ROGER BEAUJOLAIS
Genres: Hard Bop, Latin Jazz, Post Bop, Classic Fusion • United Kingdom

b. Roger Downham, 22 November 1952, Harrogate, Yorkshire, England. Entirely self-taught, Beaujolais took up music, playing piano and drums, briefly playing the latter in a rock band. He listened to and admired a wide range of jazz musicians, on many instruments, but it was not until he was 24 that he began to seriously consider the vibraphone. At 28 he played his first gig on this instrument and since 1973 has been fully engaged as a professional musician. An early group he led was the Beaujolais Band, which played an appealing mix of salsa and bop, coming as it did in a period when hard bop was enjoying a renaissance. Since then he has customarily been heard leading his own quintet and the acid jazz group Vibraphonic, and as co-leader of the Theo Travis/Roger Beaujolais Quartet. He also worked often with the popular jump jive unit the Chevalier Brothers, of read more...