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THEO TRAVIS
Tenor Sax
The London-based saxophonist and composer Theo Travis has made a name for himself on the British jazz scene for his virtuosity and soulful style as well as his fine compositions. Born in Birmingham, Theo studied classical music at the University of Manchester whilst playing in various jazz and rock bands. He signed to 33 Records in 1993, has released 3 solo albums on the label to date and has just finished the improvised album Bodywork with drummer John Marshall and guitarist Mark Wood. In Oct 1996 Travis released Secret Island, his third CD on 33 Records which also features guitarist John Etheridge. The album has several blues-oriented tracks and a tune inspired by the Iain Banks novel The Crow Road. Following the release of Secret Island, Travis and his band undertook a 27-date UK tour. His performance at the 1996 Glasgow International Jazz Festival was voted "Outstanding Concert as Voted by the Audience" for which he won the prestigious Scotrail Jazz Award.
Travis' second CD on 33 Records, View from the Edge, was voted Best British Jazz CD of 1994 by the Jazz on CD Readers/Critics poll. He was also nominated as Rising Star in the 1996 and 1998 British Jazz Awards and was named Best Newcomer of 1993 by the Financial Times. Travis was featured in a session for Jazz Parade on BBC Radio 2, and was praised as "one of the very best young tenor players of this or any jazz generation in Britain" by presenter Digby Fairweather. In July 1994, he appeared on a one-hour interview on New York radio station WKCR-FM. He was also commissioned to write new music for the 1926 Hitchcock silent film The Lodger which was performed live in September 1996 as part of the Derby Metro's 100 Years of Cinema Festival. Travis was acknowledged by Penguin author Nicholas Royle as one of the inspirations behind his novel Saxophone Dreams. Theo Travis was awarded a music degree (with honours) from Manchester University. He played in NYJO, with whom he toured Spain. He performed at New York's legendary Blue Note club in 1987.
In addition to working with his own groups, Theo has worked with musicians including Jim Mullen, Norma Winstone, Dick Heckstall-Smith (including on his recent acclaimed CD Celtic Steppes), Tony Coe, John Marshall, Mick Karn and the late Slim Gaillard. He has performed at the Brecon, Edinburgh, London, Glasgow, Bradford, Llangollen and Swanage Jazz Festivals, and at jazz venues nationwide as well as on local and national radio. In August 1997 he toured Japan with Mick Karn, Steve Jansen, Richard Barbieri and DJ Krush. Travis has been awarded three Jazz Services touring grants and was commissioned by West Midlands Arts to compose a suite for jazz septet, Broad Street Changes, which he performed on a short tour of the Midlands.
Since May 1999 when Theo filled in for Didier Malherbe at short notice for a European tour, he has been part of the group Gong. Originally formed in the late 1960's Gong have undergone various personnel changes, but is mainly associated with the main front man Daevid Allen. Other Gong luminaries have included Pierre Moerlin, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett and Bill Laswell who for a time was involved in the New York Gong. The music has been described as cosmic/ psychadelic/ jazz / improvised / progressive rock / space metal etc etc. Theo not only plays saxes and flute, but did most of the keyboards on the CD Zero to Infinity (SnapperMusic). He also co-wrote most of the album. Theo has toured with them since 1999 playing over 125 gigs in Britain, Europe, Scandinavia, America and Japan .
Theo tours regularly with the Theo Travis Quartet which has performed 12 separate weeks at Ronnie Scotts Club, London, at the Red Sea Jazz Festival, in Eilat , Israel and at jazz clubs and festivals all over the UK from Cornwall to the North tip of Scotland.
In 2006 he replaced Elton Dean in the Soft Machine Legacy with whom he has performed internationally and recorded the album Steam (for which he contributed three orignal compositions).
Theo continues to write and record with his experimental ambient band Cipher (with Dave Sturt). They have made 3 CDs and written scores for many classic silent films of the 1920s and toured all over the UK performing them live in independant cinemas accompanying the films.
Theo's 2007 project Double Talk features the soulful hammond organ of Pete Whittaker, the guitar of Mike Outram and the drums of Roy Dodds. Their new album Double Talk is released in 2007 and the band will be touring extensively in 2007/2008.
Theo also performs with ambient and progressive rock artists and has performed or recorded with Robert Fripp, David Sylvian, Bill Nelson, Hatfield and the North, Richard Sinclair, Porcupine Tree, Harold Budd, Jah Wobble, the Tangent, John Foxx, Gong, Porcupine Tree, Anja Garbarek, Kangaroo Moon, No Man and Bass Communion.
Albums
JADE WARRIOR - Distant Echoes (1993)
THEO TRAVIS - 2am (1993)
THEO TRAVIS - View From The Edge (1994)
THE OTHER SIDE - Dangerous Days (1994)
JIVE NATION - Under African Skies (1996)
GADDY ZERBIB - Gaddy Zerbib (1996)
DICK HECKSTALL SMITH - Celtic Steppes (1996)
THEO TRAVIS - Secret Island (1996)
THEO TRAVIS - Live At Ronnies (1997)
SUGIZO - Truth (1997)
UTE - Under The External (1997)
THE GREAT UNKNOWN - It's Out There (1998)
VELVET - Smooth Moods 2 (1998)
INDIGO FALLS - Indigo Falls (1998)
BASS COMMUNION - Bass Communion (1998)
MASAMI TSUCHIYA - Forest People (1998)
JANSEN BARBIERI KARN - _ism (1998)
PORCUPINE TREE - Piano Lessons/Ambulance Chasing (1999)
PORCUPINE TREE - Stupid Dream (1999)
BASS COMMUNION - Bass Communion 2 (1999)
YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI/STEVE JANSEN - Pulse (1999)
JANSEN BARBIERI KARN - Medium Sampler (2000)
CIPHER - Hidden Art Compilation (2000)
PORCUPINE TREE - Stranger By The Minute/Even Less (2000)
BASS COMMUNION - Drugged (2000)
BASS COMMUNION - Invisible Soundtracks Macro 3 Compliation (2000)
GONG - Live To Infinitea (2000)
GONG - Zero To Infinity (2000)
TITO LOPEZ COMBO - Tito Rides In (2001)
ROD BLAKE - Blake (2001)
NO MAN - Returning Jesus (2001)
NO MAN - Lost Songs, Volume One (2001)
RECREATOR - Solar Sahara (2001)
BASS COMMUNION - Bass Communion 3 (2001)
PORCUPINE TREE - Recordings (2001)
JANSEN BARBIERI KARN - Playing In A Room With People (2001)
ANJA GARBAREK - Smiling And Waving (2001)
AKIKO KOBAYASHI - Beloved (2001)
INCONNU - Les Pensees De Nos Reves (2002)
GONG - High Above The Subterranea (2002)
GONG - From Here To Eternity (2002)
GONG - OK Friends (2002)
BURNING SHED - Sampler Two (2002)
THEO TRAVIS/MARK HEWINS - Guerrilla Music (2002)
CIPHER - One Who Whispers (2002)
APHRATEC - The Discerning Dancefloor (2002)
NO MAN - All That You Are (2003)
THEO TRAVIS - Slow Life (2003)
BASS COMMUNION - Various Bass Communion Remixed (2003)
HARBANS SRIH'S VYBESMEN - Harbans Srih's Vybesmen (2003)
HOUSE OF THANDOY - House Of Thandoy (2003)
PORCUPINE TREE - The Sky Moves Sideways (2003)
DARKROOM - Remixes (2003)
STEVE LAWSON/THEO TRAVIS - For The Love Of Open Spaces (2003)
URI GELLER - Words Of Courage And Inspiration (2003)
URI GELLER - Meditations (2003)
DAVID SINCLAIR - Full Circle (2003)
DAVID SINCLAIR - Into The Sun (2003)
KAREN LANE - Taste (2004)
TITO LOPEZ COMBO - Still Smokin' (2004)
BASS COMMUNION - Ghosts On Magnetic Tape (2004)
STEVEN WILSON - Unreleased Electronic Music Volume 1 (2004)
A MARBLE CALM - Surfacing (2004)
BASS COMMUNION - Indicates Void (2005)
NINE HORSES - Snow Bourne Sorrow (2005)
THE TANGENT - The World That We Drive Through (2005)
PORCUPINE TREE - Stupid Dream (2006)
JOHN LESTER - So Many Reasons (2006)
THE TANGENT - A Place In The Queue (2006)
THEO TRAVIS - Eleven Bowls Of Acidophilus Flute Salad (2006)
NO MAN - Returning Jesus (2006)
BASS COMMUNION - Ghosts On Magnetic Tape (2006)
CIPHER - Elemental Forces (2006)
STEVE JANSEN - Slope (2007)
THE TANGENT - Going Off On One (2007)
SOFT MACHINE LEGACY - Steam (2007)
THEO TRAVIS - Slow Life (2007)
THEO TRAVIS - Double Talk (2007)
CARY GRACE BAND - Where You Go (2008)
BASS COMMUNION - Pacific Codex (2008)
THE TANGENT - Not As Good As The Book (2008)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Thread (2008)
NO MAN - Schoolyard Ghosts (2008)
JADE WARRIOR - Now (2008)
STEVE JANSEN - 4 Remixes From Slope (2008)
PHILIP CLEMO - The Rooms (2008)
KARMAKANIC - Who's The Boos At The Factory (2008)
STEVE JANSEN - The Occurence Of Slope (2008)
SUGIZO - Cosmoscape (2008)
THE TANGENT - Down And Out In Paris And London (2009)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Live At Bishop's Cleeve (2009)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Live At Broadchalke (2009)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Thread 2LP Deluxe Vinyl Ediion (2009)
THEO TRAVIS AND FEAR FALLS BURNING - The Tonefloat Sessions (2009)
THEO TRAVIS' DOUBLE TALK - Ascending - Live At The Pizza (2009)
FRANCIS DUNNERY - There's A Whole New World Out There (2009)
STEVEN WILSON - Insurgentes (2009)
GONG - 2032 (2009)
TIM MOTZER AND MARKUS REUTER - Descending (2010)
GOLDBUG - The Seven Dreams (2010)
STEFANO PANUZZI - A Rose (2010)
SOFT MACHINE LEGACY - Live Adventures (2010)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Live At Broad Chalke (2010)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Live At Bishops Cleeve (2010)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Live At Coventry Cathedral (2010)
THEO TRAVIS - All I Know (2011)
THE TANGENT - Comm (2011)
THE TANGENT - Going Off On Two (2011)
STEVEN WILSON - Grace For Drowning (2011)
JOHN FOXX AND THEO TRAVIS - Torn Sunset (2011)
DALIS CAR - Ingladalonenes (2012)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Discretion (2012)
BILL NELSON - Classic Rock Legends (2012)
STEVEN WILSON - Get All You Deserve (2012)
STEVEN WILSON - Catalogue/Preserve/Amass (2012)
JOHN LESTER - Jazz (2012)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Follow
THE TANGENT - Le Sacre Du Travail (2013)
SOFT MACHINE LEGACY - Burden Of Proof (2013)
STEVEN WILSON - Drive Home (2013)
STEVEN WILSON - The Raven That Refused To Sing (2013)
GOLDBUG - Nacaal (2014)
ECHO ENGINE - Windjammer (2014)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Discretion (2014)
TRAVIS & FRIPP - Follow (2014)
Last Knight Songs
PLENILUNIO
Talking To The Moon
Written by P.Lato/J.M.Medina/T.Travis
​
A NEW BEGINNING
Talking To The Moon
Written by J.M.Medina & T.Travis
​
BEYOND THE MILKY WAY
Talking To The Moon
Written by J.M.Medina & T.Travis
​
THE WHITE SIDE OF THE MOON
Talking To The Moon
Written by J.Carrandi/E.G.Salueña/C.L.Spear/P.Lato/J.M.Medina/T.Travis
​
ENVY
Seven Deadly Sins
Written by J.M.Medina