''Songs for My Father'' is an album by composer/bassist

Graham Collier James Graham Collier (21 February 1937 – 9 September 2011) was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer. Life and career Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, ...

recorded in 1970 and originally released on the British Fontana label.Graham Collier: A Tribute
accessed December 29, 2016

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

said "''Songs for My Father'' is the first evidence listeners have of the maturing Collier, moving jazz aesthetics around in order to more fully articulate his sophisticated palette". On

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

Nic Jones noted "it's the one that offers the greatest insight into Collier's more recent methodology, not least because the numbers of musicians involved are more indicative of his later work with larger ensembles".Jones, N
All About Jazz Review
December 26, 2007

Track listing

All compositions by Graham Collier. # "Song One (Seven-Four)" – 9:34 # "Song Two (Ballad)" – 5:38 # "Song Three (Nine-Eight Blues)" – 7:52 # "Song Four (Waltz in Four-Four)" – 7:42 # "Song Five (Rubato)" – 4:43 # "Song Six (Dirge)" – 3:37 # "Song Seven (Four-Four Figured)" – 9:13

Personnel

– bass *

Harry Beckett Harold Winston "Harry" Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Biography Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army ...

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trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

flugelhorn The flugelhorn (), also spelled fluegelhorn, flugel horn, or flügelhorn, is a brass instrument that resembles the trumpet and cornet but has a wider, more conical bore. Like trumpets and cornets, most flugelhorns are pitched in B, though some ...

Alan Wakeman Alan Wakeman (born 13 October 1947) is an English saxophonist who was a member of Soft Machine during 1976, appearing on the album '' Softs''. He is a cousin of the keyboard player Rick Wakeman. Career Wakeman started on the clarinet at age ...

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soprano saxophone The soprano saxophone is a higher-register variety of the saxophone, a woodwind instrument invented in the 1840s. The soprano is the third-smallest member of the saxophone family, which consists (from smallest to largest) of the soprillo, sop ...

tenor saxophone The tenor saxophone is a medium-sized member of the saxophone family, a group of instruments invented by Adolphe Sax in the 1840s. The tenor and the alto are the two most commonly used saxophones. The tenor is pitched in the key of B (while th ...

*Bob Sydor –

alto saxophone The alto saxophone is a member of the saxophone family of woodwind instruments. Saxophones were invented by Belgian instrument designer Adolphe Sax in the 1840s and patented in 1846. The alto saxophone is pitched in E, smaller than the B tenor ...

, tenor saxophone * John Taylor –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*John Webb –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

Derek Wadsworth Derek Wadsworth (5 February 1939 – 3 December 2008) was an English jazz musician, composer and arranger. Early life Wadsworth was born in Cleckheaton, Yorkshire on 5 February 1939. His first instrument was the cornet and he started playing the ...

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trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

(tracks 1–3 & 7) *

Alan Skidmore Alan Richard James Skidmore (born 21 April 1942) is an English jazz tenor saxophonist, and the son of saxophonist Jimmy Skidmore. Career He was born in London, England. Skidmore began his professional career in his teens, and early in his care ...

, Tony Roberts – tenor saxophone (tracks 1, 5 & 7) *

Phil Lee Phillip Robert Lee (born 8 April 1943, London, England) is an English jazz guitarist. Lee studied guitar with Ike Isaacs as a teenager and was a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, including for their performance at the 1960 Antibes Jaz ...

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guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(tracks 1 & 7)

References

{{Authority control 1970 albums Graham Collier albums Albums produced by Terry Brown (record producer) Fontana Records albums