My current project is simply the process of enjoying my music very much. I'm playing with friends as much as I can; recording some of these events; particularly enjoying gaining new insights into tunes from the standard jazz repertoire - words with a new meaning for me. I also continue to explore tunes by Joshua Redman, Bob Berg, James Black, Chris Potter together with a few original tunes written by me.
It is my great fortune to count Tony Roberts and Ray d'Inverno amongst my friends and I am very much enjoying learning from them both. Of course it's an especially great joy to play with fellow sax player Tony.
Until recently Iain headed up Sherborne Jazz Club; putting on performances and workshops and taking advantage of the opportunity of sitting in with one or two of the visiting players. A most valued highlight was taking one of the sax parts in the world premiere of Mark Lockheart's Big Idea.
After leaving school at 16 and playing Hammond organ in some of the blues bands of the 1960's, Iain's creativity was then directed to the newly-emerging world of computing and over the next decades encompassed design and development of quite a bit of software, (some of which is still widely used); research and development of formal methods (mathematical models) and an associated MSc from Oxford University; research and development in object-oriented program development; and in large scale distributed computing for which he is the inventor of more than 18 patents.
Then common sense prevailed, and in 2000 and Iain resumed his passion for studying; composing for; and playing contemporary jazz saxophone after years as a semi-professional when his debut as a saxophone player was a gig at Southampton's Guildhall with Alan Skidmore and Tony Oxley. Iain was a co-founder with Ray d'Inverno in the 1980's of the Southampton Musicians' Co-operative and the New Jazz Aliens with Lee Goodall.
You may not remember hearing Rocking Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites in the 1980's on John Peel's radio show - but you should have done as it broke new ground with Howard Male's songs - and I suppose because of this, the band was not a commercial proposition. (It's been great to meet up with again through MySpace Howard! I want to put some of your your great songs up on a Remarkable Family or Rocking Burne-Jones MySpace!.)
