Dominic Alldis (born 1962) is a jazz pianist, orchestral conductor, and arranger. He is also a business speaker and founder of Music & Management.
Early life
Alldis was born into a family of classical musicians. His mother was a violinist and his father was choral conductor
John Alldis. He was exposed early to classical repertoire, studying classical cello, piano, and organ, then conducting and composition.
Career
Alldis began his musical career in 1982 in Paris, studying jazz piano with
Bernard Maury and
Aaron Bridgers
Aaron Bridgers (January 10, 1918 – November 3, 2003) was an American jazz pianist who moved to Paris, in 1947. Bridgers was jazz composer Billy Strayhorn's lover from 1939 until Bridgers's move to France.
Bridgers is featured in the Paul Newman ...
, while accompanying singers of French ''
chanson
A (, , french: chanson française, link=no, ; ) is generally any lyric-driven French song, though it most often refers to the secular polyphonic French songs of late medieval and Renaissance music. The genre had origins in the monophonic so ...
'' and teaching at the
American School of Modern Music. In 1984, he returned to the UK to become resident-pianist at the London jazz and cabaret venue, Pizza on the Park. During a two-year residency he played opposite many celebrated jazz and cabaret artists including
Blossom Dearie
Margrethe Blossom Dearie (April 28, 1924 – February 7, 2009) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She had a recognizably light and girlish voice. Profile at AllMusic/ref> Dearie performed regular engagements in London and New York City o ...
,
Steve Ross,
Dave Frishberg
David Lee Frishberg (March 23, 1933 – November 17, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, vocalist, composer, and lyricist. His songs have been performed by Blossom Dearie, Rosemary Clooney, Shirley Horn, Anita O'Day, Michael Feinstein, Irene Kr ...
,
Bob Dorough,
Teddy Wilson
Theodore Shaw Wilson (November 24, 1912 – July 31, 1986) was an American jazz pianist. Described by critic Scott Yanow as "the definitive swing pianist", Wilson had a sophisticated, elegant style. His work was featured on the records of many ...
,
Dave McKenna
Dave McKenna (May 30, 1930 – October 18, 2008) was an American jazz pianist known primarily as a solo pianist and for his " three-handed" swing style. He was a significant figure in the evolution of jazz piano.
Career
He was born in Woonsock ...
and
Roger Kellaway
Roger Kellaway (born November 1, 1939) is an American composer, arranger and jazz pianist.
Life and career
Kellaway was born in Waban, Massachusetts, United States. He is an alumnus of the New England Conservatory. Kellaway has composed commissi ...
.
In 1987–89, Alldis studied composition with
Konrad Boehmer
Konrad Boehmer (24 May 1941 – 4 October 2014) was a German-Dutch composer, educator, and writer.
Life
Boehmer was born in Berlin. A self-declared member of the Darmstadt School, he studied composition in Cologne with Karlheinz Stockhausen and G ...
and
Frederic Rzewski
Frederic Anthony Rzewski ( ; April 13, 1938 – June 26, 2021) was an American composer and pianist, considered to be one of the most important American composer-pianists of his time. His major compositions, which often incorporate social an ...
at the
Royal Conservatory of The Hague
The Royal Conservatoire ( nl, Koninklijk Conservatorium, KC) is a conservatoire in The Hague, providing higher education in music and dance. The conservatoire was founded by King William I in 1826, making it the oldest conservatoire in the Nether ...
. In 1988 he was invited by the Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music in Amsterdam (
STEIM STEIM (STudio for Electro Instrumental Music) was a center for research and development of new musical instruments in the electronic performing arts, located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Beginning in the 1970's, STEIM became known as a pioneering cen ...
) to develop a performance using live electronics and the Yamaha MIDI Grand Piano. He then toured Europe during 1989–91 giving concerts using the new instrument, culminating in the album ''Night Music'' for Lumina Records.
In 1996 he started the record label Canzona Music and recorded a series of vocal-jazz albums: ''Turn Out the Stars'' – the songs of
Bill Evans, ''If Love Were All'' – the songs of
Noël Coward and ''Watch What Happens'' – the songs of
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...
. These albums feature the UK jazz musicians
Claire Martin (vocals), Geoff Gascoyne (bass),
Adam Glasser
Adam Glasser (born March 18, 1964), known professionally as Seymore Butts, is an American pornographic film director, producer, and occasional performer who has produced hundreds of films in the gonzo genre of pornography (faux reality-based adu ...
(harmonica),
Tim Garland
Tim Garland (born 19 October 1966) is a British jazz saxophonist, composer, and bandleader. His compositions draw from modern jazz and classical concert music.
Career
Garland was born in Ilford, Essex and grew up in Canterbury, Kent. He starte ...
(saxophone),
Alec Dankworth
Alexander William Tamba Dankworth (born 14 May 1960) is an English jazz bassist and composer.
Biography
Born in London, the son of John Dankworth and Cleo Laine, Alec Dankworth grew up in the villages of Aspley Guise and Wavendon, living at ...
(bass),
Clark Tracey (drums), Colin Oxley (guitar),
Iain Ballamy
Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the greatest modern jazz saxophonists.
Career
Ballamy was born in Guildford, Surrey, and educated at George Abbot School, Guildford, from 19 ...
(saxophone) and
Martin France
Martin France (born 1964) is one of the top jazz drummers in the UK. He has recorded on over 100 albums and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is sponsored by Paiste cymbals
Career
France began performing at the age of ...
(drums) and classical quartets The
Allegri Quartet
The Allegri Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1953 by Eli Goren and William Pleeth.
It is Britain's longest-running chamber music ensemble, sustained over six decades by successive generations of performers.
A commitment to refre ...
and The Pavao Quartet. All albums on Canzona Music are distributed by State51.
In 2002 he formed an octet comprising four jazz soloists and a classical string quartet:
Iain Ballamy
Iain Ballamy (born 20 February 1964) is a British composer and saxophonist. He is considered one of the greatest modern jazz saxophonists.
Career
Ballamy was born in Guildford, Surrey, and educated at George Abbot School, Guildford, from 19 ...
(saxophone), Malcolm Creese (bass),
Martin France
Martin France (born 1964) is one of the top jazz drummers in the UK. He has recorded on over 100 albums and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is sponsored by Paiste cymbals
Career
France began performing at the age of ...
(drums) and th
Pavao Quartet Together they undertook a UK tour sponsored by the
Arts Council of England
The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both h ...
in a programme of Alldis's contemporary arrangements of themes from classic French films, such as ''
A Man and a Woman'', ''
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg'' (french: Les Parapluies de Cherbourg) is a 1964 musical romantic drama film written and directed by Jacques Demy, with music and lyrics by Michel Legrand. Catherine Deneuve and Nino Castelnuovo star as two young ...
'' and ''
Monsieur Hulot's Holiday
''Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot'' (french: Les Vacances de M. Hulot; released as ''Monsieur Hulot's Holiday'' in the US) is a 1953 French comedy film starring and directed by Jacques Tati. It introduced the pipe-smoking, well-meaning but clumsy c ...
'', as well as songs by film composer
Michel Legrand
Michel Jean Legrand (; 24 February 1932 – 26 January 2019) was a French musical composer, arranger, conductor, and jazz pianist. Legrand was a prolific composer, having written over 200 film and television scores, in addition to many son ...
. Concert venues included the
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...
(London), the
Adrian Boult Hall (Birmingham) and the
Queen's Hall, Edinburgh
The Queen's Hall is a performance venue in the Southside, Edinburgh, Scotland. The building opened in 1824 as Hope Park Chapel and reopened as the Queen's Hall in 1979.
Hope Park Chapel opened as a chapel of ease within the West Kirk parish i ...
. This led to a fourth album on the Canzona Music label: ''Themes from French Cinema''. This was followed in 2008 by the release of ''Scenes We Once Knew'', an album of works by jazz-singer pianists, and in 2009 ''Songs We Heard'' featuring contemporary arrangements of familiar childhood songs for jazz piano trio.
Alldis formed the Dominic Alldis Trio in 2009 with former Ronnie Scott's Quintet bassist Andrew Cleyndert and drummer
Martin France
Martin France (born 1964) is one of the top jazz drummers in the UK. He has recorded on over 100 albums and is a Professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London. He is sponsored by Paiste cymbals
Career
France began performing at the age of ...
. The trio brings a jazz approach to their repertoire, including classical themes from chamber music and opera, folk songs and childhood themes, as well as original compositions. Key influences include
Bill Evans,
Jacques Loussier
Jacques Loussier (26 October 1934 – 5 March 2019) was a French pianist and composer. He arranged jazz interpretations of many of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, such as the ''Goldberg Variations''. The Jacques Loussier Trio, founded in 195 ...
,
Jan Johansson,
John Lewis
John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...
and the
Modern Jazz Quartet. The Trio's album, ''A Childhood Suite'' features improvisations on familiar childhood themes scored for piano trio and string orchestra.
In 2010 Alldis founded the Canzona Chamber Orchestra to perform classical repertoire and crossover projects with jazz musicians. Their inaugural concert was at
St James's Church, Piccadilly
St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, United Kingdom. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren.
Th ...
, London on 22 April 2010, and featured
Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
's ''
Serenade for Strings'',
Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
's ''
Simple Symphony
The ''Simple Symphony'', Op. 4, is a work for string orchestra or string quartet by Benjamin Britten.
It was written between December 1933 and February 1934 in Lowestoft, using material that the composer had written as a young teenager, between 1 ...
'' and the premiere of Alldis's ''Childhood Suite'', scored for jazz piano trio and orchestra.
Teaching and writing
Alldis has taught at music institutions in London, Dartington and Paris, and is on the staff at the
Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, where he teaches improvisation to classical pianists and opera singers. In 2006, he led a jazz singing masterclass at the RAM.
He wrote ''A Classical Approach to Jazz Piano Harmony'' and ''A Classical Approach to Jazz Piano Improvisation'', both published by the
Hal Leonard Corporation
Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...
.
In 1998, he founded Music & Management, which offers corporate training and client appreciation events exploring the parallels between musical and business leadership. His events often involve a live symphony orchestra or jazz band, or a solo piano performance.
Discography
* ''Night Music'' (Lumina Music, 1989)
* ''Turn Out the Stars: The Songs of Bill Evans'' (Canzona Music, 1996)
* ''IF Love Were All: The Songs of Noel Coward'' (Canzona, 2000)
* ''Watch What Happens: The Songs of Michel Legrand'' (Canzona, 2002)
* ''Themes from French Cinema'' (Canzona, 2004)
* ''Scenes We Once Knew'' (Canzona, 2008)
* ''Songs We Heard'' (Canzona, 2009)
* ''A Childhood Suite'' (Canzona, 2012)
* ''Praeludium: Jazz Improvisations on Classical Themes'' (Canzona, 2015)
Bibliography
* ''A Classical Approach to Jazz Piano, Book One: Exploring Harmony'' (
Hal Leonard Corporation
Hal Leonard LLC (formerly Hal Leonard Corporation) is an American music publishing and distribution company founded in Winona, Minnesota, by Harold "Hal" Edstrom, his brother, Everett "Leonard" Edstrom, and fellow musician Roger Busdicker. Curre ...
)
* ''A Classical Approach to Jazz Piano, Book Two: Improvisation'' (Hal Leonard)
* ''Nursery Rhymes Jazz'' (Hal Leonard)
References
External links
Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alldis, Dominic
English jazz pianists
1962 births
Living people
Academics of the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Conservatory of The Hague alumni