In April 1998 Tim was the first recipient of the new Andrew Milne Award for Jazz, for which he wrote Soundtracks for a quintet including Pete Jacobsen, Dave Barry, Arnie Somogyi and cellist Phillip Sheppard. This featured on Jazz on Three in March 1999 and Jazz Notes on Radio 3 in August 1999.

Soundtracks was inspired by Tim's visits to the National Jazz Archive in Loughton which contains spectacular records of the lives and achievements of the world's greatest jazz performers.

It had been a long-standing desire of JazzEast's Joan Morrell for a musician to create a piece of work at the Archives. As one of Britain's greatest jazz saxophonists and composers, Tim Whitehead - described by Andy Hamilton of Jazz Review as "for my money, the finest tenor player in Britain today" - was the ideal choice.

With JazzEast, Tim won the first ever Andrew Milne Jazz Award for this commission. The award is administered and presented by Eastern Arts Board, to encourage the commissioning and touring of new jazz in the eastern region. Andrew, who died in 1995, was a gifted musician who loved jazz passionately, and was, until 1992, Deputy Director of Eastern Arts Board.

With Tim on saxophone, Soundtracks also brings together Peter Jacobsen on piano, Arnie Somogyi on bass, Dave Berry on drums and Philip Sheppard on cello.

The world premiere of Soundtracks took place in the Library of the National Jazz Foundation at Traps Hill, Loughton, Essex on 15th October 1998.

JazzEast, the newly created jazz development agency, specialises in the development of jazz performance, commissioning new works, educational activity, jazz marketing and consultancy. Established and run by Joan Morrell, it has partnership funding from Cambridgeshire and Essex county councils, and financial support from Eastern Arts Board.

What the Press Say

'Whitehead more than justified his growing reputation as one of Britain's most thoughtful composers and improvisors'
Chris Parker (The Times)

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