Jim Rattigan

Jim Rattigan: Duos

by Neil Duggan
October 11, 2023

The name Jim Rattigan may be unfamiliar but probably more familiar are his contributions to the music in Batman, Lord Of The Rings, The Bourne Ultimatum or Moulin Rouge... or maybe his work with Tom Jones, Burt Bacharach, George Michael, Adele or Tony Bennett. Globally, he is certainly one of the foremost exponents of the French Horn. In a career that, has spanned over forty years, he has played with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the major London symphony orchestras, chamber ...

Jim Rattigan: When

by Chris May
December 24, 2020

Composer-arrangers as diverse as Gil Evans and Charles Mingus have employed the French horn, but it remains something of a niche instrument in jazz. Why? The same question applies to the almost complete absence of trombones in West African jazz and Afrobeat, and their ubiquity in Brazilian samba. The first convincing explanation in the Comments box below will win a night out with Sidney Powell or Rudy Giuliani. The second such explanation will win two nights. Anyway, Britain's Jim Rattigan ...

Jim Rattigan: Jazz French Horn

by Chris May
April 24, 2005

Say what? While the French horn is not exactly unknown in jazz--step forward players Julius Watkins and John Graas and orchestrators Gil Evans and Miles Davis, amongst others--it's still enough of a novelty to raise at least one of your eyebrows.

But this is by no means a novelty album. It's actually a very beautiful and credible set of covers ("Linmere" is the only original), by turns limpid and muscular, on which Jim Rattigan entirely overcomes the technical ...