Throughout an international career starting in the late 1980’s, Tim Garland has become known as a unique polymath in the UK’s music scene.

His first break as saxophonist was joining Ronnie Scott's band age 23. Later he was to join Chick Corea as a regular member of several globe-trotting projects over a seventeen year period including The Vigil. Playing tenor and soprano saxes, bass clarinet, and flute, he also won a Grammy for his symphonic orchestrations on Corea’s “The New Crystal Silence” album from 2007.

Garland has fulfilled commissions from several of the worlds top orchestras, including  a double concerto from the LSO, a piano concerto for Gwilym Simcock from The Royal Northern Sinfonia, with whom he went on to record three CDs, a cello and sax concerto from the CBSO, and a sax concerto from the BBC Concert Orchestra.

His concert works continue to celebrate the fertile ground between modern composition and jazz. His creative arranging skills have won much praise from such diverse artists as Jean Luc Ponty, John Patitucci, The Royal Holloway and Westminster Choirs, the Catalan National Cobla Group, the LPO, the London Session Orchestra, NYJO as well as Chick Corea.

His work is often inspired by, but not limited to, the jazz idiom, whilst his celebrated virtuosity as a saxophonist maintains his position as one of the UK’s most unique and authentic jazz voices.

In 2016 he premiered “Re:Focus” (a re-imagining of the Getz /Sauter project of 1962 ‘Focus’) to a full house at London’s Wigmore Hall, which in 2020 has been released for public purchase. “Luca’s Winter”, a 100 minute work for big band, was performed at Manchester’s Royal Northern College Of Music (where he held an international post as research fellow) in which he acted as conductor and narrator.

As a band leader and co-leader he is responsible for much of the output of the groups; Lammas, The Underground Orchestra, Storms / Nocturnes (feat. Joe Locke and Geoffrey Keezer), Acoustic Triangle, the last few years of Bill Bruford’s Earthworks, and The Lighthouse Trio, (feat; Gwilym Simcock and Asaf Sirkis). This final group makes a 20th anniversary come-back tour and release during 2024!

AUDIO NETWORK & FILM MUSIC

Garland is a founder member of Audio network and has written a wide variety of music for use with picture, conducting orchestras at Abbey Road, Angel and Air Studios London, as well as many big band sessions. Please see Oak Gable Studio page for more details.

TEACHING & COACHING

Garland has been a research professor in new music styles at both Newcastle University and The Royal Northern College Of Music, as well as a regular visiting professor at The Royal Academy Of Music London. He has led workshops around the world and been visiting artist at Leeds College of Music and Oriel College Oxford amongst others. He has twice been a judge in the BBC Young Jazz Musician Of The Year Award.

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