Django Bates - Now's The Time
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Who would have thought that Django Bates’ latest project would turn out to be a celebration of the music of Charlie Parker? But the influential British pianist and composer, who made his mark first of all in the 1980s and who turns 50 later this year, has always trod his own distinctively quirky path.
So for Bates to tackle the great Bird somehow seems slightly incongruous. Yet the piano trio album he has come up with and his intuitive approach to Bird’s music might just change your whole notion of what Bates is all about. Interview :: Andy Robson
“I like jazz – it makes me laugh!” Laughter is never far away when you’re in the company of Django Bates or, indeed, his music. Tears, too, as those twin impostors like to keep close company, but his current project, Belovèd Bird, is a source of unalloyed joy. A piano trio release, itself a unique step in Bates’ endlessly varied career, it taps the source spring of Bates’ musical life.
Bates’ father was, is, a huge Charlie Parker fan “and like a lot of jazz lovers who don’t actually play he had music on all the time. I was born at home and I’m sure I heard Parker on my first day on earth.”
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #139 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE copy of the latest Hiromi CD 'Place To Be'.
“I like jazz – it makes me laugh!” Laughter is never far away when you’re in the company of Django Bates or, indeed, his music. Tears, too, as those twin impostors like to keep close company, but his current project, Belovèd Bird, is a source of unalloyed joy. A piano trio release, itself a unique step in Bates’ endlessly varied career, it taps the source spring of Bates’ musical life.
Bates’ father was, is, a huge Charlie Parker fan “and like a lot of jazz lovers who don’t actually play he had music on all the time. I was born at home and I’m sure I heard Parker on my first day on earth.”
This is an extract from Jazzwise Issue #139 – to read the full article click here to subscribe and receive a FREE copy of the latest Hiromi CD 'Place To Be'.