Roy Powell

I studied piano and avant-garde composition at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester England before defecting to jazz. I first made some waves in 1994 with my debut recording A Big Sky which was hailed as “a real bench mark in British contemporary electric jazz” by Jazz on CD I then emigrated to Oslo, Norway where I collaborated on an album of free improvised music – Holus which was described as “ an outstanding success” by Jazz journal International.

My next release as a leader- North by Northwest featuring Norwegian bassist Arild Andersen has also been a critical success as well as being selected as Best Jazz CD of 2001 by Amazon.co.uk. Solace which was released in 2003 received lavish praise including 4 stars in Downbeat.

My piece Bow Out has been performed by Oakland, Richmond, Cincinnati and Florida ballet companies and has had performances all over the globe from Japan, Australia, and USA to Europe and Scandinavia.

My recordings have appeared in the Gramophone Jazz Good CD guide, Gramophone Classical Good CD guide, the Lord Discography, The new Grove Dictionary of Jazz as well as jazz magazines in Europe and the US and radio shows in the UK, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Holland Scandinavia and the US.I have recorded with and played concerts with many significant musicians including Art Farmer, Eddie Daniels, Jeff Berlin, Hadrian Feraud, Lorenzo Feliciati, Reggie Washington, Bobby Shew, Anthony Braxton, Vince Mendoza, Mike Gibbs, Iain Ballamy, Martin France, Frode Berg, Erik Smith, Arild Andersen, Terje Rypdal, Mike Walker, Sigurd Køhn, Jarle Vespestad, Jacob Young, Terje Gewelt, Cuong Vu, Pat Mastelotto Joel Harrison, Dan Weiss, Nils Olav Johansen, Dominique Di Piazza, Per Mathisen, Roy Hargrove and Dave Liebman amongst others.

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My Desert Island Picks

1.    Glenn Gould- Goldberg Variations

2.    Olivier Messiaen - Le Corps Glorieux

3.    Larry Young- Unity

What I'm Listening To Now (As of 2011-03-25)

1.    Miles Davis - Jack Johnson

2.    Tony Williams Liftime- Emergency

3.    Washed Out- Life Of Leisure