here’s the full blurb:
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. In the 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".
90,toured with the Andy's Rhythmical Personnages including Ernst Reisjeger,Gary Valente and Han Bennink,the end result being the cd "Soft on the inside".
91 joined Andy Sheppard's "In Co-Motion"quintet with Claude Deppa,Sylvan Richardson(the professional squash player),Dave Adams;cd released later that year.
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.
93 onwards- 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.
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 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. taken on by nexus,and sells many copies.
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.
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 onwards- 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.
98-02 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 on provocateur,released 00.
01 steve lodder cd [little albert pic] (see deck5) 'bout time 2' released may.
01-2 co-production/playing/mixing for Candid cd monica vasconcelos/oferenda
01-2 working on paul McCartney's choral/orchestral piece 'ecce cor meum'.produced an organ version which was premiered @ magdalen college oxford in october 01.
02 md’d sibongile khumalo tour,including commonwealth day service in westminster abbey in front of the queen and tony blair....not much pressure there then. also lesley garrett’s BBC xmas show with sibongile.
02 week at perugia festival with george russell,exploring all his ouevre......
03 gig with donna summer @ a wedding party in versailles.
03 onwards- start with paul bartholomew’s south african project,mbawula.
04 start on stevie wonder book
05 soupsongs project with annie whitehead,the songs of robert wyatt.
06 travel to brazil to record sections of hih album with monica vasconcelos and dudley phillips,several tracks co-written with robert wyatt.
06 tour with juliet roberts, Shubha Mudgal (India), Kandya Kouyate (Mali) and other world artists / Les Dangeureses, for asian music circuit.
07 teach jazz piano at CYM,and take the jazz groups with annie whitehead.
07/08 start on classic hammond organ book/dvd,and on to co-write with janette mason,the totally interactive keyboard bible.
08 tour with birmingham royal ballet,a colin towns score for orpheus,followed by another ballet featuring colin’s transcriptions of dave brubeck tunes.
08 hih play womad.
08 ben crosland’s threeway record;ben on bass,and steve waterman on trumpet/flugel.
08 john harle launches sospiro,workshops on using the power of breath to strengthen presentation.
09 elephant re-unites after a 20 year gap,paul nieman on trombone,mornington lockett on saxes,robin clayton on bass,marc parnell on drums,and josefina cupido on voice and percussion.
09 gigs with sheila jordan,jeff clyne and trevor tomkins.
09 onwards- start with sardininan singer filomena campus,writing with filo and dudley phillips,album completed 10.
[there’s an exuberant youtube clip here!:]
![here is a brief summary:
‘Lodder is both an improviser of originality and a musical thinker of erudition and depth’ The Guardian
Highly regarded sideman for many International and London musicians including Andy Sheppard, Naná Vasconcelos, George Russell’s “Living Time” orchestra, Sarah Jane Morris, John Harle, Carla Bley, Mônica Vasconcelos. He has also been musical associate with Paul McCartney on the ‘Standing Stone’ and ‘Ecce cor meum’ projects,and musical arranger for the Zappatistas. Originally a Cambridge organ scholar he has played church organ on albums with Mark Ramsden and Asaf Sirkis and has written several books,one on Stevie Wonder,one on the Hammond organ,and The Keyboard Bible.[with Janette Mason]](biog_files/shapeimage_2.png)
