Django Bates
Jazz Adjudicator
Django Bates is a self-taught composer, pianist and keyboard player who credits the variety of musical influences in his work to his childhood. His father is a collector of jazz, and Romanian and African folk music.
A founder member of Loose Tubes, Django was a leading light in the 1980s European jazz renaissance. The Dutch Metropole Orchestra, The Brodsky Quartet, Joanna MacGregor, Britten Sinfonia, Royal Shakespeare Company, and Duisburg Philharmonic are some of the many groups that have commissioned new works from Django. As an internationally respected musician he has appeared alongside Bill Bruford, Dudu Pukwana, Sidsel Endresen, Wynton Marsalis, Michael Brecker, Tim Berne, and Ronnie Scott. In 1997 Django was awarded the prestigious Danish Jazzpar prize, dubbed the 鈥楴obel Prize of Jazz鈥�.
In 2010 Django released Belov猫d Bird, a celebration of his childhood hero Charlie Parker, for which he used the classic acoustic piano trio constellation. In September 2012 Django continued the exploration of Parker鈥檚 work with the release of the album Confirmation.
In 2011 Django left the Rhythmic Music Conservatory in Copenhagen, Denmark in order to take up a new position as professor of jazz at University of the Arts, Berne, Switzerland.
