June 5, 2023June 6, 2023 by mikeraggett

An article about Skid in the NYCJR

The prestigious jazz journal The New York City Jazz Record has picked up on the release of A Supreme Love Alan Skidmore’s six CD Box set published last month by Confront Recordings. He gets cover billing in the June issue.

In an article written by Francisco Martinelli, the author of A History of European Jazz, the piece covers Skid’s six decades represented by the six CDs in the box set. Much of it is drawn from Richard Williams’ excellent booklet which accompanies the CDs and from Martinelli’s extensive knowledge of the European jazz scene. You can read it here. [courtesy New York City Jazz Record] Click and + to enlarge if need be.

And if you haven’t got this amazing record of a distinguished career you can buy it here from Mark Wastell’s Confront Recordings.

May 5, 2023 by mikeraggett

Skid’s 6 CD Box set released

Everybody else can now share my pleasure in listening to 60 years of Alan Skidmore making wonderful music. The 6 CD Box set previewed at the Cafe Oto gig is now available from Mark Wastell’s Confront Recordings. You can get it HERE.

And what value is is too. A base price of £32 (you can pay more if you like) means that each CD is only a fiver. And each CD contains incredibly generous tracks of largely unpublished material plus one or two favourites from Alan’s albums over the years. Add to this a 20-page informative booklet by Richard Williams charting Skid’s life and music and it’s a truly outstanding package.

Don’t delay – get it today. Click HERE.

April 24, 2023April 24, 2023 by mikeraggett

Birthday Bonanza

21 April 2023 was a very significant date. There was a star-studded gig at London’s Café Oto called Impressions of John Coltrane. It was celebrating 60 years since the release of John Coltrane’s revered album Impressions. And another album was previewd that night in Dalston: A Supreme Love a six CD box set covering six decades of playing by Alan Skidmore. Oh, and it also happened to be Alan’s 81st birthday. Quite a night!

As the poster suggested, there were three groups in the evening’s line up. A trio with Ed Jones on tenor sax, Dominic Lash on bass and Mark Wastell on a splendid array of percussion instruments. Mark was also the organiser of the whole thing. This was a contemplative, free improvisatory set which meandered in and out of Coltrane’s 1966 composition The Father and The Son and The Holy Ghost and set the scene for the evening very well. Next up was the David Angol Quartet with David on tenor and soprano saxes and they were joined by Alan Skidmore for a spirited rendition of the tune Impressions. After a short break the final set was played by the Nat Birchall Quintet. Nat is another long-time admirer of Coltrane’s work and also invited Alan to join the quintet for a Coltrane tune Selflessness in which where the interplay between the players was really intense and dramatic.

The finale with everybody on stage was a barnstorming Ascension and brought to an end a brilliant evening of quality jazz dedicated to the memory of the all-time great composer and saxophonist John Coltrane. What a night!

A highlight for me was being able to purchase the first copy to be sold of the CD box set and have Alan sign it for me. A prized possession which contains a fascinating journey over six decades of Skid’s development as a musician. The story is elegantly traced by Richard Williams in the comprehensive booklet of sleeve notes. Highly recommended – as only 8 of the 46 tracks included have been published before so it’s a truly unique opportunity to hear the range of Alan’s playing from early days with his dad through to recent Coltrane commemorative (or thank you) gigs in 2019.

*Six CDs, an illuminating booklet and my signed box.*

The whole project – box set and concert – was masterminded by Mark Wastell’s Confront Recordings label from which you can also buy this amazing testimonial to a great tenor saxophone player when it goes on official release in a couple of weeks’ time.

Watch this space for the date.

Words and images Mike Raggett April 2023

August 15, 2021August 19, 2021 by mikeraggett

A new departure

Sunday sun and showers in Hoxton surrounded an enterprising gig at the Hundred Years Gallery.

Percussionist and record producer Mark Wastell teamed up with tenor saxophone legend Alan Skidmore for a unique duo for saxophone and percussion.

The gallery’s basement holds about 25-30 people about half of whom seemed to be tenor sax players keen to experience this unique pairing. In his introduction, Mark recalled his first exposure to Skid’s music over thirty years ago and the striking and long-lasting impression it had on him.

For his part Alan warned that it had been two years since he’d played in public and that was in front of a full house at the Royal Albert Hall in the company of 60 other saxophonists in the tribute to Ronnie Scott.

Well with this line up it was always going to be a bit different. Added to which they had not rehearsed or ever played together except in a big ensemble number at Café Oto’s Coltrane tribute a few years back.

Since his childhood, Alan has always been passionate about the drums although his dad warned him off the seat with the advice: “You’ll always be first in and last out of the gig” but today he had several opportunities to play percussion alongside Mark whose array of drums, gongs, bells, shruti box and assorted devices must take him hours to stow and transport.

The first set began quietly and built into a sensuous soundscape which formed a base for Alan to join in with his tenor. There was a blues and ballad feel at the start but then, prompted by Mark’s ever-changing swirling textures and urgent beats, the Alan of SOS days emerged seeming to revel in free improvisation once again.

The second set featured a lot of call and response with ideas being thrown across the room between two musicians who were clearly enjoying each other’s company.Some of Mark’s sounds reminded me of Japan and at other times the duo took me off to the Africa of Ubizo, Alan’s collaboration with South African musicians from back in the early 2000s. The session just pointed up Mark’s ability to create a huge variety of sounds and Alan’s versatility on his instrument with lush melodic passages interspersed with honks and squeals, scales and octave leaps.

It included a sequence with both of them creating wonderful patterns on the drums. There were inevitably echoes of Coltrane from the tenor most notably with A Love Supreme featuring strongly towards the end.

An afternoon thoroughly enjoyed by all present. Let’s hope they can repeat it on a larger stage before too long.

April 14, 2021 by mikeraggett

We know Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis – we now have Alan “Lockdown” Skidmore

It’s over a year now since Alan was able to hoist his tenor onto its strap and blow for the benefit of others. Apart from his wife Kay that is, who might catch the odd strain coming from Alan’s music room.

But while he may be out of the public gaze he’s certainly not forgotten as the article below demonstrates. The prestigious NYC Jazz Record lists prominent birthdays in each month’s issue and this month has featured Alan in a sidebar boxed feature.

It’s interesting that Alan shares his birthday with the late Ian Carr and it’s a day before Charles Mingus and Paul Chambers. What is it about April?
As an aside here’s what Ian Carr wrote About Skid’s album *after the Rain* in BBC Music Magazine:

Alan Skidmore’s playing in After the Rain is a miracle of sustained poise, inspiration and feeling. Skidmore’s huge and mellow tenor sax sound in the lower register and his control of the quiet singing tone in the often extreme upper register are juxtaposed to great effect on his superb rendering of melody on ‘Too Young to Go Steady’ and in his ensuing solo. His love of each piece shines through and while his main improvised phrases seem passionately sculpted, his quiet asides or afterthoughts have an extraordinary potency. Ian Carr, BBC Music Magazine

Let’s hope it won’t be too long before we can enjoy listening to live jazz again not just through the Zoom sessions that have sustained many fans during the Covid-induced drought.

July 18, 2019August 28, 2019 by mikeraggett

The Spirit lives on

John Coltrane may well have died on 17 July – indeed, sadly, he did 52 years ago – but on 17 July 2019 his spirit was evident at Café Oto for a 52nd anniversary commemorative concert featuring the Alan Skidmore Quartet. This event was organised by musician and producer Mark Wastell of Confront Recordings who had invited Alan to play at the previous concert in 2017 which marked fifty years since Coltrane’s death and which subsequently featured as a Confront CD set.

The Alan Skidmore Quartet

This year it was an all-Coltrane evening spread over three magnificent sets.

In the first of these Alan’s regular quartet featuring Steve Melling on piano, Andrew Cleyndert on double bass and Miles Levin on drums enchanted the audience with a continuous performance of three tracks from the seminal album A Love Supreme. They started with Resolution, segued into Pursuance and brought the first part of the evening to a close with the rarely performed Psalm. The last strains of this died away into one of those moments of enraptured silence before the extended applause broke out.

Alan plays Psalm

In his introduction Alan had explained that he couldn’t stand up for long periods because of having a leg full of steel rods which resulted from an accident some 40 years ago. So, Alan sat out the second set while the Steve Melling trio were joined by guest tenor saxophonist Ed Jones. Remaining with Coltrane material they treated us to blues and ballads including Mr Day from Coltrane Plays The Blues from 1962, Central Park West from Coltrane’s Sound released in 1964 and Moment’s Notice from the early Blue Trane from 1957.

Steve Melling Trio

Ed Jones

The final set saw Alan with the quartet playing one of his most popular numbers After the Rain which Alan recorded with a full orchestra on the album with the same name in 1998. Utterly spellbinding in quieter ballad mode, Alan then wrapped up the evening by asking Ed Jones and Howard Cottle (who had featured alongside Alan in Paul Dunmall’s Sun Ship Quartet two years earlier) to join him on the stage. The intensity, inventiveness and variety of these three tenor sax masters on Transition from the epynymous posthumous album. But they did not overshadow Melling, Cleyndert and especially Miles Levin who all made huge contributions to this barnstorming end to a fabulous evening.

If there is an afterlife, JC would have been smiling broadly and applauding this wonderful tribute.

The finale with (l-r) Steve Melling, Ed Jones, Alan Skidmore, Andrew Cleyndert, Howard Cottle and Miles Levin

The three tenors

UPDATE 27 August 2019

At the Café Oto gig was renowned jazz journalist and reviewer John Fordham. He obviously enjoyed the evening and wrote this for the September issue of Jazzwise magazine. Jazzwise Cafe Oto review

June 15, 2019 by mikeraggett

Unmissable gig at Café Oto

Cafe Oto promo 2019

Cafe Oto If you missed Alan Skidmore’s performance at the 50th anniversary commemoration of John Coltrane’s death you can hear it on the double CD which has attracted phenomenally good reviews, which are reflected in a previous post.

But there’s nothing like hearing the legendary tenor player giving it some wellie live. And you have a chance next month when on Wednesday 17 July Alan with his own quartet will be playing a 52nd anniversary concert. Alan’s quartet is Steve Melling on piano, Andrew Cleyndert on double bass and Miles Levin on drums and they are going to be joined by special guest ED Jones also on tenor saxophone.

It promises to be a great night of high octane jazz so get your tickets soon. You can book online directly from the Café Oto website. Alan looks forward to seeing you all there. Doors open at 19:30. Get your tickets now before it’s too late.

November 8, 2018February 5, 2021 by mikeraggett

Sun Ship burns and fans the Flames

“It’s always nice to play a gig close to home,” said Alan Skidmore, “they are very rare and then like the buses, two come along at once.”

In his sixtieth year in the business, tenor saxophonist Alan Skidmore has travelled far and wide making his unique contribution to modern jazz music – Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Aylesbury, Huddersfield, Llandudno, London – and that’s just this year. Then in October he played twice at the Herts Jazz Festival 2018 in Letchworth all of half an hour’s drive from home. They were two gigs that showcased the amazing versatility of the veteran tenorist.

For the first gig he was the guest star with the Paul Dunmall Sun Ship Quartet which showcases the music of one of John Coltrane’s last albums, Sun Ship. This is post-bop jazz with fire and pace and fury from the classic Coltrane quartet in 1965 and it sounds as fresh, vibrant and spiritual today in the hands of these devotees of John Coltrane.

Howard Cottle, Paul Dunmall and Alan Skidmore play Sun Ship

Alan giving it some ‘welly’

As Skid says:

“It’s great music and gives you a chance to give it some ‘welly’ on the tenor.”

That welly results in streams of notes that make you wonder how anybody can play that fast or with such inventiveness. Very impressive blowing from all three. The Sun Ship set was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 in the Jazz Now slot on 17 December. You can hear it as a podcast here.

Then the closing set of the Festival on Sunday 7 October saw Alan joining the line up with Georgie Fame’s New Blue Flames of which he’s been a member since 1970. Slightly less ‘welly’ is involved in the polished arrangements for the front line that surround Georgie Fame’s bluesy vocals. It is always a festival show-closing hit and Alan’s solos were met with great acclaim by a large and enthusiastic audience.

Georgie Fame Hammond Organ, Alec Dankworth bass (hidden), James Powell drums, Guy Barker trumpet, Alan Skidmore tenor saxophone, Tristan Powell guitar (hidden), Anthony Kerr vibraphone

Photographs: Graham Mullett

August 13, 2018August 13, 2018 by mikeraggett

60 Years a Blowin’

THEN

1958 Alan Skidmore aged 17 is playing one of his first professional engagements at Butlins, Skegness and his father joined him on stage as Alan says, “To show me how to do it”!

NOW

Photo:Kay Skidmore 2018

2018 Alan Skidmore waiting to go on stage at the Llandudno Jazz Festival in the Green Room known as “Barnes’ Boudoir”.

Alan’s early years were spent in big bands and he had a number of opportunities to play alongside his already well-established tenor saxophone playing father.

1960s

Alan played for many BBC Jazz Club broadcasts played in bands like Eric Delaney’s and toured and recorded with Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated and John Mayall’s Blues Breakers where he says he truly learned his art. As he told Jazzwise in 2008:

“You have to be hungry to play and perfect your art. But before that you have to learn to play the blues. If you can’t play the blues you’re stuffed.”

And as the decade closed Alan’s Quintet was chosen to represent the UK at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

John Taylor, Kenny Wheeler, Harry Miller, Alan Skidmore And Tony Oxley won the International Press Prize for best band and Alan won the soloist prize too and Tony Oxley won best drummer.

1970s

Alan was winner of Melody Maker‘s best tenor saxophonist poll for four years in a row and had the honour of playing with Elvin Jones whose connection to John Coltrane meant a great deal to Alan who has been greatly influenced by Coltrane throughout his career.

Playing with Elvin Jones’ Jazz Machine

S O S

With the Ronnie Scott Quintet he played on the same bill as Thelonious Monk at the Royal Festival Hall in 1975. Throughout the decade he toured extensively with SOS the three-saxophone group formed of Alan Skidmore, Mike Osborne and John Surman. Alan also became a regular member of Georgie Fame’s New Blue Flames and would be for the next 40 years.

1980s

In a very busy period of playing and recording: a couple of highlights were playing in a duo at the 1985 Edinburgh Jazz Festival with Stan Tracey a musician with whom Alan had a long association and tremendous respect.

Alan with Stan Tracey at the Edinburgh Jazz Festival 1985

It was in the 80s too that Alan replaced Dexter Gordon in George Gruntz’s Concert Jazz Band an association that also lasted for many years. Alan worked and recorded with the WDR Big Band based in Köln which included a tour of south east Asia as soloist with the band sponsored by the Goethe Institut. Then in 1987 he was asked to play at the John Coltrane Memorial Concert commemorating 20 years since Coltrane’s death.

1990s

Recording The Call

In 1991 Alan began a long musical relationship with Colin Towns’ Mask Orchestra and his Provocateur Record label. Alan was the first musician to play in South Africa after the ending of apartheid when in 1994 he made a British Council sponsored visit. Alan returned with Colin Towns to record The Call with musicians from the band Amampondo who were to become the core of Alan’s own Afro-European group Ubizo.

2000s

Alan Skidmore’s Ubizo came to tour the UK and had residencies at Ronnie Scott’s in 2002 and 2003.

The noughties saw more recordings, more festivals including Cork, Brecon, Cheltenham and the North Sea and more tours with his own bands and others mainly in Europe. He made a trip to New York in 2006 as he was nominated for best reissue CD for Once Upon a Time in the Jazz Journalists Association awards at which his old friend Sonny Rollins was crowned musician of the year.

2010s

As he enters his sixth decade in the business things are slowing down a bit but only a bit. He played at the opening of the The Jazz Centre UK in Southend in 2017 a year which saw Alan again commemorating John Coltrane’s 50th anniversary by playing music from the album Sunship at London’s Café Oto. As Skid said at the time:

“He was playing this stuff when he was 36, here am I trying to play it when I’m nearly 76. I must be mad.”

But then he goes off on a Saxophone Summit Tour of Belgium and the Netherlands with dear friends that go a long way back which we reported in the blog at the time.

Luckily for all his fans Alan will still be playing his unique jazz music for a while longer yet.

60 years and still blowing strong.

November 30, 2017November 8, 2018 by mikeraggett

New CD release

Saturday 25th November saw the launch of a double CD of music by two of Alan’s quartets by Uli Blobel’s German label Jazzwerkstatt. One CD features a concert recorded in Berlin in 2007, the other a 2011 gig at the Boxford Fleece which was Alan’s last opportunity to work with long-time drummer collaborator, the late Tony Levin.

Jazzwerkstatt held a two-day festival at the Vortex Jazz Club in Dalston featuring artistes who were also releasing new CDs. Alan played an all-Coltrane set with his customary enthusiasm and vigour to a rapturous reception. It’s perhaps worth noting that Alan is nearly twice the age of John Coltrane when he played these numbers.

Photographs: Graham Mullett

Alan also features on one of the tracks Mr Skid. on the new album from the Leo Richardson quartet and will be guesting with the band at the Pizza Express Jazz Club on 12th December.

Alan Skidmore

Tenor saxophonist

Tag / Alan Skidmore