Django Bates

British multi-instrumentalist Django Bates is well-known for his razor sharp wit as a player, composer, and arranger. Bates founded the quartet Human Chain in 1979 -- a group that is still together in the 21st century -- and is, along with Courtney Pine and Iain Ballamy, one of the architects of the British jazz renaissance which began in earnest in the late '80s. Bates also leads the 19-piece big band Delightful Precipice. Bates' solo work consists of six notable recordings including the stellar Quiet Nights on Tim Berne's Screwgun label (for which he won Denmark's prestigious Jazzpar prize) and 1993's Summer Fruits and 1994's Autumn Fires recordings on the JMT label. In addition to his work as a leader, Bates has been prominently featured as a sideman as a member of Bill Bruford's jazz fusion ensemble Earthworks from 1986-1994, and in the bands of Georges Russell and Gruntz. He has been a session player as well, contributing to the extreme edge of the vanguard on Tim Berne's Caos Totale and Bloodcount projects, as well as to Ballamy's solo recordings. In addition to his work in the jazz world, Bates is also a composer, writing Dream Kitchen for percussionist Evelyn Glennie, Fine Frenzy for the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, and a piano concerto for soloist Joanna MacGregor and the RLPO. He also founded the Circus Umbilicus, a true circus-cum-musical project and composed the keyboard concerto entitled 2000 Years Beyond UNDO, which was performed at the millennium Barbican Festival. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide