Geoff Eales (born 13 March 1951) is a Welsh

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 ...

pianist, improviser and composer.

Music education

Eales was born in

Aberbargoed Aberbargoed () is a town in the County Borough of Caerphilly, Wales. Aberbargoed once contained the largest ever colliery waste tip in Europe, although this has now been reclaimed and turned into a country park. The town is within the histori ...

, Wales. When he was eight years old, he learned

12-bar blues The twelve-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly base ...

from his father, a pianist in a local dance band. In school he studied classical piano and French Horn, becoming a member of the Glamorgan Youth Orchestra and the

National Youth Orchestra of Wales The National Youth Orchestra of Wales (NYOW, ) is the national youth orchestra of Wales, based in Cardiff. Founded in 1945, it is the longest-standing national youth orchestra in the world. Organisation The orchestra numbers around 115 young ...

. He attended

Cardiff University Cardiff University () is a public research university in Cardiff, Wales. It was established in 1883 as the University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire and became a founding college of the University of Wales in 1893. It was renamed Unive ...

, receiving bachelor's, masters, and doctoral degrees. In 1980 he was awarded a Ph.D. for his large scale orchestral work "An American Symphony" and a setting of

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer, whose works include the poems " Do not go gentle into that good night" and " And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Un ...

' poem "In the Beginning" for tenor, French horn, and piano. His thesis was entitled "Structure in the Symphonic Works of Aaron Copland".

Career

After leaving school, Eales played piano on a Greek cruise ship and traveled around the world. For a few months he lived in New Orleans where he worked with

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Buddy Tate George Holmes "Buddy" Tate (February 22, 1913 – February 10, 2001) was an American jazz saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Tate was born in Sherman, Texas, United States, and first played the alto saxophone. According to the website All Ab ...

, and

Earl Warren Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney and politician who served as the 30th governor of California from 1943 to 1953 and as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presid ...

. He moved to London in 1977 and became a member of the

Joe Loss Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss (22 June 1909 – 6 June 1990) was a British dance band leader and musician who founded his own eponymous orchestra. Life Loss was born in Spitalfields, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Israel an ...

band, then spent four years as pianist for the BBC Big Band. Eales has worked with Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber,

Andy Williams Howard Andrew Williams (December 3, 1927 – September 25, 2012) was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold certified and three platinum certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hos ...

Dame Shirley Bassey Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films - the only artist to officially perform more than one - Bassey is on ...

, Jose Carreras,

Kiri Te Kanawa Dame Kiri Jeanette Claire Te Kanawa (; born Claire Mary Teresa Rawstron, 6 March 1944) is a New Zealand opera singer. She had a full lyric soprano voice, which has been described as "mellow yet vibrant, warm, ample and unforced". On 1 December ...

Jerry Goldsmith Jerrald King Goldsmith (February 10, 1929July 21, 2004) was an American composer, conductor and orchestrator with a career in film and television scoring that spanned nearly 50 years and over 200 productions, between 1954 and 2003. He was consid ...

Henry Mancini Henry Mancini ( ; born Enrico Nicola Mancini; April 16, 1924 – June 14, 1994) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, pianist and flutist. Often cited as one of the greatest composers in the history of film, he won four Academy Awards, ...

Elmer Bernstein Elmer Bernstein ( '; April 4, 1922August 18, 2004) was an American composer and conductor. In a career that spanned over five decades, he composed "some of the most recognizable and memorable themes in Hollywood history", including over 150 orig ...

, Bob Farnon,

Billy May Edward William May Jr. (November 10, 1916 – January 22, 2004) was an American composer, arranger and trumpeter. He composed film and television music for ''The Green Hornet (TV series), The Green Hornet'' (1966), ''The Mod Squad (TV series), T ...

Adelaide Hall Adelaide Louise Hall (20 October 1901 – 7 November 1993) was an American-born UK-based jazz singer and entertainer. Her career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death. Early in her career, she was a major figure in the Harlem Ren ...

Michael Ball Michael Ashley Ball (born 27 June 1962) is an English singer, presenter and actor. In 1985, he made his West End debut as Marius Pontmercy in the original production of ''Les Misérables''. In 1989, he reached number two in the UK Singles C ...

and many others and has played on film soundtracks, records, TV shows and jingles. He released his debut album, ''Mountains of Fire'' in 1999.

Discography

References

External links

The Geoff Eales Trio, Jazz Piano Legends
{{DEFAULTSORT:Eales, Geoff 1951 births Living people People from Aberbargoed Welsh jazz pianists Welsh jazz composers 21st-century British pianists Edition Records artists Basho Records artists 21st-century Welsh musicians 20th-century Welsh musicians