music performance education group
tips from the professionals
with thanks to the professionals who support the work we do we have compiled their 'tips of the trade' starting here with jon hiseman scroll down the page for more
jon hiseman drums
click here to read jon hiseman's tips!
jon studied piano and violin as a child but became intensely interested in percussion during his early teens. his first performances were given on timpani with a small orchestra and with a jazz trio alongside bassist tony reeves and pianist dave greenslade - both of whom would later become founding members of colosseum. by the time he was 18 jon was working semi-professionally on the london scene with rhythm and blues and modern jazz groups. born philip john and taking john as his first name to avoid confusion with his father, the first review in the' melody maker' of his playing mis-spelt his name and further reviews and interviews compounded the felony. by the time he met wife-to-be barbara thompson in the new jazz orchestra in 1964 he was jon to everybody except the taxman!
click here to visit jon's website or here to the drummer jh on youtube
steve berry bass
click here to see steve's tips!
steve berry is a lecturer at the royal northern college of music and he was the bassist with The ground breaking loose tubes big band. from my earliest days on guitar i've always written songs and ditties, but composing and arranging in the accepted sense only began alongside my growing interest in jazz. joe zawinul and weather report made the strongest impression on me, in the late '70s, and aside from jazz, stravinsky, bartok and ravel fired my imagination too.
the emergence of loose tubes created the greatest opportunity any fledgling 'jazz' composer could ask for, and unconsciously we trod in the footsteps of duke ellington as pieces were conceived around specific individuals, their capabilities and idiosyncrasies, as opposed to 'stock' arranging for a line-up of instruments
click here to visit steve's website
ray beavis all saxes
click here to read ray beavis' tips!
ray's impressive biog started out in his early days with ronnie laine of the small faces in his new band slim chance. later recording and gigging with trumpet player dick hanson ray joined dick in the horn section with graham parker and the rumour along with john 'irish' earle and chris gower on trombone, working under the name 'the rumour brass' becoming the 'house' horn section' for stiff records, recording with an almost inexhaustible list of artistes, creating superb horn arrangements, and clocking up countless chart successes worldwide. this led to several years of touring, recording and tv work during which time ray recorded featured solos on many big hits. as a freelance player ray has performed on records such as walking on sunshine (katrina and the waves), section and solo work on clash's london calling album (under the guise 'the irish horns'). recording, tv and live work with the boomtown rats, gallagher and lyle, dave edmunds, rory gallagher, u2, cliff richard, cliff and the shadows, top german artiste heinz rudolf kunze, bernie bon voisin (france), pete waterman, elvis costello, phil lynott, and many more. american artistes include little eva, percy sledge, the box tops, the temptations, sam the sham and the pharoes. currently traveling the world with suzi quatro on sax and backing vocals, ray continues to work as a freelance session player, horn section arranger and soloist
click here to visit ray's website
gary bayley tenor sax
click here to read gary's tips!