Tim Whitehead

Tim is renowned throughout the UK, Europe and the USA as a remarkable performer and composer with a dazzling CV. In the 70’s he toured with Ian Carr’s “Nucleus” and “Graham Collier Music” winning the Young Jazz Musician of the Year Award on the way. In the 80’s he was a member of the groundbreaking big band Loose Tubes and continued to develop his own music, recording with his own bands featuring, at different times, John Parricelli, Django Bates, Nic France and Pete Jacobsen. In the 90’s he made several critically acclaimed albums, winning The Andrew Milne Award for Jazz, as well as the BBC Music Magazine Jazz Album of the Year. More recently, Tim has collaborated with renowned contemporary classical composer Colin Riley, creating music for several different ensembles and receiving numerous awards and accolades for these innovative projects (while still touring and recording with his own fantastic bands). As further testament to his extraordinary talent, in 2009 he was the first ever musician to be made Artist in Residence at Tate Britain, resulting in a number of brilliant gigs, a highly acclaimed album “Colour Beginnings” and a short-listing for the British Composer Of The Year Award in 2010. Currently, Tim is working with former “Children’s Laureate” Michael Rosen. The gig this evening will feature material from his project “Personal Standards Vol 2” (following on from the Award winning “Personal Standards Vol 1”), an innovative take on popular songs which Tim describes as "…featuring tunes by Stevie Wonder, The Beatles, some folk and roots classics such as Lovely Joan and Lord Franklin as well as re-writes of many other well-loved tunes in the manner of the bebop canon." Tim’s muscular yet fluent and highly melodic playing is widely regarded as amongst the finest around, and he commands considerable respect throughout the jazz scene.

“the finest tenor player in Britain today'' Jazz Review; “Those of us who have caught him live … have been left blinking in disbelief. It’s not just his mastery of the tenor saxophone, phenomenal though it is, but the absolute conviction of his playing that is so impressive.” The Observer; “He is a prodigious tenor player whose graceful compositions always rise above....mere technicalities...Tim Whitehead's music is marked by a sense of grace and economy” The Times; “Whitehead is one of the most creative, exciting and passionate saxophonists in Europe and also one of the finest small-group composers” A Rough Guide