| Gerard Presencer | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Born | 12 September 1972 Watford, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Jazz, Nu Jazz, Hard Bop, Bebop |
| Occupations | Performer, Bandleader, Educator |
| Instruments | Trumpet, Flugelhorn |
| Years active | 1987–present |
Gerard Presencer (born 12 September 1972) is an English jazz trumpeter who has also made a name as a session player in pop-music contexts, and as a jazz educator. He currently lives in Copenhagen, Denmark.
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Presencer showed his first interest in what was to become his chosen instrument, the trumpet, at nine. His anthropologist/psychologist father Alain was a trained opera singer with vast collection of jazz records. It was through him that Gerard heard Roy Eldridge's solo from a Jazz At The Philharmonic live date, a performance that Presencer attributes to his early determination to become a trumpeter. Presencer has also cited among others Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Morgan, Freddie Hubbard, Woody Shaw and Clifford Brown as early influences.[1]
At the age of eleven, he became the youngest trumpeter with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Presencer had been playing with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra for nearly five years, when he got his first important break. He was spotted on a 1988 jazz boat trip out of Southampton, where he was playing with saxophonist Tim Colwell, by Clark Tracey. Tracy asked Presencer to deputize for Guy Barker in his quintet, and subsequently formed a quartet, featuring the 15-year-old as his sole front-line player. Presencer later secured the trumpet chair in the Pizza Express Modern Jazz Sextet, where he shared the front-line with saxophonists Alan Barnes and Dave O'Higgins. Around this time, at the age of 18, Presencer also began playing with pianist Stan Tracey, in his big band, octet and septet.
Presencer continued to work with British musicians such as Tommy Smith, Stan Tracey, Peter King, John Dankworth, Julian Joseph, Ronnie Scott, Cleo Laine and Jason Rebello, as well as with international musicians, including Johnny Griffin, Phil Woods, Joe Sample, Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen, Roy Hargrove, Red Rodney, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Joe Locke and Bob Berg.[2] He is a member of Charlie Watts' Tentet, with which he has recorded four albums, and was a featured soloist on US3's Cantaloop (Blue Note's biggest-selling release). He has also released three albums as leader.
In January 2010, Presencer played as a soloist with the DR Big Band for the opening of the Copenhagen Concert Hall. Later the same year he chose to accept an offer to become a regular member of the big band and moved to Copenhagen.[3] In January 2011 he became part of the creative management team behind the Jazzhus Montmartre jazz club.[4]
Presencer has also been a popular session musician, recording with Sting, Jamiroquai, Zero 7, James Brown, Ray Charles, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, Joni Mitchell, The Spice Girls, Paul Weller, Tina Turner, Incognito, Kula Shaker, and the Pet Shop Boys.[2]
As a jazz educationalist, he has taught at the Guildhall School of Music, Leeds College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as being a professor at Berlin's Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler.