Itchy Fingers

UK saxophone quartet: Mike Mower (b 9 June '58, Bath), composer, tenor sax and flute; Howard Turner (2) (b 9 Nov. '57, Amersham), baritone sax and bass clarinet; Martin Speake (b 3 April '58, Barnet), alto sax; John Graham (4) (b 6 March '61, Birmingham) on soprano, alto, tenor, clarinet. Mower's compositions have been commissioned by the BBC Big Band, BBC Radio Orchestra and the Arts Council and he also played with Tina Turner, Style Council etc; asked to take a 12-piece group Hiatus to Zurich '85, financial constraints meant taking only reeds, and success was immediate: at the first British Jazz Festival Joe Zawinul described them as "world class in every respect.' Graham and Turner had failed music college; Speake worked at Ray's Jazz Shop in London, played with Style Council. [From 'Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music'] Over the years, changes in line-up included Nigel Hitchcock, Tim Holmes (2), Pete Long, Matt Wates, Dave O'Higgins, Mike Smith (3) and Tim Garland.