Neil Ardley
Neil Richard Ardley ( born May 26, 1937 in Wallington, † 23 February 2004) was an English jazz pianist and composer who made a name for himself as an author of popular science books and lecturer.
Life and work
Ardley learned at the age of 13 years Piano, later saxophone. While a student of chemistry at Bristol University (B.Sc. 1959), he played both piano and saxophone in jazz bands. He pursued parallel to both a musical career as well as a nonfiction author.
Career as a musician
Then moved Ardley to London, where he studied composition and arrangement 1960 and 1961 at Raymond Premru. He was a pianist in the John Williams Big Band and wrote for this band both arrangements and new compositions. Between 1964 and 1970 he headed the newly formed New Jazz Orchestra, with whom he recorded two plates. During the 1970s, he established a studio and wrote mainly for television. Encouraged by the music producer and impresario Denis Preston Ardley began to combine classical method of composing with such jazz. His work A Symphony of Amaranth (1971 ) for a 25köpfige band plus strings became the first jazz album the price of the Arts Council of Great Britain. His voluminous orchestrations were recorded in the seventies with the help synthesizers. However, his record contract was 1980 when he was working on a purely electronic album finished, so that he is now focused on the activity as a writer and publicist. In addition, however, he played on, especially with the electric jazz group cycle, which he formed with composer John L. Walters, Warren Greveson and Ian Carr and Nick Robinson. She had to explore the target compound of composition and improvisation through the development halbimprovisierter electronic soundscapes with an acoustic improvising soloists. In 1994 he wrote the composition " On the Four Winds " for New Perspectives, an ensemble of jazz and classical musicians. He also began to write choral music in the late 1990s.
Career as a journalist and author
As early as 1962 Ardely became a member of the London editorial office of the World Book Encyclopedia. Over the next four years he developed techniques both for editing and for writing introductions for a young audience. After working for a while for the Hamlyn Publishing, he went in 1968 as a lecturer independently (also to be able to pursue better to his parallel career). Since the 1970s, he focused on writing popular science representations and lexicons for children about the birds, science and technology, but also music. His book The Way Things Work sold more than three million copies, and was awarded several prizes. In total he wrote 101 books, which sold more than 10 million times.