Ian Anderson

Ian Scott Anderson, MBE ( born August 10, 1947 in Dunfermline, Scotland ) is a British singer, composer, songwriter, flautist and guitarist. He is best known as the frontman of the band Jethro Tull.

Life

Childhood and youth

Ian Anderson was born the son of a factory owner and the youngest of three brothers. The first years of his childhood he spent in Edinburgh. Much later in his life he returned to Scotland.

His family moved in 1958 to Blackpool in North West England. From 1964 he attended the Blackpool College of Art, where he studied art.

Early career

As a teenager, Anderson worked as a salesman in a department store Blackpool, then in a magazine kiosk. He later reported that the reading of Melody Maker and New Musical Express during breaks to inspired him to play in a band.

In 1963, Anderson with school friends, the band The Blades. Besides it worked with Barrie Barlow (drums ), John Evan (keyboards), Jeffrey Hammond (bass guitar) and Michael Stephens ( guitar). The band played soul and blues, with Anderson on vocals and harmonica - he was later to the flute. In 1965 the band was called John Evan band. They broke up soon on it. Anderson then moved to Luton, where he met drummer Clive Bunker and guitarist and singer Mick Abrahams from the blues band McGregor 's Engine. Together with bassist Glenn Cornick, they founded the band Jethro Tull, with Ian Anderson has since remained together. At the time, Anderson gave up his plans to play electric guitar. He traded one of his guitar against a flute, which he could reasonably play in rock and blues style after a few weeks of exercise. According plate text of the first Jethro Tull album, This Was, he had started to play the flute only a few months before the recordings on this LP. His knowledge of guitar playing he could use when playing the acoustic guitar. He also played in the course of his career soprano saxophone, mandolin, bouzouki, balalaika, keyboards, bass guitar, various flutes and other instruments.

Playing the Flute Anderson is often on only one leg, the other leg is bent. In his early days with Jethro Tull Anderson took this attitude instinctively when harmonica playing, where he clutched the microphone propped up on the microphone stand to hold the balance. A journalist wrote, probably due to inaccurate memory, Anderson would take this attitude when playing the flute. Who was forced from then on, to fulfill this description at concerts, which required some practice, as a supporting not possible on the microphone stand while playing the flute. Another trademark was long the one-sided truncated tails.

Later career

Ian Anderson has released a number of solo albums and participated in various projects of other musicians - in public but he is primarily seen as the head of the band Jethro Tull for 40 years. This is particularly keen that Anderson in his career with Jethro Tull a characteristic type of music and stage presence developed, which usually ran counter to the prevailing trends in rock music. At times, he was inspired by British traditions - he appeared as a medieval jester, Elizabethan jugglers, English squire and Scottish laird. At other times, he slipped into the role of an astronaut, a pirate or a tramp. His illustrations often include a large proportion of self-parody.

As a flutist Anderson is self-taught. His flute playing is characterized by over-blowing, playing with fluttering tongue, growling = (joint) singing the gripped clay, totals and even grunting. Anderson was influenced by the jazz musician Roland Kirk. In the 1990s, Anderson began working with simple bamboo flutes. He used techniques such as overblowing and the partial covering of blow holes for producing bound -graded and sounds. So he could this simple instrument elicit new sounds. Ian Anderson recorded several pieces in which he plays all the instruments himself and also as a sound engineer and producer worked as Another Christmas Song ( 1988). His first experience in the " one-man operation", he gained in 1971 with the play Locomotive Breath. To convince his band of the play, he played all the instruments himself, put forth a demo tape and sang. Especially this title was played the most successful of Jethro Tull and is today almost every performance of the band.

Anderson's music mixed styles such as folk, jazz, blues, classical, rock and world music. His lyrics are usually complex. Often they are about quite seriously intentioned criticism of the absurd rules of society, such as the churches ( My God, Hymn 43, Thick as a Brick). Often the texts contain motifs from the past, mythology and literature, such as. Minstrel in the Gallery in, Jack-in- the-Green, Broadsword and One Brown Mouse Especially the younger albums often describes Anderson scenes from his daily life ( Rocks on the Road, Old Black Cat ).

Although he never graduated from a classical music education, Anderson's skills are assessed in a classical field. So gave Jethro Tull in 1985 at the invitation of a concert as part of celebrations to mark the 300th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach in Berlin, which was transferred to the third television programs.

A hallmark of Anderson's is its energetic stage presence - haunting facial expressions and gestures, the stage space exploitative and sometimes extended to the seats of the audience movement patterns, juggling the flute, the band directing arm and dance movements - what it Titulierungen as " flute Dervish ", " madman flautist " and " Pied Piper " as well as comparisons with Rudolf Nureyev brought.

In addition to his other activities - numerous productions and arrangements for other musicians and guest appearances, but especially Jethro Tull - acts Anderson since the late 1990s, also in the projects by Leslie Mandoki, who has gathered some well-known rock musicians around him to also in the 21. century play, " hand-made" rock music. In the years 2004 and 2005, Ian Anderson went with the Orchestra of the Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt Orchestra on a tour. With a specially assembled band and the Symphony Orchestra he offered a cross-section of his solo work and work with Jethro Tull represents a double CD and DVD documenting the tour, appeared in mid 2005.

Ian Anderson was in Vienna in 2006 to list its classic works in new style together with Dee Dee Bridgewater on the 250th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 30 April 2006, Ian Anderson joined the Vienna Konzerthaus with the Ian Anderson Plays Orchestral Jethro Tull & Other Music feat program. The Blue Danube Chamber Orchestra. As a guest soloist originating from the U.S. Lucia Micarelli occurred on the violin. In addition, Ian Anderson guest musician on a Toto album and accompanied the band at times on their " World Tour 2006".

The solo albums

Anderson began about 1980, to experiment with the possibilities of electronic music. His first solo album Walk Into Light (1983 ) was developed in collaboration with the former Jethro Tull keyboard player Peter- John Vettese and was marked by escalating synth sounds. In the 1990s, the folk -inspired acoustic ambitions Anderson came up with increasing world music influences more to bear. In 1995 he presented his second solo album. On Divinities - Twelve Dances With God illuminates it with twelve instrumental pieces in the classical style under the strong influence of Indian music and other spiritual worldview different cultures.

The trend towards exotic instruments and largely without amplifier continued in the third solo album. The Secret Language Of Birds (2000 ) is clearly folk -oriented and documented the musical maturity Anderson. The same applies for the fourth solo album Rupi 's Dance (2003), which appears slightly rockier compared to the previous album and is in turn characterized by mischievous or thoughtful lyrics.

2012 appeared the album Thick as a Brick 2, Anderson with his " Touring Band " grossed and published under his name. It ties lyrically and musically on the 1972 published on Jethro Tull album Thick as a Brick.

Commercial Activity

Anderson is also outside of the music industry a successful businessman. Among other things, he owned several salmon farms. His company on the Scottish island of Skye was worth 10.7 million pounds in the late 1990s, before some of the shares were sold. Currently ( 2007) have he and his wife Shona, a group of companies that made a profit of 1.8 million pounds in 2004.

Private life

In 1976 he married Shona Learoyd, daughter of a wealthy wool producers. He learned through their work at the former Tull record label Chrysalis Records know. After several moves, even to Scotland, the couple lives in Wiltshire, England. They have two children. James Anderson is also a musician, while daughter Gael has been working in the film industry.

In the 1990s, Ian Anderson suffered a thrombosis of the deep leg veins, triggered by a long-haul flight. Since this life-threatening incident, he committed to the fight against this phenomenon by advocates, among others, on his website for wearing support stockings during long flights.

Awards and reception

In recognition of his lifelong contribution to the non-classical music Anderson received the 2006 Ivor Novello Award for International Services and in the same year an Honorary Doctorate in Literature from Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh. In 2007, Anderson was appointed by Elizabeth II for members of the Order of the British Empire.

On the basis of its commitment to endangered species (see "Other ") was Ian Anderson Award in Stuttgart with the Nature Life - Environment Award 2012 on 17 May 2012.

Ian Anderson is regarded worldwide as the musician who introduced the flute into rock music.

Others

Among his interests Anderson counts: the protection of wild cats
The protection of endangered horse breeds
Old cameras, especially Leicas
The Indian Kitchen
Motocross (but he never passed a driving test )

No other internationally known rock musicians such as Anderson has made the flute to his main instrument. Among the musicians who frequently use the flute, include Walter Parazaider of Chicago, Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues, Chris Wood of Traffic, Thijs van Leer of Focus, Buddy Lackey Psychotic Waltz and Dead Soul Tribe and Peter Gabriel during his time with Genesis. Bernd Aust by the East German group Electra plays the flute similar to Anderson, however, has a classical education.

Discography

Walk Into Light, 1983
Divinities - Twelve Dances With God, 1995
The Secret Language of Birds, 2000
Rupi 's Dance, 2003
Thick as a Brick 2 short: TAAB 2, 2012

406022