I bought my first vibraphone at the age of 24 (after a wasted youth being a very bad – not to mention unemployed – rock drummer) & played my first gig at the age of 28. I am completely self taught.
Soon after starting on vibes I was a founder member of jump/jive band “The Chevalier Brothers” & had a successful time in the 1980’s touring Europe extensively along with many gigs in the UK & trips to the USA & Japan. For a brief period we were darlings of the UK rock press but outside the UK we were known on the jazz scene playing at numerous jazz festivals including Montreux, North Sea & others in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Belgium & France.
The Beaujolais Band
The first album “Mind How You Go” was released in 1990, the second, “Talk, Talk & More Talk” in 1993 – both on Acid Jazz Records. Some of the first album was recorded before I had the record deal with Acid Jazz & as far as I knew at the time I was writing & playing latin jazz. How wrong can you be? It turned out I was playing Acid Jazz. For this band I had chosen some old friends who happened to be some of the UK’s top salsa musicians: Dave Pattman on bongos, Simon Edwards on bass, Roberto Pla on timbales, Poland Perrin on piano, Roy Dodds on drums & Pete Eckford on congas.
For more information go to Beaujolais Band