On leaving school he began a 10 year career in military bands performing on solo clarinet and tenor sax. He travelled throughout Europe, Kenya and Canada giving him an excellent ‘apprenticeship’ and honing his sight reading skills.

 

On leaving his military career he returned to the North West and launched himself into performing across a wide genre of work including classical concerts, jazz festivals and theatre work.

 

A spell away from the business (proper job!) was brought about by marriage and new family <the bills have to be paid!>

 

This gave John the opportunity to ‘hit the woodshed’ and hone his technique. However  an increasing performance schedule and demand for his services soon saw John return to the ‘pro’ scene giving him the opportunity to work  with a plethora of bands covering various styles including Big Band, Ballroom, Soul, Jazz, Latin, Rock etc.,

 

John was delighted to work several seasons with the Blackpool Tower Big Band and become a regular ‘dep’ with The Glenn Miller Tribute Orchestra.

 

As his family increased (birth of Alice) John hung up his touring shoes and concentrated on more involvement with the North West Jazz scene.

 

This led to the formation of the duo Circular Movement and the quartet The Inner Urge. John being a founder member of these ensembles.

 

Ask John to name his early influences?

He’ll tell you “Jimmy Skidmore a great player, in fact the first album I bought was ‘Skid Marks’ Apart from him I loved Tubby Hayes and Charlie Parker. My granddad was a big fan to, his house was always filled with ‘Birds’ soaring sax licks”.

 

Throughout his career John has kept up a steady flow of recording commitments and fitted in several TV appearances including a spell on Hetty Waintrop Investigates (where he met INTERACTIVE bass guitarist Derek).

 

All of his experience is brought to the fore both playing with INTERACTIVE and in his teaching posts, most notably John is saxophone tutor at the ‘Lancaster Institute for the Contemporary Arts (LICA) based at Lancaster University.

 

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