# 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. He studied music at the University of Oxford and the postgraduate level at the Guildhall School of Music.

## Later life and career

After his studies, Noble played with saxophonist Stan Sulzmann in duo and quartet performances. He then played in several bands, including those led by Harry Beckett, John Stevens and Anita Wardell. In 1997, Noble joined Bobby Wellins' band. In 2002, he received a commission from Birmingham Jazz to write a song cycle.
Noble's 2004 recording Romance Among the Fishes was a quartet album, with Phil Robson (guitar), Drew Gress (bass) and Tom Rainey (drums). 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. 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". In 2010, Noble accompanied vocalist Christine Tobin on the album Tapestry Unravelled, a reworking of Carole King's Tapestry from four decades earlier. In 2015, Noble will release the solo piano album A Room Somewhere.
Noble teaches at the Royal Academy of Music, Trinity Laban, the Birmingham Conservatoire and the University of Kent.

## 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".

## Discography

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

### As leader/co-leader

| Year recorded | Title | Label | Personnel/Notes |
| 1994 | Close Your Eyes | FMR | Solo piano |
| 2001* | In the Meantime | Basho | Quintet, with Stan Sulzmann (tenor sax, soprano sax, flute), Chris Biscoe (alto sax, soprano sax, alto clarinet), Mick Hutton (bass), Paul Clarvis (drums) |
| 2004 | Romance Among the Fishes | Basho | Quartet, with Phil Robson (guitar), Drew Gress (bass), Tom Rainey (drums) |
| 2006* | Let's Call This... | Babel | Duo, with Ingrid Laubrock (sax) |
| 2009* | Brubeck | Basho | Trio, with Dave Whitford (bass), Dave Wickins (drums) |
| 2010* | Tapestry Unravelled | Trail Belle | Duo, with Christine Tobin (vocals) |
| 2015* | A Room Somewhere | Basho | Solo piano |

### As sideman

| Year recorded | Leader | Title | Label |
| 1994 | Moondog | Sax Pax for a Sax | Atlantic |
| 1998 | Harrison Smith | Outside Inside | Slam |
| 1998–99 | Tim Whitehead | Personal Standards | Home Made |
| 1999 | Trevor Lines | The Cats Hide Under the Bed When I Play My Gary Windo Records | Wriggly Pig |
| 2000 | Arnie Somogyi | Cold Cherry Soup | Forged |
| 2000 | Bobby Wellins | The Best Is Yet to Come | Jazzizit |
| 2004* | Crass Agenda | Savage Utopia | Exitstencil Sound |
| 2007 | Tim Whitehead | Too Young to Go Steady | Home Made |
| 2007 | Ingrid Laubrock | Sleepthief | Intakt |
| 2008* | Christine Tobin | Secret Life of a Girl | Babel |
| 2010 | Julian Siegel | Urban Theme Park | Basho |
| 2010 | Ingrid Laubrock | The Madness of Crowds | Intakt |
| 2011 | Ingrid Laubrock | Zurich Concert | Intakt |
| 2011* | Zhenya Strigalev | Smiling Organizm | Whirlwind |
| 2012* | Rachel Musson | Tatterdemalion | Babel |
| 2013 | Alex Garnett | Andromeda | Whirlwind |
| 2014* | Jim Rattigan | Triplicity | Pavillon |
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