Bill Sharpe + Don Grusin (STEINWAY 2-PIANO FESTIVAL)
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)
23 March 2024

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Bill Sharpe biography

After graduating from Birmingham University with an honours degree in music, I started to work for the BBC as a studio manager. At the same time, I continued to play in bands as I did throughout my years at school. One of the bands was called “Tracks” which comprised of Roger Odell, Keith Winter and Trevor Horn who went on to international success as a record producer.

In 1980, along with Keith and Roger and producer Nigel Wright, I formed Shakatak. We toured the UK extensively during the early eighties and signed with Polydor records. In 1982 we had our first top 20 hit with “Easier said than done,” one of the hits that I wrote for the band. Others include “Night Birds,” “Invitations,” “Dark is the Night,” “Down on the Street” and “Mr Manic and Sister Cool.” In 1983, international success began for the band in Europe, America and particularly in Japan where “Night Birds” became one of the biggest selling international albums of all time.

As the band’s success continued through the 80's, I released my first solo album “Famous People” in 1985. One song on the album featured Gary Numan called “Change your Mind.” It became a top 20 hit and also heralded the start of a successful collaboration with Gary under the name of “Sharpe and Numan.”

Apart from working with Gary, I also found time to write with and for other artists all over the world. From Yusuko Agawe in Japan to Annabella from “Bow Wow Wow” in the UK.

As the 90’s began , Shakatak and I found ourselves touring less and recording more due to the demand for recordings particularly in Japan. Our music was becoming very popular in America in the contemporary jazz market where we had two consecutive number 1 albums.

At this time, since the band's schedule was less hectic, I found time to start writing music for television which has remained an interest to this day. In 1996, through my consultancy work for Technics keyboards, I met the great jazz musician Don Grusin and after spending time helping with the design and specs for some new Technics products in Japan, we became good friends. In 1997, I had the time and opportunity to record my second solo album and asked Don Grusin to co-produce the record with me in Los Angeles. This enabled me to work with some of my favourite American musicians including Alex Acuna, Paulinho da Costa, Abe Laboriel as well as the great soul singer Jeffrey Osborne. The album was titled “State of the Heart” and has received critical acclaim worldwide.

Don and I stayed in touch after recording this album and several years later we decided to record a joint album form our respective studios in London and Los Angeles. Don also flew over to the UK to spend some time mixing and finishing this project. We called it “Geography” as it was conceived and recorded in many different countries with musicians from all over the world.

In 2006 Ii released a solo piano album of my workings of the best known Shakatak songs.It was called “Close to my Heart.” The idea was to show the songs in the format of conception as most of them were written on my piano at home and the recordings were done on that very piano in my home studio
2012 saw the release of my second joint project on Universal Records with Don Grusin. The album was titled “Transatlantica.”

In 2013 I collaborated with the bass player Jah Wobble (best know for working with PIL), and we released a jazz album called “Kingdom of Fitzrovia.”

I’m still touring with Shakatak and that seems to be going from strength to strength so as the saying goes; “The Future Looks Bright.”

Don Grusin biography

Don Grusin is an esteemed composer, producer, arranger and pianist whose accolades include 3 Grammys, 20 solo CD’s and 100 collaborative recordings with musical heavyweights from around the world. The Don Grusin Studio in the High Rockies of Colorado on the banks of Poncha Creek is now the main production and recording facility where Don continues to function as an artist, innovator, teacher, performer and advocate for social change.

Born and raised in Colorado, Don was influenced mightily by his immigrant father from Latvia. While growing up as a wannabe cowboy and playing sports in school, Don always had music as something to fall back on. If you grew up in the Grusin household you had to practice piano. Don started when he was 6 and had an eclectic mix of musical influences. These included attending the Denver Symphony Orchestra; dancing to the square-dance bands at the local grange; listening to pianists Art Tatum, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and Vladimir Horowitz; and from watching his dad strolling through the house playing the second violin parts of Bartok string quartets.

Also of influence was their small town R&B radio station where Don listened to the music of the great soul singers and funk bands. Here his interest in Black American, African and Latin American music was born. In addition, Don's brother Dave influenced his education in jazz by introducing him to the great players of the times.

In the 1960’s Don obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and a Masters Degree in Economics from the University of Colorado. He taught as a Fulbright Professor of Economics at the Autonomous University in Guadalajara, Mexico, before returning to the U.S. to enter music full-time after joining Quincy Jones’ band for a Japan-U.S. tour in the mid 1970s.

Don has recorded and played with many esteemed players over the years. These musical geniuses hail from all corners of the global map and these players still accompany and inspire Don today. The list includes: Gary Burton, Sergio Mendes, Peggy Lee, Patti Austin, Oscar Castro-Neves, Quincy Jones, Zoot Sims, Bob Margouleff, Malcolm Cecil, Joe Pass, Dori Caymmi, Totonho Villeroy, Sadao Watanabe, Frank Quintero, Clark Terry, Brenda Russell, Ernie Watts, Pete and Sheila Escovedo, Gerald Albright, Nelson Rangell, Bill Sharpe (of Shakatak), Paul Warburton, Jim Hall, Simone, Luizao and Artur Maia, Gilberto Gil, Flora Purim, Airto, Larry Carlton, Harvey Mason, Nathan East, Lee Ritenour, Béla Fleck, Armand Sabal-Lecco, Abe Laboriel, Alex Acuña, Ramon Stagnaro, Marcio Montarroyos, Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, Paulinho Braga, Leon Ware and his brother Dave Grusin.

Don has had six recording-label ‘homes’ for his albums over the years: GRP Records out of New York City, Videoarts Music in Tokyo, JVC and Universal for Japan and Asia, C.A.R.E. Music Group in Germany, Octave Records (a subsidiary of high-end audio products and equipment manufacturer PS Audio) in Boulder Colorado and Secret Records out of London who released and licensed Don and Bill Sharpe’s collaborative Geography and Trans Atlántica albums. Don's compositions are published by Don Grusin Music and Bad Dog Music.

Teacher

Don received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in Huntington, NY, and is working with colleagues both there and at the University of Colorado as a "musical

Don received an honorary Doctorate of Music from Five Towns College in Huntington, NY, and is working with colleagues both there and at the University of Colorado as a ‘musical activist’ to promote social change. Since 1990 Don has been a frequent speaker and performer at the University of Colorado’s annual Conference on World Affairs.

As a result of his 50 years of travels playing and recording around the globe, Don was struck by finding many fellow musicians doing positive social change work in their communities and countries. Don parlayed these thoughts and experiences into a multidisciplinary course at the University of Colorado's ATLAS Institute called World Music Video Projects as Catalyst for Social Change.

Don created the class to bring together such diverse fields as economics, music, film, ethnography, journalism, and art to produce videos as educational and marketing tools leading to greater global social awareness and action. Students enrolled in the course document and assist musicians, artists and social activists around the world who share similar goals of working to create social and economic progress, raise personal and public awareness and conduct investigative teamwork with a purpose. The course is interdisciplinary in that it includes majors from throughout the university and utilises music as the medium to bring and bond the students together in their approach when choosing subjects, trading ideas and entrepreneurially collaborating. The latter aspect became a defining element of the class.

The recipient of the University of Colorado Alumni Association’s 2006 George
Norlin Award for distinguished lifetime achievement, Don also serves on the advisory board of the Department of Economics at the University of Colorado.