Jazz duo strike new chord for music department
Posted on 29 June 2005
Jonathan Eato and John Taylor join the University's Department of Music in the autumn and their arrival will signal new initiatives in undergraduate education and a new Master's degree in Improvised Music and Jazz.
They will work with Julian Auguelles, whose Octet is a departmental ensemble-in-residence, while also offering instruction to doctoral students in jazz history, composition, and performance.
Jonathan Eato, saxophonist and composer, designed the jazz programme at the University of Exeter, where he also taught composition and aural skills. With Craig Vear, he formed the ev2 ensemble to explore the boundaries between composed and improvised music.
Both individually and in ev2, Jonathan Eato has investigated interactive technological systems, and he expects to continue this work at the York's new Music Research Centre.
The presence of John Taylor and Jonathan Eato at York will attract extraordinary students
Dr William Brooks
Pianist and composer John Taylor's many recordings include extensive collaborations with jazz legend Kenny Wheeler. He has taught jazz piano at the Cologne College of Music since 1993 and recently joined Jonathan Eato at Exeter. At York he will be directing a jazz ensemble performance module and will be of central importance in the new Master's degree jazz pathway as well as advancing doctoral research and performance in jazz.
Acting Head of Department, Dr William Brooks, said: "The presence of John Taylor and Jonathan Eato at York will attract extraordinary students and their work also intersects with scholarly research initiatives and the activities of the new Music Research Centre. We are very fortunate indeed to have them with us."
The new Master's degree will be in Improvised Music and Jazz and is intended to embrace interactive technology and improvisational traditions from other cultures, in conjunction with the department's ethnomusicology offerings.
It will include workshops and seminars devoted to notation, transcription, and history. Intersecting with music technology and the distinguished composition staff at York, it will offer a pioneering programme of study allowing progression to PhD work and will be of interest to practitioners and scholars alike. The first modules in the new programme will be offered in October 2005.
Notes to editors:
- John Taylor, one of Europe's foremost jazz pianists and composers, has played with Cleo Laine, Enrico Rava, Gil Evans and many other leading performers. He has long championed the music of jazz legend Kenny Wheeler, with whom he has performed and recorded extensively. Taylor has recorded more than 80 LPs and CDs, many for the ECM label. Of Insight, his most recent album, The Guardian wrote, "this is one of contemporary jazz's great performers at work ... a beautiful solo statement by a very modest star." His composition The Green Man Suite received the 2002 BBC Jazz Award for Best New Work.
- For more information on Taylor, as well as a complete discography, visit his website at www.johntaylorjazz.com.
- As well as his work with ev2 and at Exeter, Jonathan Eato has also worked with artists and lay people in other disciplines, most recently in an extended Falklands Islands residency. (For more information, see www.ev2.co.uk)
- The University of York is one of the liveliest centres of musical education and research in Britain. During the academic year, the Department of Music is home to more than 270 music students and a large staff of professional musicians and scholars, all engaged in the study, creation and performance of all kinds and types of music. The range of music supported here can be seen in the pages of this website: early music and contemporary music; acoustic and digital music; world music and jazz; music for the concert hall and music for the community.