Dennis Rollins, (born 1964) is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

trombonist The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the air column inside the instrument to ...

, the founder and

bandleader A bandleader is the leader of a music group such as a dance band, rock or pop band or jazz quartet. The term is most commonly used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhyth ...

of BadBone and Co.

Early life and career

Dennis George Rollins was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, of

Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

n parents, and raised in Bentley,

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, where he attended

Don Valley High School Don Valley Academy (formerly Don Valley School and Performing Arts College) is a secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status located in Scawthorpe, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It has an enrolment of over 1,000 pupils ...

. When he was 14 years old, he joined The Doncaster Youth Jazz Association, with which he studied and performed for some years before moving to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 1987. Rollins has recorded, performed, and toured with a host of musicians and bands in jazz and pop, including

Courtney Pine Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964) is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...

, and

Maceo Parker Maceo Parker (; born February 14, 1943) is an American funk and soul jazz saxophonist, best known for his work with James Brown in the 1960s, Parliament-Funkadelic in the 1970s and Prince in the 2000s. Parker was a prominent soloist on many of ...

,. In 1995 he formed his own

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from ...

band, Dee Roe, with which he performed at such venues as the

Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. The venue holds 450 people across both floors. ...

Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club is a jazz club that has operated in Soho, London, since 1959. History The club opened on 30 October 1959 in a basement at 39 Gerrard Street in London's Soho district. It was set up and managed by musicians Ronnie Sc ...

, the London Forum, and

Brixton Academy Brixton Academy (originally known as the Astoria Variety Cinema, previously known as Carling Academy Brixton, currently named O2 Academy Brixton as part of a sponsorship deal with the O2 brand) is a mid-sized concert venue located in South Lon ...

. In 2000 he again formed a band, the quintet Dennis Rollins' BadBone and Co., launched at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London, England, and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings a ...

in March of that year, again specialising in

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

-inflected jazz. Dennis Rollins

In 2005 he formed Boneyard, an ensemble featuring 10 trombones,

sousaphone The sousaphone ( ) is a brass musical instrument in the tuba family. Created around 1893 by J.W. Pepper & Son, J. W. Pepper at the direction of American bandleader John Philip Sousa (after whom the instrument was then named), it was design ...

(or "sousabone"), and drums; this band performed a series of live gigs throughout the U.K. that summer as well as a performance on

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

. Boneyard featured the British jazz trombonists Barnaby Dickinson, Matt Colman, Julian Hepple, Andy Derrick, Kevin Holborough, Harry Brown, and Lee Hallam, with Andy Grappy on

. Current band members of Badbone&co are: Jay Phelps on trumpet, Johnny Heyes on guitars, Courtney Thomas on bass, Ross Stanley on keys and Jack Pollit on drums. Rollins is an artist/clinician for Michael Rath Trombones. His personal instrument is a yellow brass/nickel silve
Rath R3
In the 2018 Queen's Birthday Honours list Rollins was awarded an MBE for services to music."Jazz musicians recognised in Queen’s Birthday Honours"
Jazz FM, 10 June 2018.

Recordings (as leader)

*2000: ''Wild & Free'' (E.P.) *2001: ''BadBone'' *2003: ''Make Your Move'' *2006: ''Big Night Out''

References

Literature

John Chilton John James Chilton (16 July 1932 – 25 February 2016) was a British jazz trumpeter and writer. During the 1960s, he also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in ...

, ''Who's Who of British Jazz'', Continuum International Publishing Group, 2004,

External links

Dennis Rollins Official websiteMyspace page
*Kevin LeGendre, "Funk Is the Preacher, Jazz Is the Teacher", ''

Jazzwise ''Jazzwise'' is a British monthly magazine focused on jazz, launched in 1997. The magazine covers a range of jazz sub-genres and provides news coverage, a national gig guide, a jazz-on-film page, feature articles, and a review section that evalua ...

'' 97, May 2006, pp. 24–28) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rollins, Dennis 1964 births Living people Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands English jazz trombonists British male trombonists 21st-century trombonists 21st-century English male musicians English male jazz musicians Jazz Warriors members Members of the Order of the British Empire Motéma Music artists