Terry Disley is a jazz keyboardist and composer who was born in
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 ...
. While in London, Cannes and
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
in the 1990s, he recorded with many artists including
Bryan Ferry
Bryan Ferry (born 26 September 1945) is an English singer and songwriter. He became known as the frontman of the band Roxy Music and also launched a solo career. His voice has been described as an "elegant, seductive croon". He also established ...
,
Bon Jovi
Bon Jovi is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Sayreville, New Jersey in 1983. The band consists of singer Jon Bon Jovi, keyboardist David Bryan, drummer Tico Torres, guitarists John Shanks and Phil X, percussionist Everett Bradley ...
, Sir
Van Morrison
Sir George Ivan "Van" Morrison (born 31 August 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician whose recording career started in the 1960s. Morrison's albums have performed well in the UK and Ireland, with more than 40 reaching the UK ...
, Sir
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
,
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
,
Madness, Sir
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...
,
Terry Hall and
Billy Bragg
Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, author and political activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic th ...
.
For five years, he was also the musical director for
Dave Stewart, contributing music for a whole range of albums and five major motion picture scores including ''
Showgirls
''Showgirls'' is a 1995 erotic drama film directed by Paul Verhoeven, written by Joe Eszterhas, starring Elizabeth Berkley, Kyle MacLachlan, Gina Gershon, Glenn Plummer, Robert Davi, Alan Rachins, and Gina Ravera. The film focuses on an ambi ...
'', ''
Beautiful Girls'' and ''
The Ref
''The Ref'' (''Hostile Hostages'' in some countries) is a 1994 American Christmas film, Christmas black comedy crime film directed by Ted Demme, written by Richard LaGravenese and Marie Weiss, and starring Denis Leary, Judy Davis, and Kevin Spa ...
''.
He was a touring and recording keyboardist with UK jazz group
Acoustic Alchemy
Acoustic Alchemy is an English smooth jazz band formed in England in the early 1980s by Nick Webb (musician), Nick Webb and Simon James (musician), Simon James.
1981–1989: Early days
Acoustic Alchemy was formed around the acoustic guitars of ...
from their earliest days in the late 1980s through to the mid-1990s. Disley was an influence on their recordings and co-wrote on Acoustic Alchemy's Grammy-nominated CD ''Back on the Case''. After the death of
Nick Webb in 1998, Acoustic Alchemy returned in 2000 with a release on EMI's
Higher Octave label. Disley composed the radio hit "The Beautiful Game" for that release as well as "Tete a Tete" and followed these with "Love at a Distance" on the follow-up CD, ''Aart'', also nominated for a Grammy award. In 2004, 2005 and 2006, Disley appeared on Acoustic Alchemy's US and UK tours as a special guest.
After relocating to
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
, he formed his own group, the Terry Disley Experience, which has received rave reviews from appearances at the Lake Tahoe and Catalina Jazz Festivals, the SF JAZZ Stanford Summerfest Series, the Filoli Jazz concert series and two appearances at the Sonoma Jazz Festival.
The group's CD's, including ''Experience'', ''London Underground'', ''Across the Pond'', ''The Jazzcracker & Other Delights'', ''West Coast Jazz Impressions'' and ''Brubeck vs. Guaraldi'', have received extensive national and international radio airplay, and Disley's group continues to gather momentum at live dates around the San Francisco Bay Area including sell-out shows at Yoshi's Jazz Club, the Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and the Little Fox Theater.
References
External links
Terry Disley home pageAcoustic Alchemy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disley, Terry
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Musicians from London
English keyboardists
Acoustic Alchemy members