A talented student’s career looks set to swing into action as he launches his own nationwide jazz tour.
John Fleming, a rising star on the UK jazz scene, will join his quartet on stage in his hometown, East Kilbride, for the first show later this month.
As part of John’s final year’s study in BMus(Hons) Jazz at Birmingham Conservatoire, the 21-year-old saxophonist has chosen to tour Britain with his quartet. The seven-date tour will be his major project in his final year at university.
The John Fleming Quartet, which he formed two years ago, is made up of John, Andy Bunting on piano, Tim Thornton on acoustic bass and Chris Draper on drums and they are already proving popular in the Birmingham jazz-scene, by selling-out a number of the city’s venues.
The tour will see the quartet visit East Kilbride, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Telford.
Since forming in 2008, the quartet has played regular gigs in Birmingham and also recently played at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival Fringe, where the four-
piece received critical acclaim for their improvisational skills, contemporary jazz pieces and original compositions.
The variety and range of John’s compositions aim to form fresh innovative musical ideas to the jazz genre.
John said: “The show will feature the kind of jazz standards that everyone expects to hear, but we will also bring something different to the genre with new compositions that I have composed, as well as new arrangements that our bass player has put together.
“We plan to play a bit of everything, there will be tunes that you know and tunes that you’ve not heard yet.
“As well as playing the kind of music we know our audience will like, we want them to hear our new ideas, too.”
Although he may just be at the start of his career, John has already worked with a world-renowned jazz musicians.
John explained: “I was educated at Claremont High School in East Kilbride and while there, I received tuition from Eliot Murray and Michael Brawley. Later, I received tuition from professional saxophonist Laura MacDonald whose influences encouraged me to continue my studies of jazz music.
“I have been a member of Tommy Smith’s internationally-acclaimed Youth Jazz Orchestra for the last four years and while at college, I receive tuition from various world-class jazz musicians, such as Jean Toussaint, Julien Siegal, Hans Koller, Mike Gibbs, Dave Holland and Jon Irabagon.”
At the age of 14, John joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Scotland, and when he turned 15 years old he began performing with the Strathclyde University Jazz Orchestra, who were then judged winners of the BBC Radio 2 Big Band competition.
John’s university major project not only involves playing in the quartet, but he must manage the tour, select suitable venues, arrange dates and promote the gigs.
All this work has to be done on top of rehearsing and performing, so John faces a busy time over the next six weeks.
He added: “After the tour and university is over, I hope to continue living in Birmingham and taking part in the amazing jazz scene that the city has. I hope to continue with more gigs, and possibly more tour dates with the quartet. In the future, I’d like to see myself studying music in a European country, perhaps studying for a post-graduate degree. But that is only what I’d like to see happen, we’ll just have to wait and see what the future really holds.”
The John Fleming Quartet Tour will come to East Kilbride’s Arts Centre on Saturday, February 13, and to Glasgow at Brel on Saturday, February 20 and The 78, on Tuesday, February 23. Tickets are priced between £6.50 and £8.50.
