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Artist
gary bamford
12+ albums
funkjazzjazz fusionquirkyenglish
about
Contrary to recent speculation, Gary Bamford was born. This unremarkable event occurred at Princess Margaret’s Hospital, Swindon, UK on 5th April 1970. Who was to know that a mere seventeen years later, on his ABRSM Grade 8 piano examination performance, an examiner would comment “The melodies sang QUITE WELL”? Gary began piano lessons at the age of five, at ten he began the trumpet and in his teens taught himself guitar, bass guitar and drums. During his preteen years, Gary was largely influenced by piano composers, such as Mozart and Beethoven, and big band jazz - he would spend hours in his bedroom transcribing trumpet solos from his dad’s records. As his tastes changed, it was the influence of British rock and metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Rainbow and Led Zeppelin that inspired him to pick up a guitar and as he started to experiment with song writing, his artists of choice began to include the likes of The Smiths, The Cure, Tom Waits, Billy Bragg and Talking Heads. Soon his tastes widened further to encompass bands that wrote in more expanded forms, such as Yes, Genesis and Rush. In 1983 Gary joined Swindon Young Musicians (SYM) on trumpet, playing with their Senior Wind Band and Showband (with which he also played guitar and bass). He travelled with SYM on various European tours, performed at the Royal Albert Hall and on the QE2, and would later return as an assistant tutor. In 1988 he joined the Wiltshire Youth Concert Orchestra (WYCO) with whom he toured Hungary, Ge
