GWILYM SIMCOCK

GWILYM'S DEBUT ALBUM PERCEPTION LAUNCHED AT THE LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL ON 16TH NOVEMBER

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GWILYM SIMCOCK WINS "JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE YEAR" AT THE PARLIAMENTARY JAZZ AWARDS 2007

Gwilym is chosen as the first ever BBC Radio 3 New Generations Jazz Artist

THE NEW AMBASSADOR FOR JAZZ
read the Evening Standard Interview here

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GWILYM SIMCOCK QUINTET

GWILYM SIMCOCK TRIO

GWILYM SIMCOCK BIG BAND

“Young piano recruit Gwilym Simcock delivered the first of a series of glittering solos…a startled turn of the head and appreciative smile from the old master Konitz confirmed what a class act Simcock has so quickly become.” The Guardian

Still only 26 years of age, Gwilym Simcock is one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers working on British scene. Able to move effortlessly between jazz and classical music, he can, at times, inhabit both worlds and has been described as being stylistically reminiscent of Keith Jarrett, complete with ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’ as well as being a pianist of ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’ ability.

Gwilym’s influences include jazz legends Jarrett, Chick Corea and John Taylor and much inspiration is taken from the classical world, especially the work of Maurice Ravel and Igor Stravinsky as well as contemporary composers such as Mark-Anthony Turnage who fuse together written and improvised music. Although principally a jazz artist, Gwilym is breaking new ground between genres and often uses classical reference points in his composed work - he recently devised a solo piano project using the piano works of Shostakovich as a starting point and in 2005 premiered a piano concerto especially written for him by Tim Garland.

Aside from his renowned solo piano work, Gwilym has worked extensively throughout Europe playing with the cream of British and international jazz artists including Dave Holland, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz, Bill Bruford’s Earthworks and Bob Mintzer among others. His own groups as a leader range from trio to big band to a 40-piece ensemble featuring a gospel choir and strings. His composing and playing strengths in are evidence in every dimension of the music for his quintet which features Stan Sulzmann (saxophones), John Parricelli (guitar), Phil Donkin (bass) and Martin France (drums). This band has been critically and widely acclaimed as ‘engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex and wonderfully optimistic’.

A previous winner of the Perrier Award, BBC Jazz Awards and British Jazz Rising Star Awards 2005 and participant in Take Five – the UK’s unique artist development initiative, Gwilym is currently a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist – the first jazz artist to be selected. He was voted “Jazz Musician of the Year” at the 2007 Parliamentary Jazz Awards and is again nominated for the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards as Best Instrumentalist. He has an impressive formal education which includes stints at the Trinity College of Music (London), Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester) – where he studied classical piano, French horn and composition and the Royal Academy of Music (London) where he graduated from the jazz course with first class honours and the coveted 'Principal's Prize' for outstanding achievement.

Recent and forthcoming Projects include:

· Performances throughout the UK with his Trio including a date at the Wigmore Hall during the London Jazz Festival, 2006 to be broadcast 7th July 2007 on BBC Radio 3.
· Pan European Broadcast for BBC Radio 3 on Friday 24th November 2006
· Solo recording for BBC Radio 3 as part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Scheme, 2006
· An orchestral collaboration as part of the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist Scheme, 2007
· A tour and commission for a piano concerto with big band with the NDR Big Band in Germany
· A tour and commission with The Scottish Ensemble (Chamber Orchestra), 2007 broadcast on July 1st 2007 on BBC Radio Scotland
· A Big Band project in Cheltenham Jazz Festival, 2007 broadcast on BBC Radio on 1st June 2007
· Recording debut album for release in October 2007
· Guest soloist on Mark Antony Turnage’s new commission with London Sinfonietta for the re-opening of the South Bank Complex at Queen Elizabeth Hall, June 2007
· Klavier Festival Ruhr – solo concert performance and live recording - Gwilym chosen by Chick Corea, June 2007. This concert will be broadcast on WDR radio and 20,000 copies will be given away as a cover mount CD in Germany’s leading music magazine FONOFORUM.
· Appearance at the 2007 North Sea Jazz Festival
· A major commission for new work with the BBC Concert Orchestra in 2008
· Gwilym will be appearing on the front cover of the August 2007 issue of the UK’s leading Jazz journal JAZZWISE

Press Quotes:

"As a pianist alone, Gwilym Simcock would have deserved all the hype, but this performance confirms that he doesn't see his composer's identity as his second string". The Guardian

"Gwilym Simcock frequently dazzling, especially on a tumultuous unaccompanied feature",
The Guardian

"a jaw-droppingly exciting pianist"
James Griffiths, The Guardian

“…I'll be watching our finest young piano-player Gwilym Simcock - don't miss him while you can still see him in venues without ushers”. Jamie Cullum, The Guardian

"Though still in his early twenties, Gwilym Simcock has already played with the cream of the jazz world, including Kenny Wheeler and Tim Garland, with whom he appears in both Bill Bruford's Earthworks and Acoustic Triangle. He looks like being a piano star of the future". The Independent

"This … pianist is exceptional, as both player and composer." The Observer

"The Waterman band was preceded by recently risen star Gwilym Simcock's piano trio. Simcock has rocketed through jazz education and out into a creative world of his own almost overnight. In a varied set, he included a typically flowing tribute to his teacher John Taylor's harmonically demanding Ambleside Days. But it was a fast exploration of a standard (How Deep Is the Ocean) that cried out for a recording machine to be running, in its headlong momentum, occasional classical flourishes, and melodic queries resolved or left quizzically suspended in space". The Guardian

Discography:
Catalyst, Acoustic Triangle (Audio B, 2003)
Close to You, Kathleen Willison (Basho SRCD 8-2 2004)
Resonance, Acoustic Triangle (Audio B, 2005)
If the Sea Replied, Tim Garland (Sirocco Music, 2005) (Winner of BBC Jazz Awards Prize for Innovation 2006)
Heart Luggage – Klaus Gesing ATS Records 2006
Sax of Gold - Sax Assault 2007

>> GWILYM'S DATES

GWILYM'S BIOG

GWILYM SIMCOCK QUINTET

GWILYM SIMCOCK TRIO

GWILYM SIMCOCK BIG BAND

"Simcock showed why he is regarded as the wunderkind of the piano in Britain". Irish Times, 2nd May 2006

"As a pianist alone, Gwilym Simcock would have deserved all the hype, but this performance confirms that he doesn't see his composer's identity as his second string".
John Fordham 4 stars ****The Guardian on 1st March 2006

"Gwilym Simcock frequently dazzling, especially on a tumultuous unaccompanied feature"
Review of Acoustic Triangle's new CD Resonance 4 Stars **** The Guardian, Dec 9th 2005

“From our own scene I'll be watching our finest young piano-player Gwilym Simcock (606 Club, Nov 16; Purcell Room, Nov 17) - don't miss him while you can still see him in venues without ushers”. Jamie Cullum Interviews by John Fordham and John L Walters,The Guardian, Friday November 4, 2005

"Though still in his early twenties, Gwilym Simcock has already played with the cream of the jazz world, including Kenny Wheeler and Tim Garland, with whom he appears in both Bill Bruford's Earthworks and Acoustic Triangle. He looks like being a piano star of the future". The Independent, Oct 8, 2005

"This (22-year-old) pianist is exceptional, as both player and composer."
The Observer

“Brilliant young pianist”
Alyn Shipton, BBC Radio 2

“Young piano recruit Gwilym Simcock delivered the first of a series of glittering solos. A startled turn of the head and appreciative smile from the old master Konitz confirmed what a class act Simcock has so quickly become.”
John Fordham, The Guardian
Jan 2005

"The Waterman band was preceded by recently risen star Gwilym Simcock's piano trio. Simcock has rocketed through jazz education and out into a creative world of his own almost overnight. In a varied set, he included a typically flowing tribute to his teacher John Taylor's harmonically demanding Ambleside Days. But it was a fast exploration of a standard (How Deep Is the Ocean) that cried out for a recording machine to be running, in its headlong momentum, occasional classical flourishes, and melodic queries resolved or left quizzically suspended in space".

John Fordham, The Guardian
Nov 2005

'Sulzmann - the classy composer'.
John Fordham, The Guardian

"The resourceful John Parricelli has the right mix of lightness, rhythm and lyricism" THE TIMES