Ed Barker
@ the PizzaExpress Jazz Club
9 January 2014

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Biography

Born in September 1984, Ed Barker began his musical studies at the age of seven on the piano and started clarinet lessons hearing Acker Bilk’s, Stranger on the Shore, for the first time.
In 2001 and 2003, Barker was awarded Diplomas by the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) for his clarinet and piano playing and he went on to perform George Gershwin’s, Rhapsody In Blue, in a series of concerts around the UK with Chris Jeans and the Ransome Brass Band - both the clarinet and piano solos!

Barker graduated from the University of Nottingham in 2006 with a Law Degree and was soon invited to play alto saxophone with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra (NYJO). In 2009, Barker took over the lead alto chair in NYJO, touring the UK until January 2010 when he performed for the last time with NYJO at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.

After leaving NYJO, Barker published a book with legendary saxophonist, Nigel Hitchcock, called The Solos of Nigel Hitchcock, and in 2012 he played tenor saxophone and clarinet on tour with George Michael. George himself introduced Ed Barker to tens of thousands of people each night as he played the tenor sax solo on the 1993 hit, Cowboys And Angels.

After this, Barker started to record his own album, “Simple Truth,” which features his own compositions, arrangements and some co-writes with Richard Niles, an LA based songwriter, producer and guitarist who Barker met in London. The album has Barker’s favourite musicians from around the world (New York, LA and London) and features the BBC Strictly Come Dancing singer, Lance Ellington.

Whilst he was involved with this project, Barker was invited by Dave Koz to play aboard the Royal Caribbean: Navigator of the Seas for the Dave Koz & Friends At Sea cruise around the Mediterranean Sea (September 2012). Not only did Barker get to see the wonderful sites in Athens, Rome, Naples, Messina and Mykonos, but he got to play with some of the world’s biggest names in jazz, smooth jazz and popular music: Dave Koz, of course, Gerald Albright, one of Barker’s early inspirations on the saxophone, and the late Ricky Lawson, Michael Jackson’s drummer.