Portrait of Bryan taken at The Fiddle and Bone, Birmingham, April 2015
“I was thinking back to the ’70s rock portraits by Norman Seeff and how much I used to enjoy them. I wanted to capture something of the essence of that in my portrait of Bryan Corbett. So here he is offering you some jazz temptation from behind that veil that separates great musicians from us mere mortals.” – Garry Corbett
As well performing under his own name and alongside a who’s who in jazz, Bryan (no relation) has performed with stars such as Ben E King, Tony Christie, Gary US Bonds, Jimmy James, Alesha Dixon and many others. He is a current member of Us3, the jazz/hip-hop outfit and a regular special guest with Krakow’s famous jazz-funk outfit Funk de Nite.
He has toured and performed around the globe and as a guest artist and with his own quartet regularly performs in festivals, concert halls and clubs through out the U.K.
He is featured as a soloist or in horn sections on numerous recordings. He has also been featured soloist with the BBC Concert Orchestra and was a Jerwood Rising Star at Cheltenham International Jazz Festival. The Bryan Corbett Quartet has previously won the poll winner prize at Birmingham Jazz’s/now Jazzlines’ free Friday sessions in the Symphony Hall cafe bar in Birmingham.
Bryan has recorded numerous solo albums ranging from quartet and quintet recordings to the albums firmly in the electronic genre. His latest offering, Green, recorded and written with multi-instrumentalist Chris Dodd, has received positive reviews. The Green Quartet played a Jazz Services tour last year featuring original material from the album as well as instrumental covers of Black Sabbath.
Take Five
Bryan recommends the following 5-a-day:
Chet Baker She Was Good To Me (CTI Records)
Freddie Hubbard Skagly (Columbia Records)
Ashley Khan Kind of Blue: The Making of the Miles Davis Masterpiece (pub. Granta)
Aloe Vera – the magical medicinal properties of this plant from the desert.
The Maldives – God’s teardrops in the Indian Ocean.
- Bryan Corbett’s latest album Green is available on the BCCD Label. Bryan’s Quartet plus Alan Barnes plays Jazz Coventry at the Albany Club, Earlsdon, on Thursday 30 April – more information here. He will also feature with singer Sara Colman in a jazz workshop on Saturday 23rd. May run by Jazz at Wolverhampton – for further information email jazzwolverhampton@gmail.com
thejazzbreakfast 
Bryan introduced me to the Chet Baker album when he was a guest on Jazz Kaleidoscope. It has become one of my favourite albums of all time. Thanks, Bryan!