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Simon Purcell

Simon Purcell is probably best known as Head of Jazz at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and member of the Pop and Jazz Steering Group for the Association of European Conservatoires.

Since the mid 1980s, Simon has performed both as leader and sideman, appearing with amongst others – Red Rodney, Kenny Wheeler, Eddie Henderson, Stan Sulzman, Jean Toussaint and Julian Arguelles. His current quintet features Julian Siegel, Chris Batchelor and Gene Calderazzo. From a musical family. His parents were classical musicians, his father having performed with a number of London Orchestras, while his grandfather, clarinettist Paddy Purcell, was a listed in Who’s Who as a member of Henry Wood’s Orchestra during the 1920s.

He began playing the French horn at 8, and received a thorough classical musical education at school, playing in orchestras, wind-bands, singing in a chapel choir, learning a discipline that he has come to value.

In his teens, Simon fumbled through boogie-woogie and various attempts at jazz as relief from hours of long notes on the French-horn, and by the time he left Trinity College of Music in 1980, he was dividing his time between classical music and jazz (only having received instruction in the former).

While at college of Music, Simon formed a band with saxophonist Martin Speake, mainly playing bebop, and later jazz-fusion in the group This Side Up. However, the first project to attract attention in London, and later on BBC radio, was Jazz Train, a hard-bop sextet featuring vocalist Cleveland Watkiss (and later, Anita Wardell) alongside many and various emerging musicians of the day including Mike Mower, Mark Lockheart, Steve Sidwell, Dale Barlow, Iain Ballamy, Julian Arguelles, Leigh Etherington, Mike Williams, Mick Hutton, Arnie Somogyi, Mark Taylor and Gene Calderazzo.

During this period, Simon also developed a more European approach through a collaboration with saxophonist Julian Arguelles, again broadcasting for the BBC and touring the North West three times.

During the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s, Simon hosted many jam sessions at the London’s Bass Clef Club, providing the support for many American artists such as Bill Frissell, Mark Helias, Kenny Barron and Dave Liebman, as well as establishing himself and performing with Red Rodney, Eddie Henderson, Kenny Wheeler etc. He even performed with Peter Ind on three different closing nights, several months apart!

In 1991 Simon appeared on Cleveland Watkiss’s Polydor release Green Chimneys, followed two years later by Women Have Standards with Anita Wardell in 1993. However, the busy life as a teacher has meant that most of Simon’s musical projects have never been recorded, notably a quartet with saxophonist Mike Williams, Dave Wickins and Ricardo Dos Santos (1995 – 2000), a trio with Phil Allen and Steve Watts (1987 – 1995), a project with vocalist, Christine Tobin (1991-1995) and his Octet that toured Scotland in 1998. There was never enough time, although Simon is now determined to promote his most recent project with Julian Siegel, Chris Batchelor, Gene Calderazzo and Steve Watts and occasional collaboration with vocalist Liane Carroll.

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Extended Analysis

Simon Purcell: Red Circle

Read "Simon Purcell: Red Circle" reviewed by Phil Barnes


The title of this debut CD by UK Pianist Simon Purcell, Red Circle, is rich in metaphor and layered meanings. Does it for example refer to the belief amongst practitioners of ritual magic that a marked out circle can contain energy in a sacred space or sometimes offer a form of magical protection--surely a metaphor for music or the spotlight on a performer? Or is it a reference to the similar ideas in eastern religions where, for example, a mandala ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Simon Purcell: Red...

Whirlwind Recordings
2014

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