Jaz Coleman
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jaz Coleman | |
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 Jaz Coleman backstage at Chicago Metro, 1991.
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| Background information | |
| Born | February 26, 1960 |
| Origin | Cheltenham, England |
| Genre(s) | Post-punk, industrial metal, classical music |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, keyboardist, songwriter, conductor |
| Years active | 1979 – present |
| Label(s) | Cooking Vinyl Red Ink Sony Zoo Entertainment/Volcano EG Virgin |
Jeremy "Jaz" Coleman (born February 26, 1960) is a musician, composer, singer/song-writer and music producer. He is notable for his vocal contributions to post-punk/metal/industrial band Killing Joke. In addition, he was also the band's keyboardist and has composed orchestral and soundtrack pieces and produced diverse musical groups, such as Oceania.
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[edit] Biography
Coleman was born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England to an English father and an Indian mother who are both school teachers. He began piano and violin lessons at the age of six, and was a member of several cathedral choirs in England. He won prizes for violin throughout his teens, and in adulthood has studied opera, composition, and orchestration.[1] According to his own account, Coleman also studied international banking for three years in Switzerland.[2]
He is a supporter of the concept of environmental sustainability and has invested in the creation of two eco-villages in the South Pacific and in Chile.[3] Coleman holds four passports and has residences in Prague, Switzerland, and New Zealand where he owns a recording studio.[1] Coleman also produced much of Shihad's early material, including the album Churn. He has been married twice and has children. He claims that he has an IQ of over 190.
[edit] Killing Joke
In 1979 he founded Killing Joke with drummer Paul Ferguson in Notting Hill, London with whom he recruited guitarist Geordie Walker and bassist Martin Glover (aka Youth).[1] The group released its first single in October 1979 and their first eponymous album was released in 1980. Coleman contributed lead vocals and keyboards to the bands' songs, and thanks to his stage persona and Walker's guitar sound and playing, the group soon became pioneers of a post-punk heavy guitar sound that has inspired industrial rock and metal genres. Known for controversial political and social opinions, the events of Coleman's public life are intertwined with his colourful association with Killing Joke. He is known for his aggressive and powerful stage presence, and sense of ritualistic pageantry in movement and dress. Whilst his stage voice is a particularly harsh growl (which has become more aggressive over the years), albums such as Brighter Than a Thousand Suns, Night Time and Outside The Gate proved he could also sing impressively in a standard rock/pop manner. He remains active in both recording and touring with the band.
[edit] Solo composition and recordings
Coleman has studied and played music from many cultures, and is a multi-instrumentalist. He studied Arabic music at the Cairo Conservatoire and has a passion for Czech folk music and Māori music, among others. One of his Māori pieces is the "Second Symphony for Māori Voice and Orchestra".[1] He was involved in adding a verse in the Māori language to the New Zealand national anthem; it was sung by Māori singer Hinewehi Mohi at the 1999 Rugby World Cup match, and after some controversy the verse was officially added.[4]
Along with Anne Dudley of Art of Noise fame, in 1990 Coleman co-wrote and co-performed the middle-eastern instrumental album called "Songs From the Victorious City" (which is a reference to Cairo, Egypt). In 1995 he released his first of three albums of symphonic rock music. Us and Them: Symphonic Pink Floyd and Kashmir: The Symphonic Led Zeppelin were both written and produced by Coleman with Peter Scholes conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. On June 8, 2007, Coleman collaborated with over 150 youth musicians in the Contemporary Youth Orchestra, based in Cleveland, OH, to perform the entirety of Kashmir: Symphonic Led Zeppelin along with additional orchestrations of Led Zeppelin's music. In 1999 he produced and arranged an album of Doors material for orchestra, performed by classical musicians including Nigel Kennedy and the Prague Symphony Orchestra, called "Riders on the Storm: The Doors Concerto CD" (released in 2000). He has worked with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, who have issued a CD of his Symphony No. 1 "Idavoll", with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and as composer in residence to the Prague Symphony Orchestra.[1][5][6] In 2002 he was commissioned by ICAM to compose a three-part concerto "Music of the Quantum",[7] expressing the ideas of the quantum and emergence in musical form, which he co-produced with his older brother, Piers Coleman (born February 13, 1958).[8]
In October 2006 it was announced that Coleman had been chosen as Composer in Residence for the European Union. As Composer in Residence he will be given a grant to write and perform music for the EU on special occasions.[6][9]
[edit] Film
In 2002 Coleman starred in a multiple award-winning Czech film by Petr Zelenka Rok ďábla (Year of the Devil). Switching to yet another artistic role, he has been co-directing a documentary-style music film called "The Death And Resurrection Show", named after a song on Killing Joke's 2003 album. He also appeared on the soundtrack to Disney's animated feature film Mulan (1998).
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c d e Kyselka, Mike. "“We’re all gonna die!”". Prague Pill (5). Prague: Impuls CR. “Prague-based musician Jaz Coleman is said to have the most diverse career in the music industry, ranging from his early punk band Killing Joke to the Symphony Orchestras of the world. The child of academics, he studied piano and violin from the age of six and at eight was admitted to sing for the Addington Palace Choir. Within two years he had sung in many of the great cathedral choirs of England. By 14 his prizes included the Gold Medal at the Bath International festival, the Rex Watson Festival challenge cup at the Cheltenham festival and Grade 8 with distinction for the violin. In 1979 he founded Killing Joke, whose heavy sound influenced Nirvana, Nine Inch Nails and Ministry. Never one to run place for long, in 1982 Jaz began composition and orchestration studies that led him (five years later) to Minsk and Leipzig in DDR and later still to study with Hungarian master Dr. Peter Saunders. In 1989-90 Jaz began a study of quarter tones and instrumentation of Arabic music at the Cairo Conservatoire and in the studies of the celebrated composer Ammar El Sherie.”
Related news articles:- Prague TV: “We’re all gonna die!” (PHP). Prague TV. Retrieved on 2008-02-15.
- ^ Killing Joke's Jaz coleman Takes No Prisoners! 2. the-raft.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-07. “Killing Joke- Interview with Jaz Coleman, JC”
- ^ Video Interview with Jaz Coleman, recorded June 2005; extracted November 21, 2006
- ^ The New Zealand Edge, CNN (2000-05-12). Te Ao Maori. Media - Society. NEWZEDGE.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-24. “Deep Forest blends with Massive Attack in Oceanic swirl, Oceania, with the release of its self-titles debut album and led by ex-Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman, makes a spirited and successful atempt to bring Maori music from New Zealand to a global stage. The result is a fresh and beautifully layered World Music treat.”
- ^ Prague Symphony Orchestra. fok. Retrieved on 2008-01-24.
- ^ a b Bennett, J.. Killing Joke (ASPX). Decibel Magazine. Retrieved on 2008-01-07. “Coleman is a Composer in Residence to the Prague Symphony Orchestra, the nation of New Zealand and, as of October 2006, the entire European Union.”
- ^ Music of the Quantum. ILCProductions.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-24. “Music of the Quantum was first performed in New York, at Columbia University on the 22nd March, 2003.
This composition by Jaz Coleman was commisioned by the Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter (ICAM) as a public outreach event, first performed in New York at Columbia University on March 22nd 2003. The event was performed by the Sporcl quintet from Prague, and narrated by Robert Laughlin and Piers Coleman. The piece enjoyed its European Premier on the 20th July 2004, in the Bethlehem Chapel, Prague.
The piece was written to bring out musically, some of the themes of the quantum emergent world. The melody of this unique piece is carried between a violin and an accordion, the idea being to capture the duality of quantum mechanics between these two contrasting instruments. In composing the music, Jaz Coleman followed the musical brief to be found by clicking on the buttons below.” - ^ Tomlin, Sarah (September 2, 2004). "Physics and music: Brothers in art". Nature 431 (7004): pp. 14–16. London, New York: Macmillan. doi:. ISSN 0028-0836. OCLC 4285192. Lay summary – Nature ([[September 1, 2004]]). “Piers Coleman is a theoretical physicist, his brother Jaz a musician with an unusual pedigree. Together, they want to break down boundaries between science and the arts. Sarah Tomlin attends their latest concert. (To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment.)”
- ^ "Paul Raven" (October 22, 2007). Telegraph. London: R. Bostock. OCLC 11251885. “Coleman is presently Composer in Residence to the European Union.”
Related news articles:- London Telegraph 22 October 2007. anirrationaldomain.net. Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
[edit] External links
- Killing Joke's Official Site
- The-Raft.com Interview with Jaz Coleman
- Prague-tv Interview with Jaz Coleman
- Rockdetector.com Interview with Jaz Coleman
- Fansite for Jaz Coleman; currently under construction
| Persondata | |
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| NAME | Coleman, Jaz |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | Singer, keyboardist, songwriter, conductor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1960-2-26 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cheltenham, England |
| DATE OF DEATH | |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
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