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Mayer began a happy seven year relationship with the RPO, in the process learning a huge amount about orchestration (as well as conducting) from some of the finest players in England. Mayer was forced to leave his job at the LPO, but was hired by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, under the direction of Sir Thomas Beecham, who asked him to join. This early success, however, created problems with the management of the London Philharmonic, however, which was a conservative organization and didn't appreciate having a composer within the ranks of its performing musicians. Thus began a somewhat awkward eight-year period in which he played in the violin section of the orchestra while continuing to study composition - despite having some of his works played by the orchestra, and conducted by Sir Adrian Boult, he didn't begin to make headway as a composer until Sir Charles Groves commissioned him to write his Dance Suite for sitar, flute, tabla, tambura and symphony orchestra, which was premiered by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1958. His money ran out after only a year, but he was fortunate enough to earn a spot in the violin section of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. JAZZ A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION RAR SERIALHe had won through his violin playing, but he started out studying composition with Matyas Sether, who encouraged him to use the techniques of Indian and western music in serial composition. Mayer won the scholarship, and arrived in London in 1950 to study at the Royal Academy. At the time, he knew and heard little of jazz, although he did start sitting in as a drummer with jazz bands. He also wanted to achieve this utilising both European and Indian techniques, and toward this end he studied with Sanathan Mukherjee, who taught him the theoretical aspects of Indian classical music. He later studied with Melhi Metha, who encouraged him, while in his late teens, to compete for a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in London.īy then, Mayer was determined to become a composer who would be taken seriously both in his own country and abroad. JAZZ A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION RAR FREEHis musical interests manifested themselves early, and at seven he was studying violin with Phillipe Sandre at the Calcutta School of Music, who agreed to teach him in his free time, because Mayer's parents lacked the resources to send him there as a paying pupil. ![]() ![]() John Mayer born 1930 in Calcutta, to an Anglo-Indian father and an Indian mother. From the mid-1960's onward, he made his mark in the fields of jazz, progressive rock, and world music.Īlong with Dave Arbus of East of Eden, Mayer was probably the most well-liked violinist among rock musicians in London during the late 1960's, although his career is much more rooted in classical music. Born in India, to Anglo-Indian parents, he studied classical music and had a successful career as an orchestral violinist, but gave it up to work as a composer and, later, in jazz fusion as a composer-violinist-band leader. John Mayer was one of those multiple-threat music talents that made most other players' lives and career paths seem simple. Bhimpalazi (Looking Eastward To The Blues) - 9:47Ĭomposed, arranged and conducted by Victor Graham Victor Graham composed, arranged and conducted the pieces.Ġ3. The producers for the sessions were the great Ken Barnes (find out more about him at the excellent Vinyl Vulture site) and Michael Hall. JAZZ A COLLECTIVE IMPROVISATION RAR SERIESIn 1969, the imaginative indie record producer and jazz-lover Mark Sutton, who owned his own recording studio in Soho, gathered together some of the finest session jazz musicians working in London together with husband and wife, Dev and Sitara Kumar to record a series of what we might today call "fusion". ![]()
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