Peter King & Mornington Lockett
@ the Pizza Express jazz club
18 November 2008
Click an image to enlarge.
Peter King biography
Born 11 of August in Kingston upon Thames, during an air raid,
Peter King had a few lessons on piano and violin during his school
years. However it was not until he took up the clarinet at 15 that
he decided to make music his life. Only three months after getting
his first clarinet, King was offered a job with the local semi-pro
Dixieland band and got an early grounding in the history of jazz,
from King Oliver to Charlie Parker, who inspired him to change to
alto-sax.
When he was only eighteen King played the opening of London's famous
Ronnie Scott's Club and, for a while was the resident Quartet at
the club. He was also voted “New Star” 1959 in the Melody
Maker Jazz Poll and has been a major influence on the British Jazz
Scene ever since.
At only 21 years of age Peter King was invited by the great and
legendary genius Bud Powell to play with him at the Blue Note in
Paris. Even today this is one of his most memorable experiences
both musically and socially. As well as working with many Big Bands
including Maynard Ferguson, Tubby Hayes, StanTracey, Jonny Dankworth,
plus the great Ray Charles and the Brazilian legend Hermeto Pascoal,
King has accompanied many great show business stars. During his
long career he has worked with such people as James Brown, Tony
Bennet, Marlene Dietrich, Liberace, Lauren Bacall and countless
others.
During the mid-sixties, King had his quartet at Annie Ross’
club – Annie’s Room. He played regularly with great
singers such as Anita O’Day, Ernestine Anderson and Joe Williams.
During this time King gained an intimate knowledge of the Blues
and the real meaning of Soul which has never left him.After leaving
Annie's Room, King went on the road with Dakota Staton and Jon Hendricks,
both of whom had settled in the UK for a while. On one memorable
day he played on the steps of Saint Paul's Cathedral in front of
thousands of people at the memorial concert for Martin Luther King.
Sharing the honor were Jon Hendricks, Dakota Staton and Philly Joe
Jones.
With the arrival of the eighties King started to build his career
anew with the first of several albums under his own name. He also
started to tour extensively on the Continent, especially in France
where he acquired a lot of new fans. Over the years King has played
on many “Pop” sessions but the most long lived collaborations
have been with Ben Watt of “Everything But The Girl”
and with Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones. King is a member of
Charlie’s Quintet and apart from playing in Japan, Brazil
and the USA - including a sell-out week at the Blue Note in New
York - he has acted as musical director, composer, and arranger
on all of the quintet’s albums including Charlie’s “Tribute
To Charlie Parker” and the Billboard Chart topping “Warm
And Tender”. This coupled with his work with Charlie and composer
Michael Kamen on the film “Blue Ice” starring Michael
Caine, has added to his growing reputation as a writer.
King continues to keep abreast of new developments among the younger
generation of British musicians and really thrives on the challenge
of working with such phenomenal talents as Julian Josef and Mark
Mondesir.
Mornington Lockett biography
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