Steve began studying the clarinet at the age of 10, first with Cyril Chapman (clarinetist with the Royal Philharmonia Orchestra) and later with Colin Courtney (clarinet professor at the Royal College of Music). He was a member of the Bromley Symphony Orchestra from ages 14 to 18 playing anything from Haydn and Mozart to Stravinsky and Shostakovich. At 16 he took up the saxophone with a pile of Charlie Parker 78’s as his main guide and inspiration. He completed an Earth Sciences degree at Leeds University before deciding to become a professional musician.
He was a key member of Loose Tubes (the highly acclaimed 21 piece jazz orchestra that became the focal point of the British jazz renaissance of the 80s). During this time, he was closely associated with the London African and Latin American scenes, playing with bands such as Taxi Pata Pata (a top Zairean Soukous outfit) , Bosco D’Olivera’s Grupo Folia and Roberto Pla’s Latin Jazz Ensemble. His own projects included Orchestra Rafiki, co-led by long-time associate Chris Batchelor and featuring Kenyan Nyatiti player Ayub Ogada and Ghanaian drummer Nana Appiah, and also the Pigs Head Sons, another Buckley/Batchelor collaboration. He toured and recorded with Ashley Slater’s Microgroove, Norman Cook’s Beats International and the contemporary classical ensemble Jeremy Peyton-Jones’ Regular Music.
He has played and recorded with several Django Bates’ projects including The Third Policeman, Human Chain and Delightful Precipice.
His continued connections with African music led him to travel to Ghana to work with The Pan African Orchestra and with Kakatsitsi in the UK. He has also played and recorded with Massukos from Mozambique.
Steve’s main area of work has always been within the contemporary jazz scene, playing and recording with artists such as John Taylor, Julian Arguelles, Steve Arguelles, Eddie Parker, Iain Ballamy, Steve Noble, Billy Jenkins, Huw Warren, Christine Tobin, Phil Robson, Colin Towns, Seb Roachford, Mark Lockheart, Mike Outram, Joseph Jarman, Jonathan Joseph, Mark Sanders, Kit Downes and Leroy Jenkins. Steve’s close association with Chris Batchelor has continued with projects such as the internationally acclaimed Big Air, featuring Myra Melford, Jim Black and Oren Marshall. In 2006 Steve and Chris received the BBC Jazz on 3 award for best new work with “Ten Tall Tales”. More recently he has played and recorded with the legendary South African pianist Tete Mbambisa and also with a re-united Loose Tubes.
New projects include Zone-B, a Buckley/Batchelor production featuring guitarist Rob Luft, bassist Tom Herbert and drummer Gene Calderazzo, the Buckley/Watts/Calderazzo Trio and a Quartet featuring Mike Outram on guitar.
Selected discography
Loose Tubes Loose Tubes
Loose Tubes Delightful Precipice
Loose Tubes Open Letter
Django Bates Music for the Third Policeman
Buckley/Batchelor The Whole and the Half
Jeremy Peyton Jones North South East West
Django Bates’
Human Chain Pyrotechnics{Bluenote compilation}
Noble/Marshall/Buckley Live at Bad Gleichenberg
Noble/Marshall/Buckley Bud Moon
Buckley/Batchelor Life as we Know it
Christine Tobin Aililiu
Christine Tobin Yell of the Gazelle
Dick Walters’
Jazzcraft Ensemble Secret Moves
The Space Within Federico Ughi
Django Bates’
Delightful Precipice Summer Fruits
Django Bates’
Delightful Precipice Winter Truce
Buckley/Batchelor Big Air
Massukos Bumping
Loose Tubes Dancing on Frith Street
Loose Tubes Sad Africa
Loose Tubes Arriving
Empty Boat Waitless
FEEDBACK
Steve's playing just blows me away.
It always reminds me of African music without being African music.
It's melodic and soulful but very free too.
Seb Rochford
Big Air: “Big Air” (2009).
Steve Buckley: Saxophone, Bass Clarinet, Whistles
Chris Batchelor: Trumpet, Electronics
Oren Marshall: Tuba, Electric Tuba
Myra Melford: Piano, Harmonium
Jim Black: Drums, Percussion
This inspired transatlantic alliance……is both highly adventurous and eminently listenable.
…dazzling and invigorating stuff….a remarkable album. Ian Mann, The Jazz Mann
This genre-mashing quartet…….an exhilarating, visceral blend of free jazz, post-bop, messy funk with electronic flourishes.
All the musicians soar, the sound is fantastic and the spirit tangible.
As funky and unbuttoned as a chimp on acid.
Chris May, All About Jazz
Satisfyingly adventurous, fiendishly well played and all done with good humour, intelligence and soul. Daniel Spicer, Jazzwise
Big Air has gained near mythical status in the jazz jungle. Robert Shore
…shifting variation of mood that’s never off the boil.
John Fordham, the Guardian
Exhilarating, visceral blend of free jazz, post-bop, messy funk with electronic flourishes and a little cod mariachi….vivid and intoxicating.
This is the best British jazz record for twenty years.
Brian Morton, Jazz Journal
There are no passengers here…. All the players telling contributions to what is already shaping up to be one of the most engaging, exhuberant and inventive albums of the year.
Kenny Mathesson, The List
The kind of uninhibited roar up that only a group of this calibre could handle.
Roger Thomas, BBC Music Magazine
The music is provocative, vital and rich in variety, as soft delicacy is dramatically juxtaposed with pulsating fury.
Al browntree, City Life
Life As We Know It. (1999) Babel
Steve Buckley: Saxophones, Clarinets, Whistles, Percussion
Chris Batchelor: Trumpet, Tenor Horn, Tuba, Percussion
Paul Clavis: Drums, Percussion
Mark Sanders: Drums, Percussion
“Buckley and Batchelor join Django Bates and Iain Ballamy as really important names in 90’s jazz and make this the unexpected highlight of the year.” Life As We Know It” moves British jazz forward in a very accessible but inventive way”.
Peter Bacon of The Birmingham Post.
The Whole And The Half (1994) FMR
Steve Buckley: Saxophone, Bass clarinet, Tin Whistle
Chris Batchelor: Trumpet
Wayne Batchelor, Steve Watts: Bass
Steve Noble, Martin France: Drums
Altoist Steve Buckley and trumpeter Chris Batchelor dig impressively into the edgy possibilities of the pianoless quartet.....the themes are perkily unpredictable and the playing has a palpably fresh sparkle: a good idea superbly realized.
Chris Ingham, Mojo
This one is a real breath of fresh air.....unusual and exhilarating.
Brian Blain, Musician Magazine
The band is a spiky and effervescent example of the eclectic approach to new music that Loose Tubes helped to engender
John Fordham, The Guardian
Theatre, Film and Television Work:
Various sessions for the past 25 years, including;
Penny Whistle on Cry Freedom (1987); a film by Richard Attenborough about South African Black Consciousness Movement Leader Steve Biko.
Composition of music and tenor saxophone for BBC Radio play The Brothers Wilmer, by Tony Dennis.
Saxophones and clarinets for BBC police television drama, Prime Suspect, starring Helen Mirren.
Penny whistle for Wildlife on One, episode about Cape Coast penguins.
Penny whistle for Rides, BBC television series about an Irish womens’ mini cab firm.
Appeared in and played saxophones and penny whistle on Plotlands, a BBC television drama series written by Jeremy Block.
Clarinets for London Contemporary Dance production, Flee as a Bird.
National Theatre Productions:
Machinal), by Sophie Treadwell starring Fiona Shaw; Saxophones and bass clarinet.
Les Parents Terribles), by Jean Cocteau, starring Francis de la Tour; saxophones and clarinet.
Skylight), by David Hare, starring Michael Gambon; solo tenor saxophone.