British jazz musician (1940–2020)
Peter John King (11 August 1940 – 23 August 2020) was an English jazz saxophonist, composer, and clarinettist.
Early life.
Peter King was born in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, England. He took up the clarinet and saxophone as a teenager, entirely self-taught. His first public appearances were in 1957, playing alto in a trad jazz group at the Swan Public House, Kingston, in a group organised by trumpeter Alan Rosewell, with whom he worked at the Directorate of Overseas Surveys as an apprentice cartographer. After the performance, however, King made the choice of becoming a professional musician. He came under the strong musical influence of Charlie Parker developing a bebop style inspired by Parker.
Career.
In 1959, at the age of 19, he was booked by Ronnie Scott to perform at the opening of Scott's club in Gerrard Street, London. In the same year, he received the "Melody Maker" New Star award. He worked with Johnny Dankworth's orchestra from 1960 to 1961, and went on to work with the big bands of Maynard Ferguson, Tubby Hayes, Harry South, and Stan Tracey, the Brussels Big Band, and the Ray Charles band on a European tour.
He also played in small groups with musicians such as Philly Joe Jones, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Red Rodney, Hampton Hawes, Nat Adderley, Al Haig, John Burch, Bill Watrous, and Dick Morrissey, Tony Kinsey, Bill Le Sage and singers such as Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Williams, Jon Hendricks, and Anita O'Day. His powerful and exuberant bebop style with great technical facility, often led to comparisons with the style of his close friend the American altoist Phil Woods, although King's playing was increasingly personal and distinctive even within the bebop idiom. His musical curiosity led him to associate with freer idioms in John Stevens' 'Freebop' group in the 1980s. He appeared on the soundtrack of the 1969 film "The Italian Job". He was a member of Charlie Watts' Tentet.
Especially from the early 1990s, his style matured into a highly confident originality, going far beyond its initial Parker influences and absorbing harmonic and structural ideas from his favourite classical composer Bela Bartok. He flourished both as an improviser and a composer and found ways of combining jazz and classical techniques without diluting either. The results of this development were heard especially on his albums "Tamburello" (recorded in 1994), "Lush Life" (recorded 1998) and "Janus" with the Lyric String Quartet, which included a 1997 suite strongly influenced by Bartok and commissioned by Appleby Jazz Festival organiser Neil Ferber with funding from BBC Radio 3. In 2005, Peter King won the BBC 'Musician of the Year' award.
King made appearances on albums by the pop group Everything But The Girl and on "North Marine Drive" by Ben Watt, who was a member of the group. Watt produced the album "Crusade" that King recorded for Blanco y Negro in 1989.
In 2012, King appeared in the documentary film, "No One But Me", discussing jazz vocalist Annie Ross. He appeared in the movies "Blue Ice" and "The Talented Mr. Ripley". In April 2011, Northway published his autobiography "Flying High", widely praised for its candour and honesty about his musical career and personal life, his international associations in the jazz world, and the many years in which he battled addiction.
King was also a leading figure in the international aero-modelling world. He competed successfully in major competitions and wrote extensively about the subject. Among his other strong interests was Formula One motor racing and his 1994 album "Tamburello" contains a four-part composition that presents a tribute to Ayrton Senna. King played monthly residencies for many years at the Bulls Head in Barnes and the 606 Jazz Club in Chelsea.
Death.
King died in Putney, on 23 August 2020, aged 80. His sister Brenda survives him. King had been married twice. His first marriage to Joy Marshall ended upon her death in 1968. His second marriage to Linda Froud lasted from 1969 until her death in March 2007.
Discography.
As sideman.
With Everything but the Girl 
With Georgie Fame
With Maynard Ferguson
With Tubby Hayes
With Tony Kinsey
With Colin Towns
With Stan Tracey
With Charlie Watts
With others
References.
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