John Picard (musician)

John Francis Picard ( born May 17, 1937 in London ) is a British jazz musician (trombone, piano ).

Life and work

Picard played during his military service on the weekends with Cy Laurie, with whom he also worked in the port. From 1954 he was a member of the band of Humphrey Lyttelton, where he stayed until 1961 and was involved in numerous recordings. He also played in the band Jump by Bruce Turner, as well as modern jazz quintet of Tony Coe. During most of the 1960s he worked a day job as a partner in a real estate company to continue to play with Coe; in addition, he led, together with Kathy Stobart a band, but also took with Tubby Hayes on ( Jazz Tete a Tete, 1966). In the early 1970s he was next to Don Weller, Coe and trumpeter Colin Smith to a septet that played both in the style of Duke Ellington as well as in that of Charles Mingus. He also served as principal trombonist of the London Jazz Big Band by Stan Greig; for this band he wrote avant-garde arrangements (such as " Meet Mr. Rabbit" or " Golden Apples of the Sun" ). With Alexis Korner, Dick Morrissey, Weller and Bob Hall in 1981, he belonged also to Ian Stewart Rockett 88, where he made one of the pillars. Since 1985, he played in the big band of Charlie Watts; He also took up with Brian Lemon.

His son Simon Picard is also a jazz musician.

Lexical entries

• Ian Carr, Digby Fairweather, Brian Priestley, Jazz Rough Guide. Stuttgart: Metzler 1999; ISBN 3-476-01584- X
• John Chilton, Who's Who of British Jazz. Continuum International Publishing Group 2004; ISBN 0-8264-7234-6