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Jason Yarde

Composer, arranger, producer, musical director and saxophonist Jason Yarde writes music that has been described as powerful, spiritual, evocative, rhapsodic, hair- raising and formidable. He composes across various styles (progressive jazz, classical, hip-hop, fusion, free improvisation, broken beats, R&B, reggae, soul, song writing) and for a variety of media (orchestras, chamber ensembles, big band, dance, film, electro-acoustic and midi) and his potential and originality is such that he was nominated for the Bird Award at the 2004 North Sea Jazz Festival and for the Jazz on 3 Innovation Award for the 2005 and 2006 BBC Jazz Awards. In 2006 Jason participated in the LSO’s Discovery Panufnik Young Composers Scheme and has since progressed to be a LSO, UBS Sound Adventures Artist. Most recently his Proms compositional debut ‘Rhythm and Other Fascinations’ won the inaugural BASCA award for ‘Contemporary Jazz Composition’ in 2010.

Yarde began playing alto and soprano saxophones with the Jazz Warriors while still a teenager and then went on to MD this landmark orchestra also becoming one of its principal writers. He has a BA (Hons) in Performance Arts from Middlesex University - a degree incorporating a year at William Paterson College in New Jersey where he studied orchestration, studio engineering, jazz performance and saxophone under Joe Lovano, Gary Smulyan and Steve Wilson. Since then he’s been a key member of award winning groups Quite Sane, J-Life and a longtime sideman of Louis Moholo.

As well as composing for his own performance projects; ACOUTASTiC BOMBASTiC, Trio !WAH! & MY Duo, he has written for dance (JazzX-Change, Phoenix Dance Company, Garth Fagan Dance; arrangements), music theatre (Jonzi-D’s Aeroplane Man), opera (composing ‘The Big But’ as part of Tete a Tete's Blind Date season) and TV. Highlights include the original music for Rough Crossings; drama-documentary based on the Simon Schama book of the same name (BBC2), and for director/choreographer Alison Murray’s Pantyhead (Ch4), Horseplay (D4C/BBC2) and Teenage Rampage (Ch4). He is also active in the contemporary UK urban scene having written music, lyrics and arrangements for artists such as Julie Dexter and the Mercury Music Prize nominees, Terri Walker and the rapper Ty.

Jason Yarde is a brilliant musical director and his highly distinctive arranging style reflects the numerous artists and ensembles that have shaped his wide musical outlook. Among many others, he has arranged for Keziah Jones, Bembe Segue, Return To Roots Orchestra (South Africa), Two Banks of Four, 4-Hero, Gregory Isaacs, Alton Ellis, Dennis Brown, King Sounds, Super Blue, Shadow, Kronos Quartet, Plan B, Guy Barker, Black Arm Band (Australia), Manu Dibango and Hugh Masekela in collaboration with both Jazz Jamaica All Stars and with the London Symphony Orchestra.

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11
Album Review

Ivo Neame: Glimpses of Truth

Read "Glimpses of Truth" reviewed by Chris May


"The Rise of The Lizard People," the title of the scene-setting opening track on Ivo Neame's Glimpses Of Truth, was prompted by an article Neame read which claimed that 12 million Americans believe that interstellar lizards run the United States. Only 12 million? In a country with a population approaching 332 million, around half of whose voters are idiots and conspiracy theorists, one might imagine that a far greater number would be feeling threatened by shape-shifting reptiles. To be fair, ...

3
Album Review

Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra: Tales from the Jacquard

Read "Tales from the Jacquard" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


L'eredità orchestrale britannica, rappresentata dagli eclettici lavori di Mike Gibbs, Mike Westbrook, Django Bates e Colin Towns, si rinnova in questo brillante debutto da bandleader di Julian Siegel. Nato a Nottingham 55 anni fa, Siegel è uno dei massimi sassofonisti del Regno Unito, leader di un quartetto e sideman in molte formazioni orchestrali: da quelle dei citati Bates, Gibbs e Towns ad altre dirette da John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, John Dankworth e Stan Sulzmann. La ...

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Album Review

Julian Siegel Jazz Orchestra: Tales From The Jacquard

Read "Tales From The Jacquard" reviewed by Chris May


Reed player Julian Siegel has been an important part of the London jazz scene since the late 1990s, when he cofounded Partisans, a high-energy quartet completed by guitarist Phil Robson, bassist Thad Kelly and drummer Gene Calderazzo. The band is pretty much beyond category, although it is usually billed as jazz-rock. Unlike normative jazz-rock outfits, however, Partisans is anchored firmly in the acoustic tradition, Robson's plugged-in guitar aside. Also contrary to the jazz-rock norm, Partisans, as its name suggests, has ...

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Crowdfunding Campaign

Jason Yarde Struck Down Onstage: Urgent Crowdfunding Plea

Jason Yarde Struck Down Onstage: Urgent Crowdfunding Plea

Source: Chris May

On October 7, 2022, while performing at Pavilon République in Toulouse, France, the saxophonist, composer, arranger and producer Jason Yarde, a leading light of British progressive jazz for twenty years, suffered a massive stroke on stage. Fortunately, paramedics were at the gig. They administered first aid and got Jason to hospital without delay. A bleed was found on his brain and he was operated on. It is hoped that this prompt action will enable Jason to return ...

‘Swing, hip-hop, improv, you name it, he can make it all sound as if it was meant to live together, and he's getting better at it all the time...’ (The Guardian) On MY DUO: "the partnership between Yarde and McCormack is so unmistakably fuelled by the reflexive spirit of jazz…It's a wonderful jazz conversation...Yarde has rarely played better on record, his solos here suggesting that while he's now feted primarily as a composer, his sax improvising has quietly blossomed to world class..." (The Guardian) “…both players seriously assert themselves as composers and the contrast in styles is pleasingly marked…The net result is an album of very mature performances and tight narrative focus that presents jazz composition and improvisation as infinitely fluid entities…” (Jazzwise) On TRIO !WAH!: ‘The group modulates easily from spacious post-bop to dirty grooves via Ornetts- ish noise, showing a creative approach to form...’ (Jazzwise) On the premiere of Random Wishes & Abstract Dreams: Jason Yarde's festival commission for the 10-piece Acoutastic Bombastic ..

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Tales from the...

Whirlwind Recordings
2021

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Glimpses of Truth

Whirlwind Recordings
2021

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Meetings With...

Sound Aspects Records
2012

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Places And Other...

Edition Records
2011

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