ROLAND PERRIN
Website: www.rolandperrin.com
As Roland spent most of his childhood roaming the planet with his itinerant family, it is not surprising that he developed a global view of music. Although he studied and continues to investigate Classical music, it is through the practical experience of global music, viewed from a Classical mindset, that he has found his voice as a composer.
Current Teaching
Head of Piano Studies at London Centre of Contemporary Music.
Operates a thriving private practice as a jazz piano teacher.
Performance
Working as a session pianist in the jazz/world music scene, Roland has toured and recorded with many including:
Dudu Pukwana (South Africa)
Jonas Gwangwa (South Africa)
Chris Macgregor’s Brotherhood of Breath (South Africa)
Aster Aweke (Ethiopia)
Moses Fan-Fan (Congo)
Najma Akhtar (India)
Rey Crespo (Cuba)
Osvaldo Chacon (Cuba)
Juan de Marcos – M.D. of Buena Vista Social Club (Cuba)
Roberto Pla (Colombia)
Victor Hugo (Venezuela)
Tumbaito (Venezuela)
Gustavo Marques (Brazil)
Guida de Palma (Portugal)
Salsa Celtica (Scotland/Cuba)
Louise Rutkowski (Scotland)
Wendy Nieper (England)
Rcordings released under his own name:
Evidence “See You Later” (Trio Records)
The Blue Planet Orchestra “Introducing The Blue Planet Orchestra” (Blue Planet Records)
Hertfordshire Chorus and The BPO “songs from the cage/Trio Classics” (Blue Planet Records)
The Blue Planet Orchestra “Suite Dreams” (Roland Perrin)
Roland Perrin and Rachel Sutton “Henri” (Roland Perrin)
Composition Commissions:
Orchestral
“songs from the cage" (David Temple - Hertfordshire Chorus)
“Heaven on Earth” (Crouch End Festival Chorus)Instrumental
"One hand in my pocket, (one hand on the wheel)" Elena Riu's Salsa Nueva 2005 (Boosey & Hawkes)
“That Monday Morning Feeling” (The Associated Board Jazz Piano Syllabus)
“Saturday” (The Associated Board Jazz Piano Syllabus)
“Peanut Vendor” (arr.) ( The Associated Board Jazz Piano Syllabus)
“Wednesday Walk” (Rock School Piano Syllabus)
“Shadows” (Rock School Piano Syllabus)
“Sunday Song” (Rock School Piano Syllabus)
“Persuasion” (Jazz Method for Saxophone. Schott)
“Hello, Goodbye” (Jazz Method for Flute. Schott)
“The Bicycle” (Jazz Method for Flute. Schott)
“Hello, Goodbye” (Jazz Method for Flute. Schott)
“Otra Vez” (Jazz Method for Flute. Schott)
“Crisis in Mahe” (Jazz Method for Flute. Schott)
CATALOGUE
Jazz Ensemble
Malinga
Offering
The first word
E
What I say (about you)
Hello,Goodbye
One fine day
Nico’s dream
The Promise
Nomads
The Blue Planet (where it all started)
Sleeping City
Retrospective Waltz
Golden Road
Kinacho
Salsa Differente
Homespun
Side-step
Trio Classics
Pavane (Faure)
Turkish Rondo (Mozart)
Slow Movement (Beethoven)
No Woman, No Cry/C major Prelude (Bob Marley/Bach)
Song Cycle
"London Songs"
Six songs, each for a different ensemble and singer, including one for
choir. Each song is inspired by a different aspect of life in London.
I Her Day
II Departure
III All Night Blues
IV Westway
V Hide and Seek
VI Peckham Dog
Big Band
The Blue Planet
Nomads
D.P.
Retrospective Waltz
Orchestral
"Crossing the Border"
Four pieces for orchestra
I Afro-Baroque
II Patagonian Air
III Cairo Rendezvous
IV Finale, some afterthoughts
"songs from the cage"
For Choir and Big Band
SOME REVIEWS
"Roland Perrin has long been one of the UK's most underrated jazz composers and arrangers. His deep appreciation and subtle flair for Latin, Caribbean and African music was honed in collaborations with such luminaries as the great South African horn player Dudu Pukwana and Cuban maestro Juan de Marcos Gonzalez. The delicate harmony and interplay between the two trombone front line is something special, more than ably supported by Brazilian bassist Matheus Nova, drummer Helder Pack from Mozambique and Roland on piano, accordion and melodica. Assured compositions and sublime arrangements make this refreshingly unpretentious outfit one to watch... Buy this CD and see the sun come out from behind the clouds." (By Jonathon Walton, Straight No Chaser on “Introducing the Blue Planet Orchestra”)
“This interesting collection of originals reflects much of the world’s music, while managing to avoid eclecticism…the two-trombone front line has warmth and panache… well worth checking out…" (by Mike Hobart, Ham & High on “Introducing the Blue Planet Orchestra”)
"...Roland (Perrin) .... steeped in African and Latin American influences... guaranteed to get any room dancing...." (by John Eyles, All About Jazz)
“It’s taken them a long time, but jazz is a slow business, a lifetime’s procedure, and now so many of the young men and women who were seeding the new British jazz of the 80s have become - ten, a dozen, even fifteen years later - some of the young elders, still fresh enough to seem like green shoots, but with roots aplenty too.
Perrin has drifted in and out of view over this period. An excellent band pianist, a gifted writer, he’s taken this opportunity to release a record of his own - and a very personal statement it is, joyful, pensive and poignant along the way. It’s a very uplifting session, drawing as it does on a worldview that has rivulets of highlife, reggae and a soulful sort of funk running through it. Worldly rather than world-music, the sound still works from a British base. Though the band has a multinational personnel, it’s to Perrin’s credit that it doesn’t come out like some straining-to-be-exotic goulash. The sounds and rhythms are beautifully clear and decisive...
As a composer, he secures a tight, almost pop-song feel to his pieces they’re wasteless and clever, full of little melodic hooks, and with many pieces around the four-five minute mark they’re structured to be instantly “accessible”.
But neither do they talk down to us, or inhibit the rambunctious playing of the two-trombone frontline, which is marvellously bright and witty and flavoursome. When they’re playing in three, as on ‘E”, they make it seem as fluidly easy as when they’re chomping into a more skanking sort of beat. If I’ve any complaint, it’s that I could have done with more of Perrin the soloist: he leaves many of those duties to Taylor and Bassey, and they’re great, but listen to Roland’s wonderful introduction to the genuinely affecting “What I Say (About You)” Whichever way you look at it and listen to it, it’s a terrific record..." (By Richard Cook, Jazz Review on “Introducing the Blue Planet Orchestra”)
“Roland shifted the mood for the second half, adapting a selection of familiar jazz and classical themes to a frequently Latin-flavoured piano-trio treatment. Aided by bassist Oroh Angiama and percussionist Helder Pack, Perrin cherished Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, brought a Brazilian sway to Coltrane's Giant Steps, a salsa feel to a Scott Joplin rag and a chordal urgency to Abdullah Ibrahim, and built a tribute to the late Dudu Pukwana into a jubilant South African townships groove. A jazz evening off the beaten track, but delivered with affection and imagination.” (By John Fordham, The Guardian on The Roland Perrin Trio’s performance at the Vortex in Autumn 2004)
