HATFIELD and the HEALTH
rejoicing in Canterbury music
MUSICIANS
Simon Thorpe
bass & vocals
Simon lives in London and regularly plays on the UK music scene, having been nominated twice for a British Jazz Award. He studied bass with Jeff Clyne at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and has since played with many well-known UK musicians including John Etheridge, Trevor Tomkins, Jim Mullen, Bobby Wellins, Phil Lee and Jimmy Hastings. He also composes music for a number of his own projects.
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Eric Baumgartner
keyboards
Eric studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston MA, where Nick was also a student, and where they found they shared a love for Canterbury music. He now lives in Atlanta, Georgia where he is active as a musical jack-of-all-trades. He regularly works with a variety of pop and jazz groups, vocal ensembles and theatres. Eric is also a composer, arranger and clinician for The Hal Leonard Corporation. He has dozens of piano works and methods published.
Nick Allum
drums
Returning to England from the US in the early 1980s, Nick was heavily involved in community jazz education, working with John Stevens, Courtney Pine and others. Having performed in the London scene for several years, he began to tour and record with indie rock bands The Apartments and The Fatima Mansions. Juggling a parallel career as a sociology don, he continued through the noughties to play live and record with Irish singer-songwriter Cathal Coughlan, as well as take part in contemporary classical projects with cellist Audrey Riley. Nick’s most recent recording is ‘Song of Co-Aklan’ – one of Uncut magazine’s albums of the year 2021.
Karen Sharp
sax / clarinet
Karen is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist, well-known on the UK music scene. She leads her own quartet which celebrates its 12th anniversary in 2022, and recorded a 2019 trio album with bassist Simon Thorpe and guitarist Colin Oxley. Aside from her own projects Karen is very excited to be part of the
Nikki Iles Jazz Orchestra.
Mark Ridout
guitar
Mark is a superb guitarist having performed in many of the UK’s major jazz venues and festivals with such names as Jimmy Smith, Babara Dennerlein, Tony Martin, Natalie Cole, Jane Monheit and Eddie Parker. He has appeared on albums for various jazz artists including Jacqui Hicks, Andrea Vicari, Stuart Curtis, Simon Thorpe’s Improphonics and many pop and rock albums. As a session guitarist Mark’s playing is featured on many wii game soundtracks. Mark toured the US with Jazz funk band ‘Down to the Bone’, and has performed on BBC TV 's "Strictly" and with Alison Moyet and the BBC Big Band.
