Tom Bancroft

Thomas Peter Bancroft (born 29 January 1967) is a British jazz drummer and composer.

Early life and education

Bancroft was born in London on 29 January 1967.^[1] He began drumming aged seven and started off playing with his father and twin brother, Phil.^[1] The family moved to Scotland when Tom was nine and he had gigs in Edinburgh from his mid-teens.^[1] While studying medicine at Cambridge University, he composed music and continued playing gigs.^[1] For nine months during 1988–89, Bancroft studied composition and arranging at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.^[1]

Later life and career

Back in Scotland in 1990, Bancroft wrote for his big band.^[1] Qualifying as a doctor in 1992, he then worked as a jazz musician and composer, in addition to doing some medical work, including in Russia.^[1] The big band toured the UK in 1996.^[1] He has toured extensively in various bands and has written for radio and television.^[1]

In 1998, along with New Zealander Suzy Melhuish,^[2] Bancroft co-founded Caber Music.^[1][3] The first release was Bancroft's Pieology, a selection of concert and broadcast performances.^[4]

Bancroft is co-leader of Trio AAB with Phil Bancroft and guitarist Kevin MacKenzie.^[5] Their first album was Cold Fusion.^[5] This was followed by Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat.^[6] Stranger Things Happen at C was their next album and included Brian Finnegan on flutes and whistles for some tracks.^[7] Critic John Fordham wrote that the trio "skids between Scottish folk music, the melancholy defiance of John Coltrane and the sprightly melodic laterality of Ornette Coleman".^[7]

Around 2012, an album by Bancroft's Trio Red band was released by Interrupto Music.^[8] The other musicians on First Hello to Last Goodbye were pianist Tom Cawley and bassist Per Zanussi.^[8] Fordham described it as "a shot-in-the-dark venture that turned into a world-class trio in a week."^[8] A second album, Lucid Dreamers, was released around 2016.^[9]

Discography

As leader/co-leader

• Pieology (Caber, 1993–97)^[4]
• Cold Fusion (Caber, 1998?)^[5]
• Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat (Caber, 2000?)^[6]
• Stranger Things Happen at C (Caber, 2002?)^[7]
• First Hello to Last Goodbye (Interrupto, 2012?)^[8]
• Lucid Dreamers (Interrupto, 2016?)^[9]

References

1. Chilton, John (2004). Who's Who of British Jazz (2nd ed.). Continuum. pp. 19–20. ISBN 978-0-8264-7234-2.
2. "Caber Music". Rate Your Music. Retrieved 18 July 2022.
3. "Caber History". Caber Music. Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 2 September 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
4. Cook, Richard; Morton, Brian (2008). The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings (9th ed.). Penguin. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-141-03401-0.
5. Schulte, Tom. "Trio AAB: Cold Fusion". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
6. Astarita, Glenn. "Trio AAB: Wherever I Lay My Home That's My Hat". AllMusic. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
7. Fordham, John (21 February 2003). "Trio AAB: Stranger Things Happen at C". Review. The Guardian.
8. Fordham, John (15 August 2012). "Tom Bancroft: Trio Red – First Hello to Last Goodbye". Review. The Guardian.
9. Smith, Stewart (27 April 2016). "Complete Communion: April's Jazz Reviewed By Stewart Smith". The Quietus.