Tom Bancroft

Thomas Peter Bancroft (born 29 January 1967) is a British jazz drummer and composer.

Early life and education

Bancroft was born in London on 29 January 1967.[1] He began drumming aged seven and started off playing with his father and twin brother, Phil.[1] The family moved to Scotland when Tom was nine and he had gigs in Edinburgh from his mid-teens.[1] While studying medicine at Cambridge University, he composed music and continued playing gigs.[1] For nine months during 1988–89, Bancroft studied composition and arranging at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.[1]

Later life and career

Back in Scotland in 1990, Bancroft wrote for his big band.[1] Qualifying as a doctor in 1992, he then worked as a jazz musician and composer, in addition to doing some medical work, including in Russia.[1] The big band toured the UK in 1996.[1] He has toured extensively in various bands and has written for radio and television.[1]

In 1998, along with New Zealander Suzy Melhuish,[2] Bancroft co-founded Caber Music.[1][3] The first release was Bancroft's Pieology, a selection of concert and broadcast performances.[4]

Bancroft is co-leader of Trio AAB with Phil Bancroft and guitarist Kevin MacKenzie.[5] Their first album was Cold Fusion.[5] This was followed by Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat.[6] Stranger Things Happen at C was their next album and included Brian Finnegan on flutes and whistles for some tracks.[7] Critic John Fordham wrote that the trio "skids between Scottish folk music, the melancholy defiance of John Coltrane and the sprightly melodic laterality of Ornette Coleman".[7]

Around 2012, an album by Bancroft's Trio Red band was released by Interrupto Music.[8] The other musicians on First Hello to Last Goodbye were pianist Tom Cawley and bassist Per Zanussi.[8] Fordham described it as "a shot-in-the-dark venture that turned into a world-class trio in a week."[8] A second album, Lucid Dreamers, was released around 2016.[9]

Discography

As leader/co-leader
  • Pieology (Caber, 1993–97)[4]
  • Cold Fusion (Caber, 1998?)[5]
  • Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat (Caber, 2000?)[6]
  • Stranger Things Happen at C (Caber, 2002?)[7]
  • First Hello to Last Goodbye (Interrupto, 2012?)[8]
  • Lucid Dreamers (Interrupto, 2016?)[9]

References
  1. Chilton, John (2004). Who's Who of British Jazz (2nd ed.). Continuum. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-8264-7234-2.
  2. "Caber Music". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
  3. "Caber History". Caber Music. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
  5. Schulte, Tom. "Trio AAB: Cold Fusion". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. Astarita, Glenn. "Trio AAB: Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  7. Fordham, John (21 February 2003). "Trio AAB: Stranger Things Happen at C". Review. The Guardian.
  8. Fordham, John (15 August 2012). "Tom Bancroft: Trio Red – First Hello to Last Goodbye". Review. The Guardian.
  9. Smith, Stewart (27 April 2016). "Complete Communion: April's Jazz Reviewed By Stewart Smith". The Quietus.
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