Martin Speake is a British jazz saxophonist and composer from Barnet, England, born in 1958. He plays jazz and post-bop and is associated with both ensemble work and improvisation-led projects. He studies classical saxophone at Trinity College of Music from 1977 to 1981, after first attending Southgate Technical College. Before that, he leaves school at 16 and works briefly in an office for a motor insurance company. He takes up the alto saxophone after hearing Ornette Coleman on record.

Early musical background

Speake grows up in a family with varied musical interests. His grandmother is a pub pianist who begins by playing for silent films, while a cousin is a semi-professional jazz pianist influenced by Bill Evans. His mother listens to Ella Fitzgerald, and other relatives play or hear music by Frank Sinatra, The Beatles and Erroll Garner. Music is a regular part of family gatherings, where relatives and friends take turns singing.

As a teenager, he is first drawn to pop and rock music. The first live group he sees is Led Zeppelin, and he later attends concerts and festivals by artists including Pink Floyd, Roxy Music, The Faces, Hawkwind, Frank Zappa, Faust, Van Morrison, Can, Stevie Wonder, Spirit, Kevin Ayers, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Yes.

Itchy Fingers and early work

While studying in London, Speake meets other musicians interested in jazz, including pianist Simon Purcell and saxophonist Mark Lockheart. He also meets the players who form the saxophone quartet Itchy Fingers. With that group he tours Europe, South America, Africa and the United States, appears at major jazz festivals, and plays on its first two albums. In 1986 the group wins the Schlitz Young Jazz Musicians of the Year Award, which is televised by the BBC. He leaves the quartet in 1988 to focus on his own projects.

Own groups and collaborations

His main band is the Martin Speake Group, featuring guitarist John Parricelli. The group records In Our Time and Trust with bassist Steve Watts and drummer Steve Arguelles. A later line-up with Mick Hutton on bass and Tom Skinner on drums also records with Parricelli after a British tour.

Speake also works in several smaller and more experimental settings. These include duos with guitarist Phil Lee, exploring jazz standards, and with pianist Nikki Iles, focusing on contemporary tunes and free improvisation. He leads the seven-piece world music group Fever Pitch, which includes three percussionists. He also plays Ornette Coleman’s music in Mind and Time, free improvisation in the Eternal Triangle, and Indian music with Dharambir Singh.

Other performances and teaching

Outside his own projects, Speake performs with a wide range of musicians and ensembles, including Paul Motian, Bobo Stenson, Loose Tubes, Stan Tracey, Bhavani Shankar, Billy Jenkins, Django Bates, Bob Wilber, Conrad Herwig, Don Weller, Ronan Guilfoyle, Alison Bentley, The Style Council, Ann Pigalle, Kadam, John Williams, Airto Moreira, Flora Purim, Jim Mullen, Dave Cliff, Julian Arguelles, Ephie Resnick and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

He is also active in jazz education. He teaches on the Royal Academy of Music Jazz Course as saxophone professor and contemporary music co-ordinator, and he teaches saxophone at Middlesex University. He also teaches in schools, adult education, weekend courses and summer schools across the country.

Composition and wider work

Speake composes music for the Associated Board jazz piano syllabus and writes a solo saxophone piece for Faber Music. His career spans performance, education and composition, with work ranging from standard-based duos to free improvisation, world music and Ornette Coleman repertoire.