Information About John - Bath teacher -

(1 review)

Personal Description:

After studying composition with Nikki Iles and Eddie Parker at Middlesex University, John went on to play as a sideman in many bands on both the jazz and world music scenes.

He has preformed and guested with: Gareth Lockrane, Roberto Pla, Dele Sosimi, the legendry ska band The Beat and the award-winning singer Liane Carroll.

He is a member of the critically acclaimed contemporary jazz folk septet Metamorphic and the Dr Das Dubnoiz Coalition, the side project of Dr Das, the bass player and founding member of the Asian Dub Foundation.

His début album “Dawning” was reviewed as ‘one of the most fascinating and beautiful releases’ of 2011, receiving positive testimonials from both Kenny Wheeler and Iain Ballamy. John has been a guest on both BBC radio 3’s jazz line up and jazz Fm’s Sunday jam and has been featured in the Jazzwise column “taking off”.

Highlights include:

A live broadcast from the BBC introducing stage at Manchester jazz festival with Metamorphic.

A live session with Awale at the BBC Maida vale studios for BBC radio 3 **Web Address Removed**

Gigs In Paris, Bulgaria and Belgium with the Dr Das Dubnoiz Coalition. Dr Das is a founding member of the Asian Dub Foundation.

Metamorphics 2nd album Coalescence’ which received excellent reviews all round. 4 stars from The Guardian, Jazz Wise and The Jazz man.

A magical gig with Awale in Tunisia, supporting 2012 Grammy award winner Tinariwen.

Gigs with s Hidden Notes Project at Kings Place and the 2014/2015 London jazz festival.

Playing with the legendry ska band The Beat and supporting the Happy Mondays.

As well as being busy as a sideman John has dedicated the past 5 years to developing a tonal approach to the sonically fascinating soundworld of saxophone multiphonics and overtones patterns.

The project is called ‘The Hidden Notes’ and has culminated in the release of ’s second album “The Hidden Notes – Spirit of Adventure” which features a quintet made up of some of London’s finest jazz musicians.

The album received praise from legendry American saxophonist Bob Mintzer who called it “Beautiful and compelling… His certainly found the notes between the notes!” It was also described as “a milestone for both himself and the saxophone world” by Barak Schmool the founder of the F-re collective.

The Hidden Notes – Spirit of Adventure was released to critical acclaim in 2016, receiving 4 star reviews from: Jazzwise, Jazz Journal, The Jazz Mann, The Arts Desk and All About Jazz. The project was also awarded a grant from the Arts Council of England to support a 14 date national tour.
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Tutoring Experience:

Private one-to-one teaching of all levels Sept, 2003 - present

William Ellis School, London Sept. 2009 – June 2014

Musico agency Sept. 2003 – June 2004

Tutoring Approach:

Saxophone lessons, jazz improvisation, harmony & theory and composition. Are you looking for a saxophone teacher? Would you like to learn how to improvise? Or some help with your compositions? I've been playing saxophone for just over 24 years. I have a BA hons in jazz and composition, plus 20 years experience working as a professional saxophonist. I write music and have released several albums under my own name, as well as playing on many other peoples records. I’ve played for a huge variety of bands over the years and in doing so have picked up lots of useful tricks of the trade. I now have the pleasure of passing these on to my students.

Advanced Saxophone Techniques

I have also done a lot of work on more advanced saxophone techniques like multiphonics, overtones, circular breathing and extended altissimo range. My latest project 'The Hidden Notes' is the culmination of 5 years work spent developing a tonal approach to saxophone multi-phonics and overtones. More info here: **Web Address Removed**

In addition to saxophone tuition, I’m able to teach instrumentalists and vocalists, jazz improvisation, composition and basic piano skills. I was lucky enough while at university to have composition and harmony lessons with some of the UK's most inspirational players and teachers. This gave me a very good grounding in harmony and theory, which has been hugely helpful for both my writing and playing. I’ve also spent a lot of time studying and transcribing the Jazz Masters like: Sunny Rollin’s, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Joe Lovano and many more. Through doing this I have discovered a series of steps which are very helpful for developing a strong jazz vocabulary. These steps are not instrument specific so will be conducive to all musicians.