Liam Noble (musician)

Liam Noble (born 15 November 1968) is a British jazz pianist, composer, arranger and educator.

Early life

Noble was born in London on 15 November 1968.^[1] He studied music at the University of Oxford and at postgraduate level at the Guildhall School of Music.^[1]

Later life and career

After his studies, Noble played with saxophonist Stan Sulzmann in duo and quartet performances.^[1] He then played in several bands, including those led by Harry Beckett, John Stevens and Anita Wardell.^[1] In 1997, Noble joined Bobby Wellins' band.^[1] In 2002, he received a commission from Birmingham Jazz to write a song cycle.^[1]

Noble's 2004 recording Romance Among the Fishes was a quartet album, with Phil Robson (guitar), Drew Gress (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums).^[2] Noble and Robson had often played together, but the four had been put together earlier the same year for an appearance at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival.^[2] Noble's 2009 trio album, Brubeck, was described by the dedicatee, Dave Brubeck, as "an inspiration and a challenge for me to carry on in the avenues that you [Noble] have opened".^[3] In 2010, Noble accompanied vocalist Christine Tobin on the album Tapestry Unravelled, a reworking of Carole King's Tapestry from four decades earlier.^[4] In 2015, Noble will release the solo piano album A Room Somewhere.^[5]

Noble teaches at the Royal Academy of Music,^[6] Trinity Laban,^[7] the Birmingham Conservatoire^[8] and the University of Kent.^[9]

Compositions

Critic John Fordham, writing in 2005, commented that "Noble likes a mixture of staccato, drily witty themes that suggest a collision of Steve Coleman and Django Bates with Wayne Shorter – and with Canadian piano guru Paul Bley in the quieter episodes".^[2]

Discography

An asterisk (*) indicates that the year is that of release.

As leader/co-leader

As sideman

Main source:^[10]

References

External links

• Noble's blog.