Career
Alan Barnes attended Leeds College of Music between 1977–80 where he studied saxophone, woodwinds and arranging before moving to London. In 1980 he played with the Midnight Follies Orchestra and the following year was with the Pasadena Roof Orchestra, touring Europe until 1983. In that year he left to join the hard-bop band of Tommy Chase where he attracted attention on the UK jazz scene for the first time. He left Chase in 1986 to co-lead The Jazz Renegades with rock drummer Steve White with whom he recorded four albums.
In 1985 he recorded his first record date as co-leader with Tommy Whittle – Straight Eight and as leader of his own quartet in 1987– Affiliation with pianist David Newton, an association that goes back to their days at Leeds College of Music. In 1988 Barnesn was asked to fill the chair recently vacated by Bruce Turner in the Humphrey Lyttelton band where he stayed until 1992. Between 1987–97 he also led the Pizza Express Modern Jazz Sextet with Gerard Presencer and Dave O’Higgins. After leaving the Lyttelton band, he concentrated on a freelance career. In 1993 he recorded again with Newton resulting in the duo album Like Minds and the quartet, quintet and sextet album Thirsty Work, which featured fellow reedmen Andy Panayi and Iain Dixon. Throughout the 90s he co-led a quintet with be-bop trumpeter Bruce Adams, recording two CDs Side- Stepping and Lets Face the Music.
During 1997–99, Barnes began to record a large number of sessions with pianist Brian Lemon on the Zephyr label including albums with Warren Vache, Ken Peplowski, Tony Coe, Roy Williams and his own octet and nonet. He performed as a member of Clark Tracey’s Tribute to Art Blakey and was featured on the David Newton/Clark Tracey recording Bootleg Eric.
In 1999 he toured America and Europe with Bryan Ferry’s band, returning to the United States in early 2000 to record and tour for ten weeks with Warren Vache’s eleven-piece band- a project for which Barnes had written most of the arrangements. A band with Don Weller, celebrating the music of Cannonball Adderley, recorded a live album Cannonball which was awarded album of the year in the 2001 British Jazz Awards. In the same year he received the BBC Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year award. That November Alan featured on Baritone at the Blue Note Clubs in New York and Tokyo with the Charlie Watts Tentet and followed this with a stay in South Africa as a solo artist.
A regular broadcaster over a ten-year period with the BBC Big Band and Radio Orchestra, he has toured and recorded with big band leaders, Dick Walter, Kenny Baker, Bob Wilber, Don Weller, Stan Tracey and Mike Westbrook. Other bands he has toured and recorded with include the Gary Potter quartet, playing the music of Django Reinhardt, the Tina May Trio with Nikki Iles, Bill LeSage’s Genetically Modified Quintet, and Spike Robinson’s Tenor Madness. Alan has also appeared as a session musician on albums by Selina Jones, Björk, Van Morrison, Bryan Ferry and can also be found on film and television soundtracks and jingles such as the Tetley Bitter series of adverts featuring his solo baritone.
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