Steve Jolliffe
Steve Jolliffe initially rose to prominence with his short tenure as a member of Tangerine Dream in the late '70's, just before he launched a prolific solo career that sees him release albums year after year. Multi-talented, Jolliffe is perhaps best known for his synthesizer and keyboard work yet he is one of the few people in the world skilled at playing Yamaha’s WX-7 MIDI wind instrument. Jolliffe plays a number of other instruments on his recordings as well — bass clarinet, all flutes (alto, “C” and bass flutes), sax (tenor & soprano), oboe, coranglais, piano and harpsichord — in addition to singing and songwriting. Given his impressive resumé, it's no surprise Jolliffe has established himself so prominently as a cult artist.
In the beginning of his career, Jolliffe met Rick Davies in the late '60's. The two played in a band called the Joint, which would one day evolve into Supertramp. However, Jolliffe's interests were more academic at the time, leading him to the Berlin Konservatorium, where he studied music. (Jolliffe was the first student to be accepted to the Konservatorium who couldn’t read music.) Not long after he met Edgar Froese and soon found himself playing in one of the earliest incarnations of Tangerine Dream. Next came Steamhammer, a blues-rock band. Steamhammer experienced moderate success in the early '70's, touring extensively and recording two albums. Despite the success, Steamhammer didn't last long.
Jolliffe's career rebounded in the late '70's, when he re-joined Tangerine Dream, who were quite a popular band at the time. Though he only recorded one album with the band, Cyclone (1978), Jolliffe made large contributions to the album, playing a multitude of instruments and writing the songs. Furthermore, he toured Europe with Tangerine Dream in grand fashion for extremely large crowds. This stint enabled Jolliffe to launch a solo career, beginning with the Drake's Venture album in 1980. He didn't relent following this debut album. Jolliffe has released approximately one album a year for the past 20 years.
More recently Jolliffe hooked up with Eat Static’s Merv Pepler. After recording with Eat Static on ‘Science of The Gods’ Jolliffe and Pepler collaborated again, creating Hi-Fi Companions and producing the recording ‘Swingers In Paradise.’
Besides his solo Independent recordings, Jolliffe composes music for film and television. Jolliffe’s music can be heard on Discovery Channel & BBC.
When asked about his music Jolliffe says “My work is an expression of my emotions - a viewpoint of life”
~ Thanks to Jason Birchmeier of AMG ~
Albums
Please click here to view album covers.
Discography:
Solo albums
Alien
Beyond The Dream
Broken Wings
The Bruton Suite
Deep Down Far
Escape
Invitation
Journeys Out Of The Body
K-17
Omni
Poland
Space
Temmenu
Vision Earth
Warrior
Zanzi
Library albums
Earth
Ethereal
Horror & Suspense
New Age Emotions
The Art of Minimalism
Collaborations
Cyclone (with Tangerine Dream)
MARK II (with Steamhammer)
Science of the Gods (with Eat Static)
Swingers In Paradise (with Merv Pepler)
Reviews
ALIEN
“Alien is a set of cosmic new age electronica from Steve Jolliffe. This CD features Jolliffe using silver flutes to augment his synths. His technique allows his breath to become an important part of the sound design. He also uses vibes and guitars to complete the soundscape. This is a stunning CD. Jolliffe glides smoothly and easily between new age melodies and space music atmospheres. He uses his voice in a guttural, wordless chant to augment the melodies. The whole project oozes with class. It is one of his best efforts, including his work with Tangerine Dream. It will appeal to fans of Paul Avgerinos, Robert Carty, and Michael Stearns. It is an essential CD.”
Jim Brenholts, All Music Guide
DEEP DOWN FAR
“Deep Down Far comes over as a [much more] emotional collection. Beautiful without being pretty and with a heavy dose of the melancholy………… To sum up, this is not remotely like anything Jolliffe has done before and for that matter not like anything I have ever heard anyone else do before either!”
David Law, Synth Music Direct
(Exórdiri [track1] has been licensed to be used in advertising Discovery Channel.)
ESCAPE
“Escape finds Steve Jolliffe blending leading-edge digital technology with the amber resonances of traditional acoustics. The album starts out with a sneaky, waltz-like number displaying rich melodies intertwined with exuberant rhythms. The music at times is wild and eclectic in its progressive expression, escaping into soothing and somber tomes, distant and ancient. His musical sketches reveal an underlying complexity, imbued with classical undertones and beauty……….. Atmospheric and stretched out yet concise, Jolliffe’s music plays proper homage to Tangerine Dream, with artistic nods to Patrick O’Hearn and Mark Isham, to Norwegian synthesists Oystein Sevag and Erik Wollo and to French countrymen Bernard Xoloti and Jean Michael Jarre. The digital-orchestra sound and Teutonic touches, coupled with spacey phrasing even bring to mind the Erdenlang label.”
Backroads Music/Heartbeats, All Music Guide
OMNI
“Omni represents an uncovering of new worlds and new art…. and the best ambient/trance music I’ve heard. My guess is that the only musician/producer which can progress beyond Omni is Steve Jolliffe.… on some future album. Mr. Jolliffe personifies creativity and is the only one on the horizon who can better such an effort.
If you are seeking electronic music that is bold and beautiful.… look no further. Omni is great!”
Richard Fuller, Senior Editor
Metaphysical Reviews
SPACE
“Steve deftly takes us on a very musical journey, exploring the spaces between notes and sometimes the spaces between the spaces. Incredibly, we are party to a genius at work, doing what he's best at and completely mastering SPACE. The majesty of this album is immeasurable, with a little nod to Holst and his great work, but daring to go so much further, not being overwhelmed with the emotions beginning to stir in our breasts, the eye on the source, only...............................”
chul
19 10 02
Steve writes: “The moment before tears I become aware of an emotion, a natural development of form that appears from my heart into a timeless space.”
“This is what that translates to: "Expandere's breathtaking thirteen minutes kick off like a perfect marriage between Phillip Glass, medieval trance and flamenco, before the deep bass hummings of "Axioum" lead the listener into limbo. The first pieces are characterized by an irresistible nervousness, full of unreleased tension, sturdy shakers, timbales, marching drums and wayward melodies - this is dramatic audio theatre. The quirky "Ermite" cools things down a little bit, before Steve gets working in the big closing trio: Long compositions with many different themes, circling around each other and connected merely by a red thread of faint familiarity. The bizarre psychedelic jazz of "Euclidean" leads into the hypnotic movement of "Cislunar", which gives way to the cinematic "Eros".”
Makes you feel all lightheaded and dizzy.
Tobias Fischer – tokafi
WARRIOR
“Warrior is loaded with musical sketches where rich melodies intertwine with exuberant rhythms in a progressive vein. The album is dedicated to the Native American Indian, and many pieces seek to evoke this spirit in majestic soaring passages that combine the full digital layered sound and nature-inspired touches. Jolliffe uses spacey sequential phrasing to complement the orchestral beauty of the synthesizers and amber tones of his flute playing, and he succeeds time and again in finding the most vivid blend. Tracks such as “Ghostdancers,” “Brother,” “Desert Plains” and “Eagle” typify the vision of this artist as he sculpts his modern telling of time-honored traditions that must live on.”
Heartbeats, All Music Guide
ZANZI
“Out of an ocean of nebulous clouds, closely connected passages rise like bubbles to the surface, shifting against each other and leading to a haunting climax. The intellect is nothing here, it is just you and the music: One long piece, which stretches to an hour of music and yet an extremely catchy album (lots of powerful grooves and captivating melodic patterns).”
Tobias Fischer, Mouvement-Nouveau
Steve writes: “Turn around, it's make-believe behind you. Look ahead, there is nothing to see - only dreams made reality by chance....."If you play the album, be prepared, be still in your heart, listen to your inner voice, don't think of me but of you, don't wonder how it was done or presume how it would be repeated, it never will be. It happened one day through chance.”
Sheet Music
The Bruton Suite will soon be available in printed and PDF formats. The PDF files will be available in our Online Store.
We are currently accepting advance orders for;
The Bruton Suite Music BookWe are also accepting advance orders for Steve's autobiography.
Please contact us here.
Links
iTunes Links:
The Bruton Suite - Click here.
CD Baby Links: (to purchase)
Alien - Click here.
Beyond The Dream - Click here.
The Bruton Suite - Click here.
Deep Down Far - Click here.
Escape - Click here.
Journeys Out of The Body - Click here.
OMNI - Click here.
Space - Click here.
Steve's Website:
