Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, of a be-bopping father and rock 'n' rolling mother on St Patrick’s Day 1959, Steve was inspired to play the bass by seeing Ray Brown on a TV programme when he was about 14. He started playing jazz at home and benefited greatly from 5 years with the British Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Meanwhile Steve also acquired a bass guitar and made his way into the world of pop and rock, cutting his first single with the hard rocking After Hours, then moving on to join the False Idols in the early 1980's. The False Idols gigged extensively in Britain and Europe, appeared regularly on TV and Radio, and released a number of recordings before going their separate ways.
Steve's way led him to put together the legendary Honkin' Hep Cats, with whom he enjoyed nine years of great success, much critical acclaim, and a ludicrous amount of surreal bad behaviour. Their 'witty, raunchy blend of jump-jive, be-bop and blues' (The Guardian) lasted through three albums, a couple of films, and many Jazz and Arts Festivals throughout Europe as the band generally caused an amiable rumpus wherever they ventured. As leader of the band, Steve presented two BBC Radio 2 broadcasts live from the Edinburgh Festival.
In the winter of 1995/6 Steve crossed the Atlantic to attend the Bass Institute of Technology at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood, where his stay in Los Angeles ended on a number of high notes: his trio Stekpanna won the Battle of the Bands; he graduated from BIT with Vocational Honors; he received the Outstanding Vocational Honors Student awards from GHS Strings: and he won the Outstanding Student of the Year award from Fender.
Stekpanna has provided Steve’s main focus of creativity for the past decade. The trio is an Anglo-Scandinavian contemporary jazz group, comprising Steve, a Dane, Mads Kjølby, and a Swede, Petter Svärd: check out their MySpace domain and the recordings on this site. Stekpanna have toured all over the world, from the Jazz Province Festival in Russia to the Havana Jazz Festival in Cuba, and they have played venues of such stature as Ronnie Scott's and the Royal Festival Hall in England.
As an in-demand UK jazz bassist, Steve has played and recorded with a host of luminaries including Jamie Cullum, Stacey Kent, Andy Sheppard, Graham Collier, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Tommy Whittle, Jim Mullen, Roy Williams, Digby Fairweather, Steve Waterman, Don Rendell, Robin Jones, Ed Jones, Orphy Robinson, Gilad Atzmon, Bobby Wellins, Kim Nazarian, Jay Ashby, Howard Riley, Cuban legend Bobby Carcassés, and comedian Julian Clary.
When not on the bandstand Steve is also heavily involved in music education. He teaches double bass and bass guitar He has a publication with Argentinean guitarist Luis D'Agostino: Improvisación: Una GuÃa Completa para el Músico de Rock, Blues y Jazz, (Ricordi Americana, Buenos Aires, 2003) and is the author of A New Tune a Day for Bass Guitar (Boston Music Company, 2007)
Steve plays a late-19th Century Saxon double-bass, an Eminence EUB, a Geoff Finch 6-string bass guitar, a couple of Fender Jazz Basses, and a Ray Ramirez Baby Bass, all through Acoustic Image and SWR amplification with GHS and Thomastik strings. When not playing these Steve enjoys a game of cricket, supports the Halifax Rugby League side, and appreciates the odd glass of fine malt whisky. He lives in the Oxfordshire village of Deddington with his wife, the artist Lal Jones, and his English Springer Spaniel, Hebe.
