Julian Argüelles
Encyclopedia
Julian Argüelles is a saxophonist. He is currently a member of the HR Big Band in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.
Argüelles started playing with big bands including the European Community Big Band that toured throughout Europe. In 1984 he moved to London. He studied briefly at Trinity College of Music before joining the much acclaimed band Loose Tubes
, staying with them for four years and recording two albums. In 1986 he received the prestigious Pat Smythe award for young musicians.
The first album by Julian Argüelles, Phaedrus, featured pianist John Taylor
. The second CD Home Truths was a quartet which included Steve Swallow
.
Julian has worked with musicians drawn from around the world including Archie Shepp
, Tim Berne
, Hermeto Pascoal
, Steve Swallow
, John Abercrombie
, Dave Holland
, Peter Erskine
, Chris McGregor
, Evan Parker
, Mike Gibbs
, John Scofield
, Carla Bley
, Dudu Pukwana
, Arturo Sandoval
, and Giorgio Gaslini
. Julian is also a member of several big bands including The Kenny Wheeler
Big Band, Django Bates
' Delightful Precipice and Colin Towns
' Mask Orchestra.
In July 1995 Julian performed a concerto specially composed for him by Mario Laginha
with the Lisbon Symphony Orchestra.
Julian was commissioned by BBC Radio 3
to write 60 minutes of music for a new octet. It was performed and recorded at Bath International Music Festival
in May 1996. The group toured and recorded and the CD, called Skull View, was released in 1997 also on the Babel Label
. His second octet CD Escapade was released in the autumn on the Provocateur label.
Julian has recently been commissioned to write for the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, his octet (by Birmingham Jazz
), Berkshire Youth Jazz Orchestra, Walsall Youth Jazz Orchestra, The Fenland Youth Symphony Orchestra, NDR (North German Radio Big Band) and Royal Academy of Music
. In 1999 Julian was the recipient of the Jazz Composers Alliance Composition Award from the USA.
In 1999 Julian released Escapade. His second, some 5 years later, was As Above So Below – a large scale work for jazz and classical musicians featuring the 20 piece Trinity College of Music
String Ensemble. The album evolved from a commission that was originally performed in Saint Wendreda's Church in March
in the Fens.
In addition to performing, he has taught at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama
, Glamorgan Jazz School, Edinburgh and Manchester summer schools and the Royal Conservatory, Den Haag. Julian was offered the first position of Jazz Musician in Association at the Royal Northern College of Music
and at York University
.
With Carla Bley
Argüelles started playing with big bands including the European Community Big Band that toured throughout Europe. In 1984 he moved to London. He studied briefly at Trinity College of Music before joining the much acclaimed band Loose Tubes
Loose Tubes
Loose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
, staying with them for four years and recording two albums. In 1986 he received the prestigious Pat Smythe award for young musicians.
The first album by Julian Argüelles, Phaedrus, featured pianist John Taylor
John Taylor (jazz)
John Taylor is a British jazz pianist; he has occasionally performed on the organ and the synthesiser. He is one of Europe's most celebrated jazz pianists and composers.-Performing career:...
. The second CD Home Truths was a quartet which included Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
.
Julian has worked with musicians drawn from around the world including Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp
Archie Shepp is a prominent African-American jazz saxophonist. Shepp is best known for his passionately Afrocentric music of the late 1960s, which focused on highlighting the injustices faced by the African-Americans, as well as for his work with the New York Contemporary Five, Horace Parlan, and...
, Tim Berne
Tim Berne
Tim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
, Hermeto Pascoal
Hermeto Pascoal
Hermeto Pascoal is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is a greatly beloved musical figure in the history of Brazilian music, known for his abilities at orchestration and improvisation, as well as being a record producer and...
, Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow
Steve Swallow is a jazz double bass and bass guitarist and composer born in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.One of the leading bassists in jazz, Swallow is noted for collaborations with Jimmy Giuffre, Gary Burton and Carla Bley...
, John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
, Dave Holland
Dave Holland
Dave Holland is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for 40 years....
, Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine
Peter Erskine is an American jazz drummer and composer. He has enjoyed a long and successful career as a session drummer, recording and touring with many famous jazz and rock artists, including Steely Dan and Weather Report...
, Chris McGregor
Chris McGregor
Christopher McGregor , was a South African jazz pianist, bandleader and composer born in Somerset West, South Africa.- Early influences :...
, Evan Parker
Evan Parker
Evan Shaw Parker is a British free-improvising saxophone player from the European free jazz scene.Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free jazz and free improvisation, and has pioneered or substantially expanded...
, Mike Gibbs
Michael Gibbs (jazz composer)
Michael Clement Irving Gibbs is a jazz composer, conductor, arranger and producer as well as a trombonist and keyboardist....
, John Scofield
John Scofield
John Scofield , often referred to as "Sco," is an American jazz guitarist and composer, who has played and collaborated with Miles Davis, Dave Liebman, Joe Henderson, Charles Mingus, Joey Defrancesco, Herbie Hancock, Pat Metheny, Bill Frisell, Pat Martino, Mavis Staples, Phil Lesh, Billy Cobham,...
, Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
, Dudu Pukwana
Dudu Pukwana
Mtutuzel Dudu Pukwana was a South African saxophonist, composer and pianist .-Early years in South Africa:...
, Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval
Arturo Sandoval is a jazz trumpeter and pianist. He was born in Artemisa, in the newest renamed Artemisa Province, Cuba....
, and Giorgio Gaslini
Giorgio Gaslini
Giorgio Gaslini is an Italian jazz pianist and composer.He began performing at 13 and recorded with his jazz trio at 16. In the 1950s and 1960s Gaslini performed with his own quartet...
. Julian is also a member of several big bands including The Kenny Wheeler
Kenny Wheeler
Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC is a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. since the 1950s....
Big Band, Django Bates
Django Bates
Django Bates , is a composer, multi-instrumentalist and band leader. He plays the piano, keyboards and the tenor horn. He currently lives in Copenhagen where he is a professor at the Rhythmic Music Conservatory and leader of the StoRMChaser orchestra.-Career:Django Bates was born in Beckenham,...
' Delightful Precipice and Colin Towns
Colin Towns
Colin Towns is an English composer, born 13 May 1948 in London, specialising in soundtracks for film, television and commercials. Learning piano as a child, by the age of 13 he was earning money playing at weddings and birthdays in his neighbourhood of the East End of London...
' Mask Orchestra.
In July 1995 Julian performed a concerto specially composed for him by Mario Laginha
Mário Laginha
Mário João Laginha dos Santos, OIH , piano player and composer, is one of the most creative contemporary Portuguese jazz musicians. He is mostly recognized for his recurrent collaborations with fellow Portuguese jazz singer Maria João, with whom he recorded over a dozen discs and toured Portugal...
with the Lisbon Symphony Orchestra.
Julian was commissioned by BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
to write 60 minutes of music for a new octet. It was performed and recorded at Bath International Music Festival
Bath International Music Festival
The Bath International Music Festival, also known as the Bath Music Fest, is held each summer in Bath, South West England. Inaugurated in 1948, the festival includes many genres such as orchestral, contemporary jazz, folk and electronica...
in May 1996. The group toured and recorded and the CD, called Skull View, was released in 1997 also on the Babel Label
Babel Label
The Babel Label is a record label was founded in 1994 by Oliver Weindling. It primarily records and releases jazz albums from UK artists. Ongoing relationships include artists such as Billy Jenkins, Christine Tobin and Huw Warren. A close relationship has been forged with a number of musicians from...
. His second octet CD Escapade was released in the autumn on the Provocateur label.
Julian has recently been commissioned to write for the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, his octet (by Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz is a voluntary, non-profit organisation responsible for promoting and commissioning some of the most exciting jazz and related contemporary music in the UK.- Organisation :Tony Dudley-Evans has been Chairman of Birmingham Jazz since 1992....
), Berkshire Youth Jazz Orchestra, Walsall Youth Jazz Orchestra, The Fenland Youth Symphony Orchestra, NDR (North German Radio Big Band) and Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
. In 1999 Julian was the recipient of the Jazz Composers Alliance Composition Award from the USA.
In 1999 Julian released Escapade. His second, some 5 years later, was As Above So Below – a large scale work for jazz and classical musicians featuring the 20 piece Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
String Ensemble. The album evolved from a commission that was originally performed in Saint Wendreda's Church in March
March, Cambridgeshire
March is a Fenland market town and civil parish in the Isle of Ely area of Cambridgeshire, England. March was the county town of the Isle of Ely, a separate administrative county between 1889 and 1965, and is now the administrative centre of Fenland District Council.The town was an important...
in the Fens.
In addition to performing, he has taught at the Royal Academy of Music, Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Guildhall School of Music and Drama is an independent music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. Students can pursue courses in Music, Opera, Drama and Technical Theatre Arts.-History:...
, Glamorgan Jazz School, Edinburgh and Manchester summer schools and the Royal Conservatory, Den Haag. Julian was offered the first position of Jazz Musician in Association at the Royal Northern College of Music
Royal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
and at York University
York University
York University is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, Ontario's second-largest graduate school, and Canada's leading interdisciplinary university....
.
As leader
- Phaedrus (1991)
- Home Truths (1995)
- Scapes (1996)
- Skull View (1997)
- Escapade (1999)
- As Above So Below (2004)
- Partita (2006)
- Inner Voices (2009)
- Momenta (2009)
- Ground Rush (2010)
As sideman
With Loose TubesLoose Tubes
Loose Tubes was a British jazz big band/orchestra active during the mid-to-late 1980s. Critically and popularly acclaimed, the band was considered to bethe focal point of a 1980s renaissance in British jazz...
- Delightful Precipice (1986)
- Open LetterOpen Letter (Loose Tubes album)Open Letter is the third album by the English big band Loose Tubes, that was released on the EG label in 1988.Allmusic gives the album 3 out of 5 stars.-Track listing:# "Sweet Williams" – 8:54...
(1988)
With Carla Bley
Carla Bley
Carla Bley, née Borg, is an American jazz composer, pianist, organist and band leader. An important figure in the Free Jazz movement of the 1960s, she is perhaps best known for her jazz opera Escalator Over The Hill , as well as a book of compositions that have been performed by many other...
- Big Band TheoryBig Band TheoryBig Band Theory is an album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1993.-Reception:...
(1993) - The Carla Bley Big Band Goes to ChurchThe Carla Bley Big Band Goes to ChurchThe Carla Bley Big Band Goes to Church is a live album by American composer, bandleader and keyboardist Carla Bley recorded in Perugia, Italy as part of the Umbria Jazz Festival and released on the Watt/ECM label in 1996.-Reception:...
(1996)