Colin Towns - Band On The Run

A specially chosen crack band of players pushes his already definitive sounding jazz-rock tunes to the very edge and marks a fresh departure for Towns. Interview: Stuart Nicholson

Over the last 20 or so years, Colin Towns has had plenty of time to adjust to the vagaries of the British jazz scene. While his music has been heard by millions, his name is known to a comparatively few. This unusual paradox is explained by the fact that he is one of the most prolific and successful composers for film, television drama, animation, commercials and theatre in the business.

Pick up any UK television schedule on any given day and you’ll probably find at least one or two programmes where he has contributed the music, after all it’s a long list – the guitars of John Parricelli and Mitch Dalton performing his elegant tango that introduces Doc Martin, then there’s the themes for Dalziel & Pascoe, Ghostboat, A Good Murder, Cold Blood, An Unsuitable Job for A Woman, Nicholas Nickleby, Our Friends in the North, Blind Justice, The Blackheath Poisonings and so on – and that’s not even counting the feature films for which he has provided the soundtrack.

You might argue that writing for TV and movies is a very labour intensive way of funding a jazz habit, but it has meant that over the years he has been able to take time out of his busy career to build a discography with his Mask Orchestra that comprises some of the finest recordings by a large ensemble in the history of British jazz. And now he is trying his hand with a sextet.

 This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #161 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE CD...