www.laurenceblackadder.com |
Laurence Blackadder started playing bass guitar in secondary school at 14 and began performing with his brother in a local punk/rock/pop group. By the age of 16 a chance meeting with a young guitarist lead to him seeing a video tape of an Old Grey Whistle Test clip of the artist Stanley Clarke; this had a deep impact on him and opened up his outlook to a whole new world of jazz/fusion.
Laurence spent many hours listening and playing along to Stanley, Weather Report, Brand X as well as new pop acts like Japan, Gary Newman, Paul Young and Level 42 and still played in local bands doing covers and some original material.
In 1993 he spent a year on exchange at Ryerson University in Toronto; there he joined a grunge rock trio which played all over the city. The multi-cultural diversity in Toronto really opened Laurence to new musical styles which sowed seeds that would later flourish.
After just missing out on a Masters scholarship to Georgia State University in Atlanta, opportunity knocked when after a chance meeting with Chris May (Overwater Basses) Laurence was offered a position in his new venture.
Since working with Chris he has met and worked with many great musicians who have encouraged and help him thrive. He started playing double bass in 2000 thanks to Peter Gardner (a retired Professor in the Philosophy Of Education from Warwick University) Peter introduced him to many types of jazz and his influences are still very strong, even today.
His first double bass tutor was Newcastle’s own Alan Collins who was a member of the legendary EMC-5 with Gary Cox, Mike and Ian Carr and Johnny Butts. Alan spotted talent and enthusiasm and helped develop Laurence’s deep love of the instrument. Since then Laurence has studied Classical Double Bass with Iain Crawford (Assistant Principle with BBC Scottish Symphony) and jazz double bass with Mark Hodgson (Faulty Royal Academy of Music London) and Zoltan Dekany (Leeds College of Music) whom he still studies with today.
Laurence has played with a variety of jazz bands and has toured in Germany. He was part of the backing band for Strictly Come Dancing’s Ian Waite and Camilla Dallerup’s master class dance weekend at the famous Lodore Falls Hotel in Borrowdale Valley. He has played with American jazz singer Deb Moulton and played several shows with London based pianist Andrew Brewis.
www.overwater.co.uk ~ www.overwaterbasses.com
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