Simon James (born 13 March 1954) is an English acoustic guitarist and a founding member of

Acoustic Alchemy Acoustic Alchemy is an English smooth jazz band formed in England in the early 1980s by Nick Webb and Simon James. 1981–1989: Early days Acoustic Alchemy was formed around the acoustic guitars of Simon James ( nylon string) and Nick Webb ( ...

. After leaving the band, he formed

Kymaera Namorita Prentiss is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a mutant clone of her mother, Namora, and a member of the New Warriors. She was killed in the explosion in Stamford that started the Superhero C ...

, a Latin-style contemporary jazz band.

Early years and education

Born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, England, James was educated at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

, North Yorkshire Leeds College of Music, studying flute and guitar, and

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music and dance conservatoire based in London, England. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. The conservatoire has ...

, London, where he studied guitar and composition with Hector Quine and David Newbold respectively. He joined the teaching staff at Trinity in 1977 and became guitar tutor at the Purcell School of Music in 1984. In 1981 he attended a master class in

flamenco Flamenco (), in its strictest sense, is an art form based on the various folkloric music traditions of southern Spain, developed within the gitano subculture of the region of Andalusia, and also having historical presence in Extremadura and ...

given by

Paco Peña Paco Peña (born 1 June 1942) is a Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist. He is regarded as one of the world's foremost traditional flamenco players. Biography Born in Córdoba, Spain, as Francisco Peña Pérez, Paco Peña began learning to pl ...

in Cordoba, Spain. Flamenco influenced his music on the early recordings by Acoustic Alchemy. In 1983 he became guitar teacher at

Whitgift School ("He who perseveres, conquers") , established = , closed = , type = Independent school , religious_affiliation = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head Master , head = Christopher Ramsey , c ...

Career

In 1979 James helped start the band Acoustic Alchemy. In 1985, he left the band to pursue other interests. He has toured solo, with Nick Webb, and with

Maria Ewing Maria Louise Ewing (March 27, 1950 – January 9, 2022) was an American opera singer. In the early part of her career she performed solely as a lyric mezzo-soprano; she later assumed full soprano parts as well. Her signature roles were Blanche, ...

, and has performed on live broadcasts for radio and television. In 1984–1985 James and Webb began a collaboration with actress

Sylvia Syms Sylvia May Laura Syms (born 6 January 1934) is an English actress, best known for her roles in the films ''Woman in a Dressing Gown'' (1957), ''Ice Cold in Alex'' (1958), ''No Trees in the Street'' (1959), ''Victim'' (1961), and ''The Tamari ...

on a series of shows combining poetry and music ("The Female Principle", "If This Be Love", "Mothers and Daughters", "Love Lust and We All Make Mistakes"). This involved writing and arranging music for the shows and appearing in them. In 1987 James started the publishing company Designer Music. Commissions have included a fifteen part history of bullfighting released in Spain by Planeta/Agostini in Autumn 1994 and a thirteen part series on serial killers produced by Mainline Television in 1996 for SKY TV. Another series of commissions lead to the formation of the band Kymaera in 1998. Kymaera's first album, ''Rio Moods'' (MCI), was a tribute to the music of

Antonio Carlos Jobim Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 400 most popular male ...

but also contained original compositions. The second album consisted of music by

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

. James and guitarist Shane Hill arranged the music and produced the albums. Kymaera made its debut at

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sco ...

on 21 June 1998. A third album, ''Careless Whispers'', was released in September 1998. ''Into the Rainbow'' (2001) was a tribute to his former partner Webb, who died in February 1998, and included Ewing and

Greg Carmichael Greg Carmichael (born 7 August 1953) is a British guitarist and co-founding member (along with Nick Webb) of contemporary jazz group Acoustic Alchemy. His primary instrument is the nylon-string acoustic guitar. He joined the band in 1985 as a par ...

from Acoustic Alchemy. In July and August 2001 Kymaera made an album for Union Square entitled ''California Dreamin' '' which was released the following year. In 2004 Kymaera recorded another album for Union Square. Some tracks were released in 2006 on ''Smooth Jazz'' with vocals by Lynieve Austin. In 2006, James formed the band Almaraya based on the rhythm section of Kymaera and the vocals of Austin. The band performed for the first time at Croydon Jazz Festival in April of that year.

References

External links

Designer Music website
{{DEFAULTSORT:James, Simon 1954 births Living people People educated at Ampleforth College English jazz guitarists English male guitarists Acoustic Alchemy members British male jazz musicians Musicians from York