About Me
NEW CD released 23rd june, 2008. Django Bates and stoRMChaser, "Spring
Is Here (Shall We Dance?)" on Lost Marble label. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Here is a four-star **** review by John L Walters, Friday June 20, 2008, from UK paper - The Guardian: 'When Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but
not simpler," he probably didn't envisage Django Bates's music, which
revels in its complexity like a brainy kitten with a ball of fibre optic cables.
But within his own parallel universe (aka Denmark's Rhythmic Music
Conservatory), Bates has reduced his simmering brew to its necessary
components: sneaky, snarky basslines, asymmetric patterns that groove,
sweet vocal melodies, as well as passionate ensemble writing with a sense
of humour that redrafts Charles Ives, Spike Jones and Frank Zappa for the
age of Britain's Got Talent. Yet Bates is serious too, with such
inventiveness, mastery of orchestration and flair that he runs rings around
his contemporaries in every genre. The extreme hyperactivity of The Right
to Smile, Subjective Hooks and Something Less Soothing is balanced by
the spacey Evening Primrose, the oddly Edmundo Ross-like May Day and
the joyful Sheep'. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) You can't say fairer than that! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Buy it from a shop, or from www.djangobates.co.uk/ THAT IS WHERE TO BOOK GIGS, SEE DATES, BUY CDs, ETC... :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) Dj born Beckenham, Kent in a street 'full of bank managers'. His parents grew cabbages in the front garden and filled the house with vagrant friends and their families: I don't think we fitted in' he concludes. Grew up with variety of musical influences; his father being a collector of Romanian folk, African music, and Jazz.After various lessons on piano, violin and trumpet, Django found himself at the Royal College of music in London studying composition. On finding that the pianos had signs saying 'Not To Be Used For Playing Jazz' on them, he left two weeks later realising he wanted to remain a self-taught composer.Djangos career began in 1979 in a wharf in Rotherhithe where he supported Stan Tracy, Dudu Pukwana, John Taylor, and other leading figures of British jazz.Since then Django has performed with his group Human Chain in Europe, North America, South America, Japan, China, and India. He has brought Human Chain together with the orchestral world for concerts in Finland, Germany, Greece, and a tour of England with Britten Sinfonia. The Smith Quartet appeared alongside Human Chain at the Venice Bienale in 2003.Django has composed for artists as varied as Ernst Kovacic, James Crabb, Apollo Quartet, Evelyn Glennie, Brodsky Quartet, & has performed with Michael Brecker, Tim Berne, Christian Jarvi, Vince Mendoza, David Sanborn, Kate Rusby, Don Alias... He has worked closely with director Lucy Bailey on several theatre projects, most recently for a West-end production of The Postman Always Rings Twice.In 2004 Django was the inaugural artistic director of Fuse Leeds04 - a biennial new music festival celebrating the wealth and diversity of today's vibrant music scene. He commissioned Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood to write a new work for Ondes Martenot and the London Sinfonietta. In honour of improvising saxophonist Evan Parker's 60th birthday, Django commissioned sixty composers including Gavin Bryars, Sir Patrick Moore and John Zorn, to write one bar each, and then he quilted these into the piece Premature Celebration which was performed by The London Sinfonietta with Evan.In 2004, Django recorded with Vince Mendosa & Dutch Metropole Orchestra which premiered the much whispered-about song 'Waiting for Manfred'. His Piano Concerto What It's Like To Be Alive was performed by Joanna MacGregor and the Duisburg Philharmonic. His latest album You Live and Learn (apparently) got a rare 4 star review by The Observer & album of the week by the Guardian.In 2005 he became Denmark's first Professor of Rhythmic Music. t.b.c...For more information visit www.djangobates.co.uk
