Theo Travis

Theo Travis

Theo Travis in Vicenza 10-05-2015
Background information
Born (1964-07-07) 7 July 1964
Birmingham, England
Genres Jazz fusion, experimental rock, progressive rock, ambient
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Saxophone, flute
Years active 1993–present
Labels 33 Jazz
Associated acts Gong, Soft Machine Legacy, Cipher, Robert Fripp
Website www.theotravis.com

Theo Travis (born 7 July 1964 in Birmingham, England[1]) is a British saxophonist, flautist[2] and clarinetist.

Travis received his degree in music from the University of Manchester[3] specialising in the works of Shostakovich.[4] He has made eleven solo albums, mostly as a band leader working in the field of jazz, composing and arranging most of the material. However, 2003's Slow Life, on which he is the sole performer, is an ambient album employing loops which prefigures his later work with Travis & Fripp. He has made about the same number of albums again credited to himself and one (or occasionally more) other collaborator(s), including John Foxx and, as half of Travis & Fripp, Robert Fripp.

On his albums as band leader, Travis has played with numerous other jazz musicians. These have included, on his 2007 album Double Talk, guitarist Mike Outram[5] and organist Pete Whittaker.[6] There was no bassist as such on that album: Whittaker's distinctive keyboard style includes playing bass parts with his left hand. Robert Fripp also guested on two tracks on this album, one of which he co-wrote with Travis. Owing to other collaborative commitments, Travis did not record another jazz album for eight years. When he did so in 2015, he named his new band Theo Travis' Double Talk after the 2007 album. This new band again included both Outram and Whittaker, with the addition of Nic France[7] on drums.[8]

In 1993, Travis worked alongside bassist Dave Sturt on the Jade Warrior album Distant Echoes - as they would again on that band's 2008 album NOW. It was to prove a fortuitous collaboration. The pair worked together in the four-piece jazz fusion band The Other Side, releasing the album Dangerous Days in 1994,[9] and, since 1999, with varying guest musicians in their band Cipher which collaborated with Bill Nelson in both the latter's improvisational three-piece live band Orchestra Futura and his more conventional, seven-piece rock band Bill Nelson and the Gentlemen Rocketeers. Sturt would also serve as Mix engineer on Travis & Fripp's 2014 album Discretion.

In 2006, Travis joined Soft Machine Legacy, a project based on personnel and works of the band Soft Machine, replacing the late reedsman Elton Dean. Since 2008 he has worked with guitarist Robert Fripp in the duo Travis and Fripp, releasing four CDs to date, as well as three live concerts as downloads through DGMLive (two of them also on vinyl through Tonefloat). Travis has also worked extensively with Steven Wilson, performing on fifteen of his records and with Wilson mixing six of Travis' releases. Travis appears extensively as featured soloist on Wilson's Grammy nominated album Grace for Drowning and is part of his touring live band. In 2014, using kickstarter funding, he self-published the book Twice Around The World: Steven Wilson Tour Blogs 2012-2013 which included entries previously published on Travis' Facebook page, here re-edited, and was lavishly illustrated with photographs from that tour.

Travis has also worked with Harold Budd, Bass Communion, Burnt Friedman, Gong, No-Man, Porcupine Tree, The Tangent, Dave and Richard Sinclair, David Sylvian and David Gilmour.

He is of significance to the genres of jazz, ambient music and progressive rock.

Awards

Travis' album View From the Edge was voted Best British Jazz CD of 1994 by a Jazz on CD Critics/Readers poll.[10]

Discography

Solo albums

Solo Collaboration albums

Solo Compilation albums

Collaboration albums

Collaboration singles and EPs

Collaboration dvds

Tracks on Solo albums

Tracks on Collaboration albums

Tracks on Compilation albums

Tracks on Compilation 12"

Bibliography

Filmography

References

  1. ↑ The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze. via Oldies.com
  2. ↑ Lindsay, Bruce: Theo Travis: From Prog to Jazz and Back Again at All About Jazz
  3. ↑ UK Jazz
  4. ↑ Interview in the Vermont Review
  5. ↑ http://www.mikeoutram.com/
  6. ↑ http://www.pete-whittaker.com/
  7. ↑ https://sites.google.com/site/nicfrancegbbo00/home
  8. ↑ Trenwith, Roger (2015). "Theo Travis' Double Talk, The Vortex Jazz Club, Dalston, London. 2nd July 2015". Retrieved 5 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Podcast: Live From Progzilla Towers – Edition 129 – Dave Sturt's Top Ten (listen = from 09.57 to 12.47)". 2016. Retrieved 10 Jan 2016.
  10. ↑ "UK Jazz".
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