Graham Collier
Directing
14 Jackson Pollocks
‘A
player with an amazing ability to absorb a lot of the
modern and progressive influences of his jazz generation -
but all without succumbing to the same indulgences as them.
A fact which resulted in a razor-sharp style that forged
some of the freshest jazz ever to come out of the
UK.’
‘Far more radical than most of his
generation’
The
phrase ‘directing 14 Jackson Pollocks’ was used
by an artist friend of a friend to describe my
approach.
‘He
appeared to stroll casually around the stage, giving
directions to these fantastic musicians by hand signals....
Quite how much he was controlling everything I’m not
sure, but individuals went into apparent freefall only to
be “rounded in” to the whole phenomena... It
was a complete texture of sound - massive sound... How the
hell does he write this? Or how much does he write and how
much is improvisation?’
The
quotes above serve as a reminder that although his
generation included such composers as the three Mikes,
Westbrook, Garrick and Gibbs, as well as Chris McGregor and
John Surman, Graham Collier’s radicalism and
achievements were, and are, often overlooked.
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Short biography and pictures
Graham Collier
‘Far
more radical than most of his generation’
Graham Collier's career spanned
four decades of innovation at the forefront of British
jazz. Some of his music has been compared to that of Duke
Ellington, Charles Mingus and Gil Evans and more than one
critic has commented on his radicalism in comparison to
many of his contemporaries.
He was born in Tynemouth, England, in 1937 and on leaving
school he joined the British Army as a musician. He was the
first British graduate of the Berklee School of Jazz,
Boston, where he studied with Herb Pomeroy. He was the
first jazz composer to receive a commission from the Arts
Council of Great Britain, and in 1987 he was awarded the
Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.
His ensembles were known as Graham Collier Music and are
dedicated to performing his own compositions. He also
recorded with the Australian contemporary music group The
Collective, the Danish Radio Jazz Orchestra and the NDR Big
Band, and for ensembles ranging from saxophone quartet to
symphony orchestra. He has released 19 albums and CDs.
He was equally well-known as an author and educator, having
written seven books on jazz, jazz history, compositional
techniques and education. In the early 1980s he developed
the six-year jazz degree course at the Sibelius Institute
in Helsinki, Finland, and in 1986 he launched the Royal
Academy of Music’s jazz course where he remained as
artistic director until 1999. He has travelled extensively
to present seminars, lectures, workshops and concerts
throughout Europe, North America, Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and the Far East. In 1989, he was among the group
of international jazz educators who formed the
International Association of Schools of Jazz and he was
Secretary of the Daily Board for nine years, and co-editor
of its magazine Jazz
Changes.
In late 1999 he left England, and after eight years living
in southern Spain, moved with his long-time partner, John
Gill, to a small Aegean island, Skopelos, where he
continued to compose, travelling from there to present
concerts and workshops around the world, until his death of
heart failure on 9 September 2011 while on holiday in
Crete.
Website:
http://www.grahamcolliermusic.com
Click here for a PDF of the short
biography
Photographs
300 pixels/inch and
can be used by permission of the photographers. Please
credit them where possible.
© Duncan
Heining
© Karlijne
Pietersma
© Enid Irving