Musician Profile

Band Info

Young among his many influences.Roger Bird – Clarinet and Tenor Saxophone. Roger began playing clarinet at school in Birmingham and joined Dan Pawson’s band while still in his teens. As a student in London he was active on the N.O. revival scene in the ‘seventies occupying the reed chair in the Gothic Jazzband and The New Iberia Stompers. He had the call to join Belgium’s Cotton City Band and spent four years based in Ghent before leaving to go on the road in Europe with trumpeter Colin “Kid” Dawson’s Onward Jazzband. During this period he also found time to visit New Orleans on several occasions. After around ten years of travelling Roger returned to Britain, settling in Nottingham where he is still based and is currently kept busy performing with his own outfit and freelancing with other bands. Like other band members, Roger is an accomplished Parade Band musician and has played with many of the U.K.’s New Orleans style parade bands. Although firmly entrenched in the New Orleans tradition, his taste is eclectic and he numbers George Lewis, Albert Nicholas, Louis Cottrell, Ben Webster and Lester