Musicians - John Kirkpatrick

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	Musicians - John Kirkpatrick

John Kirkpatrick is an English player of free reed instruments.

In London

John Kirkpatrick was born in 1947 in Chiswick, West London. As a youngster he sang in the choir and played piano. In 1969 he joined the Hammersmith Morris Men, in the second week of their existence, beginning a career-long love of folk music. In 1970 he became a regular at a folk club in the Roebuck pub in Tottenham Court Road and led the resident group, Dingle's Chillybom Band. The club hosted a film show of morris dancing and Ashley Hutchings turned up. It was the beginning of a long musical relationship. In 1972 John recorded his first solo album Jump at the Sun which included Richard Thompson on acoustic guitar. For contractual reasons Thompson had to use a pseudonym.

In Shropshire

In 1973 Kirkpatrick moved to Shropshire and married Sue Harris. After seeing a dance team called Gloucestershire Old Spot Morris Morris Dancers he formed Shropshire Bedlams to perform local dances, in the so-called Border Morris style. In the early weeks some girls turned up and rather than have a mixed morris team, Harris took the girls aside to form Martha Rhoden's Tuppenny Dish; both teams are still flourishing. By this time John Kirkpatrick was an expert player of melodeon, anglo concertina, and accordion. Ashley Hutching's project, "The Battle of the Field" floundered when the Albion Country Dance band broke up. They had recorded not quite enough material for an album. John had appeared on several of the tracks with Martin Carthy and offered to record two extra tracks with his wife in 1973. It was not released until 1976 but is highly regarded. Sue Harris sang and played oboe and hammer dulcimer, an unusual combination. In 1974 John Kirkpatrick and Ashley Hutchings produced a themed album "The Complete Dancing Master", a history of English country dancing. He 1976 he teamed up with Martin Carthy for Plain Capers, a collection of morris dance tunes.

Steeleye Span

In 1977 Steeleye Span recruited both Kirkpatrick and Carthy, partly to replace fiddler Peter Knight, Kirkpatrick appearing on the albums Storm Force Ten and Live At Last; in concert with them, he would perform solo morris dances. In the same period, John released two albums as a duo with Sue Harris. John became part of Richard Thompson's backing band in 1978. This brought him such publicity that he was in heavy demand as a session musician. He recorded with Pere Ubu, Viv Stanshall, Gerry Rafferty, Maddy Prior and others. In 1980 he released his only single, "Jogging Along With My Reindeer". Two more albums with Sue Harris appeared in 1981, but the constant touring, as a duo and as part of other groups, was putting a strain on the marriage. They had four sons together, but parted in the mid eighties.

Brass Monkey

In 1979 Kirkpatrick had appeared in the stage show "Lark Rise To Candleford" together with Carthy and trumpeter Howard Evans. The use of brass instruments in English folk music was a rare event, but all three had found it thrilling and a couple of years later formed Brass Monkey with Martin Brinsford from the Old Swan Band. The group is an occasional gathering rather than a fixed company. Roy Bailey, like Leon Rossenson has frequently recorded songs of social commentary, frequently on an anti-war theme. John has made several records with Roy Bailey, as well as in a group called Band of Hope. He recorded with Frankie Armstrong in 1996 and 1997. They share a love of early English ballads.

As soloist

Since 1993 John has recorded seven solo albums. He often unearths obscure English tunes and songs from folk ceremonies. Recently he has started to explore Balkan and Hungarian dance tunes. In 2003 he produced a book of tunes, English Choice, with two accompanying CDs. He has recently started to perform with accordeon wizard, Chris Parkinson as the "Sultans of Squeeze", and the pair have released one album. He is happily remarried. One of his sons, Benji Kirpatrick is a member of Magpie Lane and Dr Faustus, and has recorded as a solo guitarist. All four of John's sons do morris dancing. As a composer, choreographer and musical director John has contributed to over 60 plays in the theatre and on radio.

Discography

Solo albums

Jump At The Sun (1972)
Three In A Row (1983)
Sheepskins (1988)
Welcome To Hell (1998)
One Man and His Box (1999)
Blue Balloon (1999)
Mazurka Berzerker (2001)
The Duck Race (2004)
A Short History of John Kirkpatrick (anthology) (1994)

John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris

Shreds and Patches (1977)
Among The Many Attractions (1978)
Ballad Of The Black Country (1981)
English Canals (1981)

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