photo-david sinclair

 

From an organ scholarship at Cambridge ,(Gonville and Caius '69) Steve tried his hand at teaching music in a comprehensive and running a coffee/wholefood store before settling to a musical freelance career which has involved writing and performing in many differing musical environments.Inthe late '70's and '80's he played with many of the bands on the London jazz scene,including Elephant,the Paul Nieman/Steve Lodder Duo,Carol Grimes' "Eyes Wide Open",Maggie Nichols' "Very Varied",Jan Ponsford,John Etheridge,Henry Thomas,Harry Beckett,Coup d'Etat,etc....

 87,88,and 89 Steve toured with the George Russell "Living Time" orchestra working with musicians from the States and Europe,culminating in the "Live in London" double cd.Other recordings included three albums with Carol Grimes as keyboard player/writer/arranger;the last entitled "Why don't they dance?".

88 to 90,was a member of Brian Abrahams' "District Six",touring mainly in Germany and the uk,recording the cd "Imgoma Yabantwana".

89,a long relationship with Andy Sheppard commenced with the recording of Sheppard's second album,"Introductions in the dark".

89,was musical director for Sarah Jane Morris and undertook a six-week tour of Europe supporting "Simply Red".

91 toured with Jim Pepper/Brian Abrahams.

92 worked with John Harle on his tribute to Duke Ellington project,"Shadow of the Duke".

92 "Inclassificable" was formed,a trio with Andy Sheppard and Brazilian percussionist Nana Vasconcelos.Performed and wrote music for a dance project,"Modern Living",choreographed by Jonathon Lunn,which won a Time Out Dance award '93.

92 the Steve Lodder 4tet was brought into the world,featuring Paul Jayasinha (trumpet,flugel),Dudley Phillips(basses) and Mike Bradley(drums).

93 two cd's with Andy Sheppard;the studio "Rhythm Method" and live at Ronnie Scott's "Delivery Suite". These were both co-produced by Andy and Steve.Toured with 3 line-ups with Andy ;Small Co-motion(a duo exploring electronics and improvisation);In Co-motion the jazz/fusion quintet and Big Co-motion a 10 piece big band with Gary Valente.

94 accompanied American singer Ernestine Anderson for a week at Ronnie's,with Dudley on bass and Mike on drums.

94 also saw the rebirth of "Inclassificable",a major European tour and eponymous cd.

95 project entitled "20th Century saxophones" featured Andy and John Harle in concert playing classical,jazz and contemporary very difficult pieces.This included the John Harle piece,"Terror and Magnificence" which went on tour with Elvis Costello singing Harle's "Twelfth Night" settings of Shakespeare.

95-97 was musical associate with Paul McCartney on an orchestral piece,"Standing Stone".This involved transcribing and then entering onto computer McCartney's ideas.Later recorded and premiered for the EMI centenary in Oct.'97.

96 cd "Above the Clouds" released ,a duo with Mark Ramsden,(saxes) and church organ,recorded in the sympathetic acoustic of the Clapton Terrace church.

95 collaborated with Andy on a BBC Arena 3-part profile of Peter Sellers.Material from this and other film/TV projects,including a documentary on the life of Joseph Emidy, was released '96 on the cd "Moving Image ". The quartet named after this project (Dudley Phillips and Mark Mondesir on drums) was at Ronnie Scott's 98 followed by tours to Australia,South Africa,Colombia. 93-? contributed as writer,player and producer to "Nois",a London-based Brazilian/jazz project featuring Monica Vasconcelos on vocals.First cd released 97 and second 99.

97 recorded another cd with George Russell's Living Time Orchestra,"It's About Time".In99 toured the east coast of the USA,the highlight being a concert in the Library of Congress,Washington.

98 toured Europe with Carla Bley's jazz/rock/opera "Escalator over the Hill".

98 produced cd for saxophone player Ingrid Laubrock,saxophone player with Nois.

98-? with John Etheridge was commisioned to arrange a set of Frank Zappa's jazz output,resulting in the Zappatistas,featuring Jayasinha,Annie Whitehead,Simon Bates,Teena Lyle,Phillips and Bradley.

98-? the association with Andy Sheppard continues with the band Learning to Wave,featuring John Paricelli,Chris Laurence,and Paul Clarvis.2 cd's have resulted,the second,adding Steve Swallow on bass,released march 2000.

00 cd with Annie Whitehead,to be released 00.

01 steve lodder cd

(see deck5)
'bout time 2' released may.

01-2 co-producing Candid cd for mônica vasconcelos to be released may 02

01-2 working on Paul McCartney's choral/orchestral piece 'ecce cor meum'. produced an organ version which was premiered @ magdalen college.