Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman (21 June 1944 – 12 June 2018) was an English drummer,

recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

, and

music publisher A music publisher is a type of publisher that specializes in distributing music. Music publishers originally published sheet music. When copyright became legally protected, music publishers started to play a role in the management of the intellect ...

. He played with the

Graham Bond Graham John Clifton Bond (28 October 1937 – 8 May 1974) was an English rock/blues musician and vocalist, considered a founding father of the English rhythm and blues boom of the 1960s. Bond was an innovator, described as "an important, und ...

Organisation, with

John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers are an English blues rock band led by singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist John Mayall. While never producing a hit of their own, the band has been influential as an incubator for British rock and blues ...

and later formed what has been described as the "seminal"

jazz rock Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band,

Colosseum The Colosseum ( ; it, Colosseo ) is an oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. It is the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built, and is still the largest standing amphitheatre in the world to ...

. He later formed

Colosseum II Colosseum II was a British progressive jazz-rock band formed in 1975 by former Colosseum drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, which featured guitarist Gary Moore. History Following the demise of his previous band, Tempest, Hiseman announced his ...

in 1975. He was married to saxophonist Barbara Thompson from 1967 until his death in 2018, following surgery to remove a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

Early life

Hiseman was born in

Woolwich Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, south-east London, to Lily (née Spratt) and Philip Hiseman. His mother worked as a music librarian at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

and his father was a senior lecturer at the

Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts Camberwell College of Arts is a public tertiary art school in Camberwell, in London, England. It is one of the six constituent colleges of the University of the Arts London. It offers further and higher education programmes, including postgra ...

, teaching printing. His family included musicians, and his mother played piano and flute. Hiseman studied at the

Addey and Stanhope School Addey and Stanhope School is a voluntary-aided, co-educational secondary school, located in Lewisham, London, England. It is a former grammar school and sixth form, with origins dating to 1606. The headmistress is currently Jan Shapiro. History ...

. He initially studied violin and piano, but eventually focused on the drums. In school, he played in a trio with classmates

Dave Greenslade David John Greenslade (born 18 January 1943) is an English composer and keyboard player. He has played with Colosseum from the beginning in 1968 until the farewell concert in 2015 and also from 1973 in his own band, Greenslade, and others inclu ...

on piano and

Tony Reeves Anthony Reeves (born 18 April 1943, New Eltham, South East London) is an English bass guitarist/contrabassist, noted for his "distinctive and complex bass sound" and use of electronic effects. Career As a teenager Reeves learned orchestral doub ...

on double bass.

Career

In the mid-1960s, Hiseman played in sessions such as the early

Arthur Brown Arthur Brown may refer to: Entertainment * Arthur William Brown (1881–1966), Canadian commercial artist * H. Arthur Brown (1906–1992), American orchestral conductor * Arthur Brown (musician) (born 1942), English rock singer * Arthur Brown, ak ...

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Devil's Grip". He was in a band humorously named the "Wes Minster Five", and, with

Neil Ardley Neil Richard Ardley (26 May 1937 – 23 February 2004) was a prominent English jazz pianist and composer, who also made his name as the author of more than 100 popular books on science and technology, and on music. Early years Neil Ardley ...

, helped found the

New Jazz Orchestra The New Jazz Orchestra (NJO) was a British jazz big band that was active from 1963 to 1970. Neil Ardley recorded several more albums with many of the NJO's members, which were released under his own name. Origins and members The NJO was the off ...

. In 1966, he replaced

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

in the

Organisation and also played for a brief spell with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames. In 1964, ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...

'' magazine wrote his name as "Jon", and he decided to adopt that spelling. He then joined

in 1968 playing on ''

Bare Wires ''For the American band see Matthew Melton'' ''Bare Wires'' is a studio album by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, featuring Mick Taylor on guitar, released in 1968 on Decca Records. The album was the last John Mayall studio album to feature ...

''. In April 1968, he left to form what has been described as the "seminal"

band,

. Colosseum disbanded in November 1971, although Hiseman later formed

with

Don Airey Donald Smith Airey (born 21 June 1948) is an English musician who has been the keyboardist in the rock band Deep Purple since 2002, after the retirement of Jon Lord. He has had a long and productive career, playing with such acts as Gary Moore ...

and

Gary Moore Robert William Gary Moore (4 April 19526 February 2011) was a Northern Irish musician. Over the course of his career he played in various groups and performed a range of music including blues, blues rock, hard rock, heavy metal, and jazz ...

in 1975. Between these two versions of Colosseum, Hiseman formed the band

Tempest Tempest is a synonym for a storm. '' The Tempest'' is a play by William Shakespeare. Tempest or The Tempest may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Films * ''The Tempest'' (1908 film), a British silent film * ''The Tempest'' (1911 film), a ...

with

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

, Paul Williams and Colosseum bandmate

Mark Clarke Mark Clarke (born 25 July 1950 in Liverpool) is an English musician, bass player and singer, best known for his work with Colosseum and Mountain, as well as brief stints with Uriah Heep and Rainbow. Career After seeing the Beatles and many ...

Ollie Halsall Peter John "Ollie" Halsall (14 March 1949 – 29 May 1992) was an English guitarist best known for his role in the Rutles, the bands Timebox, Patto and Boxer, and for his contribution to the music of Kevin Ayers. He is also notable as one of ...

joined the band temporarily making the band a quintet but Holdsworth left the group along with Williams, leaving Halsall to handle all guitar and vocal duties. In the mid 1970s, Hiseman played with

when he toured the album ''

Cactus Choir ''Cactus Choir'' is the first solo album by British keyboardist Dave Greenslade, released in 1976 soon after the disbandment of his own eponymous band, Greenslade. His Greenslade bandmate Tony Reeves also plays on half of the album's tracks. T ...

''. Hiseman subsequently played in

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

groups, notably with his wife,

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 ...

Barbara Thompson, with whom he recorded and produced more than 15 albums.

Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...

, searching for a "sound" for an album to feature his brother Julian on

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, stumbled upon Colosseum II by accident and imported the whole band into his "Variations" project. This was the start of a ten-year relationship with Hiseman, whose drumming features on recordings, TV specials and musicals. In 1982 Hiseman built what was at the time a state-of-the-art

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

next to his home, and together with the compositional skills of Barbara Thompson produced many recordings for film and television

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

s. Hiseman was a founding member of the

United Jazz and Rock Ensemble The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (abbr. "United" or "UJRE") developed from a group of jazz musicians that was formed for a 1974 to 1975 television show of Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German Broadcasting). Almost all future members of "United" ...

, a German-based "Band of Band Leaders", along with Barbara Thompson. Colosseum reunited in June 1994 with the same line-up of musicians as when they broke up 23 years earlier. They played the Freiburg Zelt Musik Festival and followed it up with a German TV Special ( WDR Cologne) in October, which was recorded and released as a CD and a VHS video; a DVD version followed in 2003. Several new studio releases also followed, as well as four expanded editions of ''Valentyne Suite'' and ''Colosseum Live'', plus several compilation boxed sets. Barbara Thompson joined the band on various occasions before the death of

Dick Heckstall-Smith Richard Malden Heckstall-Smith (26 September 1934 – 17 December 2004) was an English jazz and blues saxophonist. He played with some of the most influential English blues rock and jazz fusion bands of the 1960s and 1970s. He is known for pri ...

in 2004 and since then was a permanent member of the band. Colosseum played its farewell concert on 28 February 2015. JonHisemann2010

In October 2010 a biography of Hiseman, titled ''Playing the Band'', was published. It was written by Martyn Hanson and edited by original Colosseum manager, Colin Richardson. In 2017 Hiseman formed a new trio band called JCM with guitarist/vocalist

Clem Clempson David "Clem" Clempson (born 5 September 1949) is an English rock guitarist who has played as a member in a number of bands including Colosseum and Humble Pie. Career Clempson began his career in the late 1960s with the power trio, Bakerloo (o ...

and bass player/vocalist

. The band recorded an album ''Heroes'' late in 2017 which was released in April 2018. JCM began touring on 7 April.

Personal life and death

He was married to saxophonist Barbara Thompson from 1967. In May 2018 Hiseman's family reported that he was struggling with a brain tumour. He died at the age of 73 on 12 June 2018 in

Sutton, London Sutton is the principal town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It lies on the lower slopes of the North Downs, and is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough. It is south-south west of Charing Cross ...

, England from a

brain haemorrhage Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), also known as cerebral bleed, intraparenchymal bleed, and hemorrhagic stroke, or haemorrhagic stroke, is a sudden bleeding into the tissues of the brain, into its ventricles, or into both. It is one kind of bleed ...

, following surgery to remove the tumour. He was nine days short of his 74th birthday.

Selected discography

* ''A Night in the Sun'' (1982) * ''About Time Too!'' (1991) With Jack Bruce * '' Songs for a Tailor'' (1969) * '' Things We Like'' (recorded 1968, released 1970) With Colosseum * ''

Those Who Are About to Die Salute You ''Those Who Are About to Die Salute You – Morituri Te Salutant'' is the debut album by Colosseum, released in 1969 by Fontana. It is one of the pioneering albums of jazz fusion. The title is a translation of the Latin phrase '' morituri te sa ...

'' (1969) * '' Valentyne Suite'' (1969) * ''

The Grass Is Greener ''The Grass Is Greener'' is a 1960 British romantic comedy film directed by Stanley Donen and starring Cary Grant, Deborah Kerr, Robert Mitchum, and Jean Simmons. The screenplay was adapted by Hugh Williams and Margaret Vyner from the play of ...

'' (1970) * '' Daughter of Time'' (1970) * ''

Colosseum Live ''Colosseum Live'' is a live album by Colosseum, released in 1971. It was one of the band's most commercially successful albums, remaining in the UK Albums Chart for six weeks and peaking at number 17. and the Big Apple, Brighton (March 27, 197 ...

'' (1971) * ''Colosseum Live – The Reunion Concerts'' (1994) * ''Colosseum Live – Live Cologne'' (1994) * ''The Complete Reunion Concert - Cologne'' (1994) (DVD) * ''

Bread and Circuses "Bread and circuses" (or bread and games; from Latin: ''panem et circenses'') is a metonymic phrase referring to superficial appeasement. It is attributed to Juvenal, a Roman poet active in the late first and early second century CE, and is used ...

'' (1997) * ''

Tomorrow's Blues ''Tomorrow's Blues'' is an album by the band Colosseum that was released in 2003. Track listing #"Tomorrow's Blues" (Clempson, Bell) – 6:41 #"Come Right Back" (Greenslade) – 4:32 #" In the Heat of the Night" (Quincy Jones, Alan Bergman, Ma ...

'' (2003) * ''Live05'' (2005) * ''Time On Our Side'' (2014) With Colosseum II * ''Strange New Flesh'' (1976) * ''Electric Savage'' (1977) * ''

War Dance A war dance is a dance involving mock combat, usually in reference to tribal warrior societies where such dances were performed as a ritual connected with endemic warfare. Martial arts in various cultures can be performed in dance-like settin ...

'' (1977) With JCM * ''Heroes'' (2018) With Tempest * ''

'' (1973) * ''

Living in Fear ''Living in Fear'' is the second and final studio album from the supergroup The Power Station, released in 1996. Background In the pre-recording stage of the album, the band had the same lineup as for their previous album in 1985 (Robert Palm ...

'' (1974) * ''Under The Blossom: The Anthology'' (2005) ncludes both albums + BBC session recordings Tribute * ''Mike Taylor Remembered'' (1973), a tribute to Mike Taylor with

Ian Carr Ian Carr (21 April 1933 – 25 February 2009) was a Scottish jazz musician, composer, writer, and educator. Carr performed and recorded with the Rendell-Carr quintet and jazz-fusion band Nucleus, and was an associate professor at the Guildhall ...

, Barbara Thompson,

(2007) With United Jazz + Rock Ensemble * ''Live Im Schützenhaus'' (1977) * ''Teamwork (album), Teamwork'' (1978) * ''The Break Even Point'' (1979) * ''Live in Berlin'' (1981) * ''United Live Opus Sechs'' (1984) * ''Highlights'' (1984) * ''Round Seven'' (1987) * ''Na Endlich!'' (1992) * ''Highlights II'' (1994) * ''Die Neunte Von United'' (1996) * ''The UJRE plays Albert Mangelsdorff'' (1998) * ''X'' (1999) * ''The UJRE plays Wolfgang Dauner'' (2002) * ''The UJRE plays Volker Kriegel'' (2002) With John Mayall * ''Bare Wires'' (1968)

Early life

Career

Personal life and death

Selected discography

Further reading

References

External links