross is an English jazz singer, and actress, best known as a member of the trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross.-Early years:...
(1981)
- Compare me with the rest – Ronny/Vangelis
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
(1981) maxi single
- Land of Cockayne – Soft Machine
Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...
(1981)
- Gone With The Wind (single) - Diamond Edge (1981)
- Love Theme from movie Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
- VangelisEvangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou is a Greek composer of electronic, progressive, ambient, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis...
(1982)
- Night Birds - Shakatak
Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
(1982)
- Animation
Animation is a 1982 album by progressive rock singer Jon Anderson . It is the third release in Anderson's solo discography....
– Jon AndersonJon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
(1982)
- Ride Blue Divide - Sniff 'n' the Tears
Sniff 'n' the Tears is a British rock band best known for their 1978 song "Driver's Seat", a hit in many countries . The exception was the UK itself where a problem with EMI's pressing plant meant that the single was not available following the band's appearance on Top of the Pops and it peaked...
(1982)
- Now Then...
-Chart Position:-Personnel:*Jake Burns - Vocals/Guitar*Dolphin Taylor - Drums*Henry Cluney - Guitar*Ali McMordie - Bass...
- Stiff Little FingersStiff Little Fingers are a punk rock band from Belfast, Northern Ireland. They formed in 1977, at the height of the Troubles. They started out as a schoolboy band called Highway Star , doing rock covers, until they discovered punk. They split up after six years and four albums, although they...
(1982)
- Work of Heart
Work of Heart is the eleventh studio album by English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Roy Harper. It was first released in 1982 and is one of the most produced albums of his career featuring a full backing band.-History:...
- Roy HarperRoy Harper is an English folk / rock singer-songwriter and guitarist who has been a professional musician since the mid 1960s...
(1982)
- Private Collection - Jon & Vangelis (1983)
- Warriors
Warriors is the seventh studio album by the British musician Gary Numan, released in 1983. It was his last studio album released on Beggars Banquet Records.-Preproduction:...
– Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
(1983)
- Sirens - John Themis (1983)
- Reflection
Reflection is an album released in 1984 by Demis Roussos.After having collaborated several times since the days of Aphrodite's Child, Reflection was the last album on which Roussos and Vangelis collaborated together. Another member from that band, guitarist Argyris 'Silver' Koulouris, also appears...
- Demis RoussosArtemios Ventouris Roussos is a Greek singer and performer, best known for being the main musical partner of movie soundtrack composer Vangelis and a string of international hit records as a solo performer in the 1960s and 1970s...
(1984)
- Brass Impact (1984)
- Double Crossed
Double Crossed was Jim Diamond's solo début album in 1985. The album featured Diamond's first three solo singles "I Should Have Known Better", "I Sleep Alone at Night" and "Remember I Love You"....
- Jim DiamondJames "Jim" Diamond is a Scottish singer-songwriter. Diamond is best known for his three Top 5 hits. The first was "I Won't Let You Down" , as the lead singer in the trio Ph.D., with Tony Hymas and Simon Phillips. His solo performance, "I Should Have Known Better", was a United Kingdom number one...
(1985)
- "My Heart Knows" - Maxine Nightingale
Maxine Nightingale is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in the 1970s, with the million seller "Right Back Where We Started From" Maxine Nightingale (born 2 November 1952; Wembley, London) is a British R&B and soul music singer. She is best known for her hits in...
(1985)
- Famous People - Bill Sharpe
Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
(1985)
- The Fury
The Fury is the ninth studio album, and seventh under his own name, by electronic pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1985. It saw him continuing to explore the sampling-heavy industrial sound he had developed for the previous album Berserker in 1984...
– Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
(1985)
- Invitation - Shakatak
Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
(1985)
- Press to Play
-Personnel:* Paul McCartney – bass, acoustic and electric guitars, lead vocals* Neil Jason – bass* Eric Stewart – acoustic and electric guitars* Pete Townshend – electric guitars* Carlos Alomar – acoustic and electric guitars* Eddie Rayner – keyboards...
- Paul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
(1986)
- Animal Magic - The Blow Monkeys
The Blow Monkeys are a British new wave band that formed in 1981 as a new wave-oriented act. The first single, "Live Today Love Tomorrow" was released in 1982. They subsequently recorded more commercial pop rock hit makers, and finally became a dance group, shortly before splitting up at the...
(1986)
- Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine
-Production:*Produced By Daryl Hall, Dave Stewart & T-Bone Wolk; "What's Gonna Happen To Us" produced by Daryl Hall*Recorded between October 1985 and May 1986*Engineer at Studio de la Grande in Armee, Paris, France: Manu Guiot; assisted by Frederick & Serge...
(1986) - Daryl HallDaryl Hall is an American rock, R&B and soul singer, keyboardist, guitarist, songwriter and producer, best known as the co-founder and lead vocalist of Hall & Oates . Hall scored several Billboard chart hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, and is regarded as one of the best blue eyed soul singers...
- On a Blue Wing - Bill Nelson
Bill Nelson is an English guitarist, songwriter, producer, painter and experimental musician...
(1986)
- Strange Charm
Strange Charm is the tenth studio album, and eighth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1986 through by Numa Records. The album was not released in the United States until 1999 when it was issued in a digitally remastered form with five bonus tracks by Cleopatra...
- Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
(1986)
- City Walls - Phil Carmen
Phil Carmen is a Swiss musician and producer of Canadian heritage.-Early career:...
(1987)
- Face to Face - Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Saddleworth, Lancashire, in September 1966 by John Lees, Les Holroyd, Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme , and Mel Pritchard .-History:...
(1987)
- Live at the Bull - Tribute Vols. 1-2
Live at the Bull - Tribute Vols. 1-2 is a 2-CD tribute album released in 2007 featuring tenor saxophonists Dick Morrissey and Spike Robinson accompanied by Bill Le Sage, Bill Eyden, Alec Dankworth, John Pearce and Simon Morton...
(recorded live 1987/8 - released 2007) with Spike RobinsonHenry Berthold "Spike" Robinson was a tenor saxophonist. He began playing at age twelve, making recordings with famous jazz and bop musicians on several labels including Discovery, Hep and Concord. However, he sought an engineering degree and followed that profession on a fulltime basis for nearly...
- Confessions of a Pop Group
Confessions of a Pop Group is an album from the band The Style Council. Released on 20 June 1988, the album received moderate success, reaching # 15 on the UK album chart....
- The Style CouncilThe Style Council were an English band, formed in 1983 by the ex-The Jam singer and guitarist Paul Weller, with keyboardist Mick Talbot. The permanent line-up grew to include drummer Steve White and Weller's then-wife, vocalist Dee C. Lee. Other artists such as Tracie Young and Tracey Thorn also...
(1988)
- Metal Rhythm
Metal Rhythm is the 11th studio album, and 9th under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1988. It is his first album released through IRS Records.- Overview :...
- Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
(1988)
- A New World (album) - Sonia King (1988)
- Old Angel Midnight - Jackson Sloan (1989)
- Mastercrime - Zeke Manyika
Zeke Manyika is a drummer, vocalist and songwriter.Manyika was born in Zimbabwe, but has lived in Britain for most of his life. From 1982 to 1984 he was a member of the pop group Orange Juice, and contributed to their biggest hit single, "Rip It Up"...
(1989)
- Changes - Phil Carmen
Phil Carmen is a Swiss musician and producer of Canadian heritage.-Early career:...
(1989)
- Cookin’ – Charly Antolini
Charly Antolini is a Swiss jazz drummer.Antolini started playing the traditional Swiss Basler drum and in 1956 went to Paris where he played with Sidney Bechet, Bill Coleman among others, and playing in the Oldtime Jazz Band "The Tremble Kids" with trumpeter Oscar Klein and clarinettist Werner...
(live 1989)
- Shout For Joy - Neville Dickie
Neville Dickie is an English boogie-woogie and stride piano player. He has performed all over Europe and North America.-Career:...
and His Rhythm Kings (live 1989)
- Tippin' the Scales
Tippin' the Scales is an album by American saxophonist Jackie McLean recorded in 1962 but first released on the Japanese Blue Note label in 1979 and finally released in the U.S. in 1984...
- Perfect Pitch (live 1989)
- Super Jam
Super Jam is a live studio recording featuring jazz, pop and traditional standards, many of them film scores, included in the German TV series, Villa Fantastica...
– (Villa Fantastica) - with Brian AugerBrian Auger is a jazz and rock keyboardist, who has specialized in playing the Hammond organ.A jazz pianist, bandleader, session musician and Hammond B3 player, Auger has played or toured with artists such as Rod Stewart, Tony Williams, Jimi Hendrix, Sonny Boy Williamson, Led Zeppelin, Eric Burdon...
/Pete YorkPete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
(live 1989)
- Daddy and the Steamers - Pete York
Pete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
(live 1990)
- Shaking the Tree – Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
(1990)
- Swinging Hollywood
Swinging Hollywood is a 1994 album by drummer Pete York featuring jazz and pop standards and music from film soundtracks.- Track listing :#"When You Wish Upon A Star" #"Lullaby of Broadway"...
– Pete YorkPete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
(1991)
- Outland
Outland is the 13th studio album, and tenth under his own name, by electronic music pioneer Gary Numan, released in 1991. It was Numan's second and last studio album to be released by IRS Records, reaching #39 on the UK charts...
- Gary NumanGary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
(1991)
- Skyline - Phil Carmen
Phil Carmen is a Swiss musician and producer of Canadian heritage.-Early career:...
(1993)
- Good Times & the Blues – Mike Carr (live 1993)
- Right-On
Right-On is the third album of jazz and pop standards by Swiss jazz drummer Charly Antolini featuring UK tenor sax player Dick Morrissey.- Track listing :#"The Night Has a Thousand Eyes"...
- Charly AntoliniCharly Antolini is a Swiss jazz drummer.Antolini started playing the traditional Swiss Basler drum and in 1956 went to Paris where he played with Sidney Bechet, Bill Coleman among others, and playing in the Oldtime Jazz Band "The Tremble Kids" with trumpeter Oscar Klein and clarinettist Werner...
(live 1993)
- Superblues
Superblues is an album by the drummer, Pete York. Recorded live on tour in Germany in 1991, it was not released until 1994.It contains a version of John Lee Hooker's hit "Dimples" which was also the first single released by The Spencer Davis Group in 1964; and a cover of Ashton, Gardner and...
– Pete YorkPete York is a rock drummer who has been performing since the 1960s.-Early life:...
(1994)
External links