Artist description Projects utilising other musicians as required but mostly performed and recorded by the Composer in a Digital Studio.

Music Style Jazz, Alternative Jazz

Musical Influences Charlie Christian, Dizzie Gillespie, Frank Zappa

Similar Artists Zappa crossed with Eat Static and Here and Now

Artist History JAZSPEAK was first conceived and formed in 1988, in Newquay, Cornwall, as a vehicle for the songs and compositions of P.S.Belcher. Starting as a piano and guitar duet, with Guy Hobson on the keys, and later developing to include a variety of other musicians, the early recordings of JAZSPEAK reveal the roots of the compositional style that now utilises entire computerised orchestras. The compositions of P.S.Belcher have achieved international recognition, the composer recently working in collaboration with dancers and musicians from University College Chichester, and Queens College New York. The collaboration was based on the theme of Phototropism and was performed at the Chichester Fringe Festival, and in New York, in 1999.P.S.Belcher was born in 1957 and has a daughter, Saffron, born in 1994. Although a multi-instrumentalist, he is best known as a self-taught guitarist having performed with a wide variety of bands and ensembles, including The New Society Jazz Band. Throughout 1992 and 1993, and again throughout 1996, P.S.Belcher was privileged to perform recitals with the great Tenor Saxophonist Bobby Wellins. P.S.Belcher attended Chichester College of Arts, Science, and Technology where he studied Jazz, being tutored by tenor saxophonist Bobby Wellins, guitarist Dave Murrell, and other notable musicians. P.S.Belcher then studied Popular Music at CCOAST, which led to an interest in Academic studies of music, moving on to study at University College Chichester, graduating a Bachelor of Arts with Joint Honours in Related Arts and Music. At present, P.S.Belcher is a Postgraduate Research student at University College Chichester and is writing a thesis investigating the Semiotics of Music.In the summer of 1999, P.S.Belcher was commissioned by University College Chichester to research and compose a piece of music depicting a history of Jazz from Blues to Bebop. The research report that accompanies the composition traces a history of the development of the original work songs and field hollers of the slaves to the sophistication of chromatic theories in Jazz. The influence of Western European music on the slave song-styles has been clearly documented in the report, which seeks to describe a lineage of the development of Jazz from the apparently simplistic Blues and field hollers to the obviously complex and sophisticated chromaticism of Bebop.Millenium, represents the expression of music as art, and demonstrates that Jazz can evolve with the times and technology whilst retaining a sense of social commentary. This led to an expansion in the work of P.S.Belcher, who now regards himself as a multimedia artist, and composer, producing CD-XA CD-ROMs, which carry full-motion videos for some compositions. This direction has been reinforced by the CD, Aliens Abducted My Daughter, which represents an emotional commentary of the experiences of P.S.Belcher throughout the nineteen nineties, and which carries a multimedia video, Trains of Thought Colliding at Southall, intended to highlight the social imbalance between people and profit.

Group Members P.S.Belcher

Instruments Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Keyboards, Vocals, Samplers, Sequencers, Percussion, Drum Synths and Samples.

Albums Sleightly Funky; Aliens Abducted My Daughter; Millenium; The Sound of Art; Waiter, I Ordered The Sound; Missa Mundi; Virtually Live; Requiem For The Unsung Hero; Clubbing (vol. 1 and 2); The Whale of Sirens

Location Chichester, West Sussex - United Kingdom

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