Biography of Rob Lavers

We are delighted to present the highly acclaimed U.K saxophonist, flautist and composer, Rob Lavers.
Rob has performed at festivals in Colorado, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago and New Orleans as well as countless cities in Europe. He has recorded sessions for labels Good Lookin’, Nuphonic, One Note, Naim and 33 Records and has worked with bands and musicians Nightmares on Wax, Yam Who?, New Mastersounds, Nicolas Meier, Juan Martin, Evelyn Glennie, Kishon Kahn, Robin Banerjee and Sirish Kumar.

During his time at University, Rob became absorbed with playing the saxophone, and by the time he had completed his degree in Fine Art, was already performing at venues in London. Early on in his career he gained runner-up in the Young Jazz Musician of the Year award and has since worked continuously as a session musician and front man on sax, touring the U.K, Europe and America.

Lavers’ involvement with the visual arts in terms of his working methods, his sensibility and visual perspective are all reflected in his individual approach to composing. “I see more and more clearly the correlation between making music and painting”. His open minded appreciation and experience in many different styles of music also plays a crucial factor in determining the variety of work he is offered. Collaborations with musicians from Spain, Africa and India and an extensive experience in the realm of Jazz (including experimental and avant garde music) serves as an inspiration and framework for his own personal statements in music.

Lavers’ second album, ’Small Creature’, has recently been released on 33 Records. It features the supremely talented French drummer Laurent Robin who is based in Paris. Laurent has worked with names such as Lee Konitz and Dave Liebman and is the regular drummer for the popular French pianist Laurent de Wilde. Jamil Sheriff , pianist with the band and a “perfectly balanced player” who in Lavers’ words “is able to immediately grasp and enhance any music that is presented to him”. Rob’s regular bass player, the Hungarian Zoltan Dekeny studied with Charlie Haden at the California Institute. “He has a propulsive drive and energy that is essential to this music.”

As well as producing a second album, Rob has been commissioned to write a score for a documentary film about the New York based conceptual poet Kenny Goldsmith. “Being involved in a project with an artist as inventive as Goldsmith has really opened me up musically. I have been writing music that I never dreamt I would be pulling from my imagination.”
With the onset of a premiere for the Goldsmith film to be screened in New York early next year, a forthcoming tour of the Quartet in the U.K and France and the completion of his third album, Rob remains optimistic: “I am juggling, like a lot of musicians, between the life of a jobbing musician and ‘my time’, which is essential for writing and maturing as a player.”

For more information on the work of Rob Lavers: www.roblavers.co.uk
Email: rob.lavers@virgin.net