Arthur Jeffes
The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's notability guideline for biographies. (June 2014) |
Arthur Jeffes | |
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Birth name | Arthur William Phoenix Young Jeffes |
Born | Paddington, London, England | 21 July 1978
Genres | Chamber jazz, folk |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, explorer |
Associated acts | Penguin Cafe, Sundog, Sam Lee |
Arthur William Phoenix Young Jeffes (born 21 July 1978, Paddington, London, England) is an English composer, musician, and arctic explorer.[1] He is the frontman of the musical group Penguin Cafe, a group he formed in 2007 to play the music of his father's band, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He is one half of the band Sundog.[2]
Early life[]
Jeffes was born in London to the artist Emily Young and musician and composer, Simon Jeffes. Jeffes's interest in experimental music was recognised by his father when he took a hammer to the keys of his father's piano.[3] While both of his parents nurtured his musicality he was encouraged to base any career on a strong academic background. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Trinity College, Cambridge.[4]
Penguin Cafe[]
In 2007, original members of Penguin Cafe Orchestra performed a series of three memorial concerts, with Arthur Jeffes performing onstage with the band for the first time,[5] to mark ten years since Simon Jeffes' death.[6] Encouraged by the public response to the Union Chapel concerts, which all sold out, Jeffes decided that keeping his father's music alive was a worthwhile endeavour. He founded a new band, Penguin Cafe, with a new line-up, including Cass Browne of Gorillaz, Neil Codling of Suede, Oli Langford of Florence and the Machine and Darren Berry of Razorlight.[7] Penguin Cafe have performed on stage playing works of Simon Jeffes and their own pieces.
International Space Orchestra[]
In 2012, Jeffes was commissioned by the artist Nelly Ben-Hayoun to write several pieces for the NASA Kepler mission, to be played by the International Space Orchestra.[8][9] The pieces "1420" and "Aurora" were beamed into space in 2013. "1420" was inspired by the WOW! signal.
Other work[]
Jeffes has also formed recording duos with violinist Oli Langford as Sundog, and with pianist Mark Springer as Aparat.
Discography[]
- Penguin Cafe
- A Matter of Life... (2011)
- The Red Book (2014)
- The Imperfect Sea (2017)
- Handfuls of Nights (2019)
- Sundog
- Insofar (2012)
- Aparat
- Aparat (2016)
References[]
- ^ "Blizzard: Race To The Pole". BBC. 25 July 2006.
- ^ "About". Sundog Music. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ "A voyage round my father's orchestra". The Guardian. 12 June 2009.
- ^ "Arthur Jeffes (I)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2017-07-27.
- ^ Walters, John. "Penguin Cafe Orchestra, Union Chapel, London". The Guardian. The Guardian. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ "Obituary: Simon Jeffes". The Independent. 18 December 1997.
- ^ "Penguin Cafe". Penguin Cafe. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ Your Name Here. "Ground Control". Groundcontrol-opera.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-17. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- ^ Nelly Ben Hayoun (2012-09-06). "The International Space Orchestra - Nelly Ben Hayoun". Nellyben.com. Retrieved 2014-06-23.
- 1978 births
- Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge
- English folk musicians
- English jazz musicians
- English male composers
- Living people
- Musicians from London
- Penguin Cafe members