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Peter King Quintet - from England

Peter Johnson

By Peter Johnson
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Peter Johnson Newbie

Peter Johnson

Posted
Posted

My significant other is a keeper because she does things like call me and say, "so I was walking around doing some Christmas shopping and saw a record store and thought, 'I want to buy some records!' so I did and one is this really obscure-looking jazz one which I got because they play the song 'Gingerbread Boy' (my reaction at this moment: :excited: ) and it would be fun to listen to that and make gingerbread cookies. How much is too much to pay for a random record you know nothing about?" I laughed and said, unless it's Mantovani or Lawrence Welk, you're all good. :D

She gets home, and we look through the stash. Original vinyl pressings of Johnny Cash "I Walk the Line" and "Orange Blossom Special", John Prine's first record, and a record by the above-referenced artist, Peter King, called "90% of One Percent", recorded live at Oxford University, on the Spotlite label.

Well, I put that record on and the thing SMOKED. The rendition of Gingerbread Boy was terrific. Great energy throughout the recording. But I can't find anything about this guy on allmusic.com, the intenet, anywhere.

Does anyone know anything about him? Was this record a one-shot deal, or is he someone worth looking further into?

Thanks for any leads.

John Tapscott Mentor

John Tapscott

Posted
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Great British alto player. I have him as sideman on several records, especially one Jon Eardley LP on Spotlite I can think of; also as soloist with London's Trinity Big Band on their Cuban Fire CD. I don't think I have anything by him as a leader. Closely associated with Ronnie Scott.

Found this:

www.jazzmasters.nl/king.htm

Edited by John Tapscott
Jim R Newbie

Jim R

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I can't find anything about this guy on allmusic.com, the intenet, anywhere.

:blink: A google search for "Peter King" saxophone results in 29, 600 hits. For example, Wikipedia's page:

Peter King (saxophonist)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter King (b. 11 August 1940 is an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.

King was born in Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey, and taught himself to play the clarinet at the age of fifteen, quickly switching to alto saxophone. In 1959, at the age of nineteen, he was booked by Ronnie Scott to perform at the opening of Scott's club in Gerrard Street, London. In the same year he received the "Melody Maker New Star" award. He worked with Johnny Dankworth's orchestra from 1960 to 1961, and went on to work with the big bands of Maynard Ferguson, Tubby Hayes, Harry South, and Stan Tracey, the Brussels Big Band, and the Ray Charles band on a European tour. He has also played in small groups with musicians such as Philly Joe Jones, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Red Rodney, Hampton Hawes, Nat Adderley, Al Haig, Bill Watrous, and Dick Morrissey, and singers such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks, and Anita O'Day. He is a member of Charlie Watts' Tentet.

King's composing has moved beyond individual numbers for performance and recording, and includes an opera, Zyklon, in collaboration with Julian Barry.

[edit]Discography

1982: Bebop Live (with Al Haig, Art Themen, Kenny Baldock, and Alan Ganley) (Spotlite)

1982: New Beginning (Spotlite)

1983: East 34th Street (Spotlite)

1984: Hi Fly (Spotlite)

1988: Brother Bernard (Miles Music)

1994: Tamburello (Miles Music)

1996: Speed Trap (Ronnie Scott's Jazz)

1998: Lush Life (Miles Music)

: Live: 90 % of 1% (Spotlite)

2003: Footprints (Miles Music)

[edit]

Sources and external links

Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, & Brian Priestley. Jazz: The Rough Guide. ISBN 1-85828-528-3

Richard Cook & Brian Morton. The Penguin Guide to Jazz on CD 6th edition. ISBN 0-14-051521-6

Peter King — discography from AllMusic

Peter King — biography and discography from Miles Music

Charlie Watts' tentet

I've known about him for a long time, but never really explored his work... rarely came across his recordings. I have a Louis Stewart bootleg video where he played with King back in the 80's, and I always thought King was a fine player. I think he's somewhat of a legend in the UK. No doubt some of our friends in that part of the world will educate us here shortly... :cool:

GA Russell Veteran

GA Russell

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I have a Georgie Fame CD called Name Droppin' which was recorded live, I think at Ronnie Scott's. In the middle of the set, he welcomes to the bandstand to much appreciation Peter King. Good playing, but it's Fame's disc, not his.

I believe that the Fame CD Walking Wounded was taken from the same gig.

tonym Newbie

tonym

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Posted

Hi Peter, I saw Pete King a few years back in the North East of England and as my old sax tutor said at the time, there's a lot of 'right' notes in there....meaning there's also a whole load of 'wrong' notes in there; needless to say, my sax teacher didn't like bebop.

I find his playing infectious and fun, much like all the great bebop altoists.

By the way, my car sold today :rolleyes: You didn't want it did you? ;)

AllenLowe Proficient

AllenLowe

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Al Haig used to work with him when he went to England -

ALSO - if you recall the not-very-good PBS blues series that Scorcese directed; the one on British blues, with Jeff Beck, Tom Jones, et al; Peter King was the alto player in that -

Peter Johnson Newbie

Peter Johnson

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  • Author
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Damn, Tony--I would have bought it! What fun to have a TVR over here! Why did you sell?

Hi Peter, I saw Pete King a few years back in the North East of England and as my old sax tutor said at the time, there's a lot of 'right' notes in there....meaning there's also a whole load of 'wrong' notes in there; needless to say, my sax teacher didn't like bebop.

I find his playing infectious and fun, much like all the great bebop altoists.

By the way, my car sold today :rolleyes: You didn't want it did you? ;)

Peter Johnson Newbie

Peter Johnson

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  • Author
Posted

Thanks for all the information, everyone--JimR, I have _no_ idea how I missed that stuff on Google. Probably misspelled "Peter", or something. :crazy: Jim S, thanks for the credits list--he's been on stuff that's all over the board! Everything But the Girl and, my favorite, The Buzzcocks' "Inventory"! :blink:

tonym Newbie

tonym

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Posted

Damn, Tony--I would have bought it! What fun to have a TVR over here! Why did you sell?

Hi Peter, I saw Pete King a few years back in the North East of England and as my old sax tutor said at the time, there's a lot of 'right' notes in there....meaning there's also a whole load of 'wrong' notes in there; needless to say, my sax teacher didn't like bebop.

I find his playing infectious and fun, much like all the great bebop altoists.

By the way, my car sold today :rolleyes: You didn't want it did you? ;)

To fund my other expensive habits :P

Seriously, my work situation is shockingly bad at the moment and I'm staring at the car everytime I go in the garage, unable to really use it because it's quite thirsty, and looking at £ signs. Shame but, it's only a car at the end of the day. Albeit an awesome sounding, scarily fast one!

JSngry Grand Master

JSngry

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i first heard of him on them Charlie Watts / Parker hommages ... great Bird droppings by him on those.

Just to show you how long he's been around, I first heard him on those early-70s Maynard Columbia sides. Same thing there!

Rosco Newbie

Rosco

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As a bebopper, he's the real deal - he's that generation. Of late, he's been on a Coltrane kick. IMHO, in this more modal vein, he's merely a very skilful imitator, whereas around the bop stuff, Pete's the real deal.

He's also very encouraging towards younger players. I've only worked with him once (not on a gig - a masterclass type thing), and he was also a very nice man.

He still gigs around a lot. I most often hear him live, so I'm afraid, I can't comment on his recorded stuff with anything like authority...I do know that he's recently released somthing with Stan, which I would believe could be awesome!

I've had much the same experience. Played with him a couple of times at workshops and am constantly astounded by his sound, technique, knowledge and passion. A great musician who desrves to be much more widely known beyond our shores (in fact, I am somewhat surprised that he isn't! I'd certainly put him in the same class as Tubby Hayes, Stan Tracey or Victor Feldman of Brits that could cut it in anyone's company).

I believe he was given a contract by Blue Note at some point in the 80s or 90s (when the label was having a brief flirtation with Brit jazz)... I'm not sure why that was unproductive.

A good guy, too, with a dry sense of humour who will happily sit down for a pint and a chat.

The Rep Newbie

The Rep

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I saw Peter King about 18 months ago, when he performed at a jazz festival and he was very very good. As for recordings, one of my favorites with Peter King as leader is Hi Fly. Its Peter with Philippe Briand Trio and the tital track is awesome.

AllenLowe Proficient

AllenLowe

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somewhere there's a Philly Joe Jones-led Session (issued on Black Lion) of early 1960s British hard bop; Peter King is on it, I think, and it shows the Brits to be every bit as jazz-aware as any American group of the time. Great stuff. Also has a few cuts of the Queen-mother on vocals - seems she was quite a jazz groupie.

Edited by AllenLowe

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