Peter Naphtali Lemer (born 14 June 1942) is an English

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 ...

musician. He worked with the Pete Lemer Quintet,

Spontaneous Music Ensemble The Spontaneous Music Ensemble (SME) was a loose collection of free improvising musicians, convened in 1965 by the late South London-based jazz drummer/trumpeter John Stevens and alto and soprano saxophonist Trevor Watts. SME performances and ...

Annette Peacock Annette Peacock (born 1941) is an American composer, musician, songwriter, producer, and arranger. She is a pioneer in electronic music who combined her voice with one of the first Moog synthesizers in the late 1960s. Biography Annette Peacock ...

Harry Beckett Harold Winston Beckett (30 May 1935 – 22 July 2010) was a British trumpeter and flugelhorn player of Barbadian origin. Biography Born in Bridgetown, Saint Michael, Barbados, Harry Beckett learned to play music in a Salvation Army band. A ...

Gilgamesh Gilgamesh (, ; ; originally ) was a hero in ancient Mesopotamian mythology and the protagonist of the ''Epic of Gilgamesh'', an epic poem written in Akkadian during the late 2nd millennium BC. He was possibly a historical king of the Sumer ...

Baker Gurvitz Army Baker Gurvitz Army were an English Rock Music, rock group. Their Baker Gurvitz Army (album), self-titled debut album featured a blend of hard rock laced with Ginger Baker's jazz- and Afrobeat-influenced drumming. The lengthy "Mad Jack" was th ...

, Seventh Wave, Harry Beckett's Joy Unlimited,

Pierre Moerlen's Gong Pierre Moerlen's Gong was an instrumental jazz fusion band led by French drummer Pierre Moerlen which developed as an offshoot of the Canterbury scene band Gong founded and led by Daevid Allen. It was notable for the prominent use of mallet p ...

Mike Oldfield Michael Gordon Oldfield (born 15 May 1953) is an English retired musician, songwriter and producer best known for his debut studio album ''Tubular Bells'' (1973), which became an unexpected critical and commercial success. Though primarily a gu ...

Group, In Cahoots, and Miller/Baker/Lemer. He currently works with In Cahoots, Peter Lemer Trio/Quartet, Barbara Thompson's Paraphernalia, and the Peter Lemer-Billy Thompson Quartet and Duo.

Early life and education

Peter Lemer was born in London, England. He studied piano and composition at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

with Sven Weber and John Gardner, privately with

Thomas Rajna Thomas Rajna (21 December 1928 – 16 July 2021) was a British pianist and composer of Hungarian birth. He had been domiciled in Cape Town in South Africa since 1970. Biography Rajna was born in Budapest, Hungary. He started to play the piano ...

, and then at workshops in London run by Jack Goldzweig (who had himself co-coached in New York with

Mal Waldron Malcolm Earl "Mal" Waldron (August 16, 1925 – December 2, 2002) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He started playing professionally in New York in 1950, after graduating from college. In the following dozen years or so Wa ...

and

John Mehegan John Francis Mehegan (June 6, 1916 – April 3, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, lecturer and critic. Early life Mehegan was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 6, 1916, although he sometimes gave the year as 1920. He began playing the vio ...

). Lemer then went to New York to study double bass with David Walter, attended workshops run by

Bill Dixon William Robert Dixon (October 5, 1925 – June 16, 2010) was an American composer and educator. Dixon was one of the seminal figures in free jazz and late twentieth-century contemporary music. He was also a prominent activist for artist's right ...

, and studied piano with

Jaki Byard John Arthur "Jaki" Byard (; June 15, 1922 – February 11, 1999) was an American jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, and arranger. Mainly a pianist, he also played tenor and alto saxophones, among several other instruments. He was known for h ...

and

Paul Bley Paul Bley, Order of Canada, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a Canadian jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live per ...

Career

In 1965, Lemer formed a trio with John Stevens and

Jeff Clyne Jeffrey Ovid Clyne (29 January 1937 – 16 November 2009) was a British jazz bassist (playing both bass guitar and double bass). Clyne worked with Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott in their group the Jazz Couriers for a year from 1958, and was par ...

, which opened the Little Theatre Club. In 1966, he formed the Peter Lemer Quintet, with

Jon Hiseman Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman (21 June 1944 – 12 June 2018) was an English drummer, audio engineer, recording engineer, record producer, and Music publisher (popular music), music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, wi ...

on drums, George Khan on tenor sax,

John Surman John Douglas Surman (born 30 August 1944) is an English jazz saxophone, Clarinet family, clarinet, and synthesizer player, and composer of free jazz and modal jazz, often using themes from folk music. He has composed and performed music for danc ...

on baritone sax and Tony Reeves on bass. This band successfully played a season at

Ronnie Scott's 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 Sco ...

and helped to pave the way for the British free jazz movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with the Mike Taylor trio. It cut one LP, ''Local Colour'' which was engineered by

Eddie Kramer Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a South African-born recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, L ...

. In 1969, Lemer worked with the

, an experimental jazz group. In that year, he also joined Barbara Thompson. The relationship developed into Thompson forming

Paraphernalia Paraphernalia refers to a collection of items or equipment associated with a particular activity, hobby, or lifestyle. The term is often used to describe the tools, accessories, or objects that are used in various fields, such as sports, arts ...

with husband

. Paraphernalia became the most frequently performing jazz-oriented group in Europe, and Lemer was keyboardist for most of the years up to the present, including ten albums recorded live or at Thompson and Hiseman's Temple Music Studios. In 1974, Lemer joined Gilgamesh and played several gigs and some

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

sessions. He subsequently became an in-demand session player. In 1974, he joined Ken Elliot's Seventh Wave, a pioneer synthesiser-based rock band, appearing on their second album, ''Psi-Fi''. In 1975, he joined

Ginger Baker Peter Edward "Ginger" Baker (19 August 1939 – 6 October 2019) was an English drummer. His work in the 1960s and 1970s earned him the reputation of "rock's first superstar drummer", for a style that melded jazz and Music of Africa, Africa ...

, Mr Snips, and The Gurvitz brothers in the

- recording

Elysian Encounter ''Elysian Encounter'' is the second album by the English band Baker Gurvitz Army, released in 1975. Track listing All tracks composed by Adrian Gurvitz; except where noted. #"People" (Ginger Baker, Adrian Gurvitz) – 4:17 #"The Key" (Ginger ...

. In 1976, he joined Jan Dukes de Grey briefly to record their final album, ''Strange Terrain''. Although the album was recorded in 1976, it was only released in 2010. In 1979, Lemer joined Mike Oldfield's fifty-piece touring band as one of two keyboard players. This led to him guesting on Moerlen's album ''Time is the Key''. Lemer has done much recent work with the band In Cahoots. With them, he played on the album ''Cutting Both Ways'' (1987) and toured Europe. He joined the band Paraphernalia in 1987 and played on the albums ''A Cry from the Heart'' (1987), ''Everlasting Flame'' (1993) and ''Shifting Sands''. Lemer subsequently worked with In Cahoots again. He played on the album ''Digging In'' (1991) and rejoined the band permanently in 1995. After two In Cahoots tours, Lemer devoted 1999 to touring with Paraphernalia in support of the album they had recently released. Paraphernalia is not currently touring while Barbara Thompson is fighting Parkinson's Disease. Lemer's most recent albums include ''Players of Games'' recorded with Billy Thompson, ''Looking for Soup'', ''All That'' with In Cahoots, and ''Never Say Goodbye'' recorded with Paraphernalia.

Present

He is now coaching piano, improvisation, music technology. He also plays with the Spanish Harlow Orchestra. He is also actively involved in lobbying to end global hunger and participates as Group Leader with Results UK, the premier UK citizen advocacy group to eradicate poverty globally.

References

External links

Source
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemer, Peter Canterbury scene English jazz pianists 1942 births Living people Musicians from London ESP-Disk artists In Cahoots members 21st-century English pianists