Bob Downes
Bob Downes ( born July 22, 1937 in Plymouth, England ) is a British saxophonist and flautist of the Creative Jazz and composer.
Life and work
As a musician Downes is self-taught. He started with 19 years on the saxophone and also worked as a blues singer; from 1968 he concentrated on the flute and plays today in addition to the Boehm flute and South American, Chinese and Japanese bamboo flutes, including the shakuhachi. As a studio musician he played with John Barry, Jimmie Nicol, Chris Andrews, Julie Driscoll, Alex Harvey and Manfred Mann Earth Band. In 1968 he founded his Open Music Trio, where he worked with Barry Guy, Barre Phillips, Jeff Clyne, Harry Miller and Glen Moore. He also played in Ray Russell rock workshop, the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, the Mike Westbrook band and Keith Tippett.
Since 1974 he concentrated on solo performances as a flutist, but also occurred with poets such as William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In the 1980s, he settled in Germany. In 1978 he founded his Alternative Medicine Quintet and Flute Orchestra in 1984. Currently (2008) he is traveling with various projects from duo to quartet in southern Germany.
As a composer he wrote ballet music for The Royal Ballet, London Contemporary Dance Theatre, Rambert Ballet, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Royal Canadian Ballet, Komische Oper Berlin and the Staatstheater Stuttgart.
Disco Graphical Notes
- Diversions ( with Barry Guy and Dennis Smith)
- Dreams of Nature
Lexigraphic entries
- Ian Carr et al ' Jazz Rough Guide. Stuttgart 1999.