Sir Karl Jenkins

[RogerF]

Karl Jenkins, now one of the world's most famous contemporary classical composers but formerly a jazzer and alumnus of the Graham Collier Sextet, founder member of Nucleus and former long-time member of Soft Machine has been knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours list. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-33110468

[sidewinder]

Not a fan of his classical stuff but his early recordings with Graham Collier (in particular) are great.

[RogerF]

"Lullaby for a Lonely Child" was one of Jenkins' and recorded both on Graham Collier's Down Another Road and by Nucleus.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/jun/18/graham-collier-lullaby-lonely-child

So was "Song for the Bearded Lady" Nucleus' signature tune!

[mjzee]

This is interesting stuff, including an entire invented language (or, more accurately, vocalizations intended to sound like a universal language):

[A Lark Ascending]

I imagine this award is for his Classic FM oratorios rather than his jazz beginnings. They're not my cup of tea but all praise to him for writing music people enjoy listening to and want to sing. I think he's a staple of amateur choirs.