Mr Dave Stapleton 

Turner Sims Professor

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Mr Dave Stapleton is a Turner Sims Professor of Music at the University of Southampton.

“A real UK Jazz revelation…one of the success stories of UK jazz” – Guardian

In less than ten years since graduating in classical piano from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Dave Stapleton has established himself as a musician, composer and label boss and become an important figure on the UK jazz scene.

Stapleton's playing has been praised for both its strength and its capacity for tenderness and reflection. The Dave Stapleton Quintet (DSQ) combines a muscular intensity with consummate delicacy in performance, and their three CD’s to date have been highly praised by critics in Britain and abroad. Two improvised duets, one with saxophonist Deri Roberts and another with fellow pianist Matthew Bourne, have met with similar approval. His most recent CD Flight marks his eighth release under his own name. It’s his most ambitious album to date, featuring the Brodowski String Quartet alongside saxophonist Marius Neset, bassist Dave Kane, drummer Olavi Louhivuori and Stapleton himself on piano.

As a composer, Stapleton draws upon a formidable grasp of jazz, classical and world styles, transforming these raw materials into something richly personal. His commission for the Lunar Saxophone Quartet, Catching Sunlight, garnered five star reviews, whilst the Mavron String Quartet premiered Stapleton’s first work for strings in 2009. He has also written scores for animations and short films, including Pellegrina for the S4C (Channel Four Wales) short animation and The Outsider (Best Welsh Film Award at the Cardiff Film Festival), and is the recipient of a number of commissions from the ABRSM Exam board.

Stapleton heads up Edition Records, one of the most innovative and creative companies in the business. Founded in May 2008 with co-director photographer Tim Dickeson, Edition has gone from strength to strength. As well as providing an outlet for emerging talent such as Troyka and Phronesis, Edition have released albums by established artists like Keith Tippett, John Taylor and Neil Yates and promoted stars of the future in Marius Neset and Josh Arcoleo.

See Dave Stapleton's website for sound clips, album information and more.