Tim Richards Biography
Tim's first encounter with a piano was in a dentist's waiting room, aged 8. After classical piano lessons he taught himself jazz and blues from the age of 14, after seeing Thelonious Monk on TV. He is probably best known as the leader and founder of the long-running British modern jazz group SPIRIT LEVEL. His style has been described as:"Luminously funky... Iaced with the blues."
THE ROUGH GUIDE TO JAZZ
"A unique mixture formed from his admiration of both the expansive, robust playing
of McCoy Tyner and the luminous delicacy of Abdullah Ibrahim."
THE TIMESSpirit Level began life in Bristol in 1979, initially with saxophonist Paul Dunmall. During its twenty-year existence the group played in almost every European country, appearing at many prestigious festivals including Vienne (France) in 1985, where they appeared on the same stage as Miles Davis and Horace Silver. The band broadcast innumerable sessions in the 1980s and 90s for BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4, Radio France, WDR Köln, Radio Suisse Romande, and others, and recorded seven albums, including the highly acclaimed 'Killer Bunnies' (Spotlite, 1986) with ex-Mingus trumpeter Jack Walrath, which received a four-star review in the US magazine Downbeat. Walrath returned in 1987 for further touring in Europe and the UK.
In 1989 the line-up changed to include Jerry Underwood on saxophone (see obituary), and the group continued to play across Europe, with memorable concerts in Bordeaux (opposite McCoy Tyner Big Band), Strasbourg (opposite Joe Zawinul Syndicate), Tourcoing (opposite Joe Henderson), Metz (opposite Jan Garbarek) and elsewhere, including appearances for the British Council in Malta, Italy, Turkey, the Canary Isles and Croatia. They were nominated 'Best Small Group' in the 1995 British Jazz Awards.
In recent years Tim has won acclaim as a composer and arranger, writing a contemporary classical pieces and developing ideas for his new 9-piece band GREAT SPIRIT, formed in 1999 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Spirit Level. Yorkshire Arts commissioned a special full-length work, Suite for The Shed, which was performed during a 14-date UK tour, broadcast live on BBC Radio 3, and released on the first 'Great Spirit' CD back-to-back with a 'Best of Spirit Level' compilation (33Jazz051). Performances and CD alike received outstanding reviews, eg:"Everyone who reads this magazine should buy this album it's British jazz at its best."
4 stars (an outstanding release)
Stuart Nicholson - JAZZWISE"A spectacular assemblage of hot favourites on the UK jazz scene."
JAZZ REVIEWGreat Spirit continues to feature key players on the British scene such as Pete King, Ed Jones, Gilad Atzmon, Denys Baptiste, Tony Kofi, Jason Yarde, Dick Pearce, Roger Beaujolais, and many others and has toured the UK several times with support from the Arts Council of England, the PRS Foundation for New Music, Jazz Services, and others.
Their second CD 'Epistrophy' (33Jazz120) was released in 2005, and produced the following comments from critics John Fordham and Stuart Nicholson:
"Richards' arrangements are terrific, and the choice of material just as good...
A landmark achievement in a long career."
THE GUARDIAN"Jazz supergroup whose passion proves inspirational... contagious rhythmic energy...
not a dull moment form beginning to end."
OBSERVER MUSIC MONTHLYGreat Spirit's most recent tour featured top Finnish saxman Jari Perkiomaki, head of jazz at the prestigious Sibelius Institute in Helsinki. Their appearance at The Sage Gateshead was recorded and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, 'Jazz on Three' in January 2007.
From 19962001 Tim collaborated with the Vienna-based saxophonist Sigi Finkel, 'Austrian Jazz Musician of the Year' in 2000. They recorded several sessions for BBC radio, toured extensively in central Europe, released an CD of piano and saxophone duets ('Dervish Dances', ORF, 1997) and played a live concert at the ORF Radiokulturhaus opposite Gary Peacock and Ralph Towner. They also formed the SOUNDSCAPE quartet with Marc Parnell (drums) and Phil Scragg (bass), releasing the CD 'Shibop' (FMR,1999) and playing at the Bath and Cheltenham Jazz Festivals in 1997 and 2000. The band also performed with traditional musicians at the Jazz aux Oudayas 2000 Festival in Rabat, Morocco.
Since 1988 Tim has led his own TRIO, recording two albums of standards and originals 'The Other Side' and 'Twelve by Three' (33Jazz021 and 072), the latter released in 2003 with Matt Home (drums) and Dominic Howles (bass). The trio has toured all over Britain, including a 12-date tour of Scotland in 2000, and backed many well-known names such as Alan Barnes, Jim Mullen, Theo Travis, Mark Lockheart, Claire Martin and USA saxophonists Scott Hamilton and Ken Peplowski. In 2005 they gave two concerts in Turkey as part of the Istanbul Pera Jazz Days festival."Tim Richards... moves with impressive confidence from boiling Latin rhythms to
bebop, ballads and even a tinge of gospel, while still retaining his own recognisable style...
The cohesion that comes from playing together regularly makes this an impressive band."
Dave Gelly - THE OBSERVERTim is also involved with jazz education and is the author of several acclaimed piano tutors, 'Improvising Blues Piano' (Schott & Co, 1997), and 'Exploring Jazz Piano' (Vols 1 and 2, Schott, 2005), which won the Music Industry Association (MIA) award for 'Best Pop Publication 2006', as voted by UK retailers.
He currently teaches jazz piano classes at Morley and Goldsmiths Colleges (London), is course director of The Premises Jazz Piano Week, a participating tutor on the EPTA Piano Pedagogy Course, and an examiner for the Associated Board's jazz exams.
www.timrichards.ndo.co.uk
Shorter Tim Richards biography
Performance CV
Teaching CV
Discography
Articles and publications by Tim Richards
Biographies of GREAT SPIRIT members
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