Robert George Downes (born 22 July 1937 in

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

) is an English

avant-garde jazz Avant-garde jazz (also known as avant-jazz and experimental jazz) is a style of music and improvisation that combines avant-garde art music and composition with jazz. It originated in the early 1950s and developed through to the late 1960s. Orig ...

flautist and

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

. He is known for his work with

Mike Westbrook Michael John David Westbrook (born 21 March 1936) is an English jazz pianist, composer, and writer of orchestrated jazz pieces. He is married to the vocalist, librettist and painter Kate Westbrook. Early work Mike Westbrook was born in Hig ...

and for leading the Open Music Trio since 1968. Downes is also a composer, arranger, and singer of rock and blues.

Career

His first album was released by

Philips Records Philips Records is a record label founded by the Dutch electronics company Philips. It was founded as Philips Phonographische Industrie in 1950. In 1946, Philips acquired the company which pressed records for British Decca's Dutch outlet in A ...

in 1969. He was voted best jazz flautist and formed various ensembles. He started his own record label, Openinan. He played with the John Barry 7, pop singer Chris Andrews,

Manfred Mann's Earth Band Manfred Mann's Earth Band are an English rock band formed by South African musician Manfred Mann (musician), Manfred Mann. Their hits include covers of Bruce Springsteen's "For You (Bruce Springsteen song), For You", "Blinded by the Light" an ...

, and the

Jimmie Nicol James George Nicol (born 3 August 1939) is an English drummer and business entrepreneur. He is best known for replacing Ringo Starr in the Beatles for eight concerts of the Beatles' 1964 world tour during the height of Beatlemania, elevating h ...

Band. In 1968 he formed the Open Music Trio. The trio has included at bass Paul Bridge, Andrew Cleyndert,

Jeff Clyne Jeffrey Ovid Clyne (29 January 1937 – 16 November 2009) was a British jazz bassist (playing both bass guitar and double bass). He worked with Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott in their group the Jazz Couriers for a year from 1958, and was part ...

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras ...

, Mark Megiddo, Harry Miller,

Glen Moore Glen Moore (born October 28, 1941) is an American jazz bassist, who occasionally performs on piano, flute and violin. Moore was born in Portland, Oregon, United States. His performing career began at age 14 with the Young Oregonians in Portlan ...

Barre Phillips Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972, he has been based in south ...

, and

Daryl Runswick Daryl Runswick (born 12 October 1946) is a classically trained English composer, arranger, jazz musician, producer and educationalist. Career Runswick was born in Leicester, and educated at Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys and Corpus Christi Co ...

. Downes played and recorded with Ray Russell's Rock Workshop and singers Elke Brooks, Alex Harvey, and

Julie Driscoll Julie Driscoll Tippetts (born 8 June 1947) is an English singer and actress. Career Driscoll is known for her 1960s versions of Bob Dylan and Rick Danko's "This Wheel's on Fire", and Donovan's " Season of the Witch", both with Brian Auger an ...

. In the 1970s he was a member of Barry Guy's London Jazz Composers Orchestra. He also played with the Mike Westbrook Band and the

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

Band. Downes composed for

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th ...

with The Royal Ballet, The London Contemporary Dance Theatre (with whom he composed and played live with between 1972 and 1982), Ballet Rambert, Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Royal Canadian Ballet, Australian Dance Company, Miami World Ballet, Komische Oper Berlin, Staatstheater Stuttgart, and Hong Kong Ballet. He composed for and performed with the Swiss mime group

Mummenschanz __NOTOC__ Mummenschanz is a Switzerland, Swiss mask theater troupe who perform in a surreal mask- and prop-oriented style. Founded in 1972 by Bernie Schürch, Andres Bossard (August 9, 1944 – March 25, 1992), and the Italian American, Italian-Am ...

. Downes performed at a poetry festivals in Amsterdam, Paris, and Rome with William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti.

Albums

On ''Diversions'' Downes played concert, alto, and Chinese bamboo flutes and tenor sax. Five of the eight pieces are trios with double bass (Barry Guy and Jeff Clyne) and drums (Denis Smith). The other three pieces are solos: on "Samurai" Downes played concert and alto flutes into a piano with the sustain pedal pressed down to give a tuned resonance. In 2007 ''Diversions'' was re-released by Vocalion. ''Hells Angels'' has a long big-band piece covering side one of the original LP (subtitled 'A Visit to the Devil'), with a set of trio pieces on side 2. Downes plays mainly sax on this record (tenor and alto). After moving to Germany in the late 1970s, Downes released several further records, including ''Solos'' (c. 1984), an LP of solo flute improvisations (concert, alto and bass).

Discography

As leader

* ''Bob Downes' New Sounds for Flute, Percussion, and Synthesizer'' (JW Theme Music, 1970) * ''Deep Down Heavy'' (Music for Pleasure, 1970) * ''Open Music'' (Philips, 1970) * ''Electric City'' (Vertigo, 1970) * ''Diversions'' (Openian, 1971) * ''Episodes at 4 AM'' (Openian, 1974) * ''Hells Angels'' (Openian, 1975) * ''South American Journey'' (Openian, 1985) * ''Songs for Mother Earth'' (Sacral/Bauer Studios Ludwigsburg, 1997) * ''Flashback'' (Openian, 2009) * ''Crossing Borders'' (Reel, 2009) * ''5 Trios'' (Openian, 2010) * ''New York Suite'' (Openian, 2011) * ''Mixed Bag'' (Openian, 2012) * ''Blowin' with Bass'' (Openian, 2016) * ''It's a Mystery'' (ReR, 2017) * ''A Blast...from the Past'' (Openian, 2018)

As sideman

* Andwellas Dream, ''Love and Poetry'' (CBS, 1969) *

& the London Jazz Composers Orchestra, ''Ode'' (Incus, 1972) *

, ''1969'' (Polydor, 1971) *

Paddy Kingsland Paddy Kingsland (born 30 January 1947) is a composer of electronic music best known for his incidental music for science fiction series on BBC radio and television whilst working at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop. Educated at Eggar's Grammar Sch ...

, ''The Changes Original Television Soundtrack'' (Silva Screen, 2018) *

Joe Meek Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer, sound engineer and songwriter who pioneered space age and experimental pop music. He also assisted in the development of recording practices like over ...

, ''Joe Meek Freakbeat'' (Castle Music, 2006)

References

External links

Official Website of Bob Downes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Bob English jazz flautists English jazz saxophonists British male saxophonists 1937 births Living people Avant-garde jazz flautists Avant-garde jazz saxophonists 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century British male musicians British male jazz musicians 21st-century flautists