Biography
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Born In
Leicester, England, United Kingdom
Simon T. Bramley, the man behind the studio act Mr Gone, hails from Leicester, a city in the East Midlands of England not generally noted for its contribution to jazz music history. Simon has been playing jazz and funk for the last 16 years and is a founder member of Afro Elements. Simon's taste in music varies wildly but is ultimately centred on jazz related music of all kinds. Influences range from George Duke to Duke Ellington with a special affection for artists such as Herbie Hancock, Earth Wind & Fire and Jeff Lorber. Simon's other great love is Brazilian music, evident in tracks like his internationally renowned dancefloor classic "The Mosquito Coast 94-'96". Simon, along with some other musicians started the band Afro Elements & a club night, “Unwind Your Mind” in early 1995. This was to satisfy the need for a decent place to hear live bands & DJs play the funky jazzed up sounds originally called Jazz Funk and subsequently Acid Jazz, and to provide an outlet for their own musical skills. From this in 1996 Simon started the project known as Mr Gone. Guest musicians from the Afro Elements fold plus other local, national & international artists including the French poet Lost-Ys, combined to produce the debut album, "Looking At The Future In The Rear View Mirror", released on Internal Bass Records in 1997.
Although Mr Gone in the studio is just Simon plus a few guests, Mr Gone live is a full on Jazz, Funk & Fusion 9-piece band featuring much of the talent from Afro Elements plus a couple of other class jazz musicians that have appeared on both Mr Gone albums.
Simon and the band have played numerous venues around the country, always to very appreciative crowds. Some of the places they have performed include; The Jazz Café (Camden) , The Cooker (Leeds), The Big Beat (Edinburgh), Jagz (Ascot), Mezzo (Soho), The Forum (where they played to a 1500 capacity crowd along with Down To The Bone), Fabric, Cargo & The Spitz (London). In the summer of 2001 they were privileged to be asked to play the final night of The Copenhagen International Jazz Festival, with the band going down a storm to in with the audience & in national news. As a follow up the band did a three date Scandinavian tour playing in Stockholm (Sweden), Helsinki (Finland) & Tallinn (Estonia) to enormous audiences each night.
In addition to this, Simon and other members of the band have acted as backing band to Blue Note organ legend Reuben Wilson on tours of the UK & Germany taking in places like Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover Freiburg & Dusseldorf amongst others. 2001 also saw the rhythm section from Mr.Gone backing 70’s jazz trumpet legend (and personal fave of Herbie Hancock), Eddie Henderson at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire (London) & The Life Café (Manchester), playing material from his Blue Note & Capitol catalogue. A little known fact is that Mr.Gone are the first band ever to actually play this material live – even before The Headhunters! Eddie Henderson was once again backed by the band for a string of dates in May 2002 at the world renowned Jazz Café in London. Eddie Henderson & Mr.Gone appeared at Tallinn’s prestigious ‘Jazzkaar’ Festival in January of 2005 to an amazing response and on their return to the UK, performed two nights at the Jazz Café, along with fellow fusion pioneer & one time Miles Davis collaborator Gary Bartz.
The second Mr Gone album ‘Looking at The Future…Part 2’ (1999) has already been a best seller in Europe, as well as being released in Australia and North America, and was extremely well received by the UK’s national music press, with rave reviews in Blues & Soul, Straight No Chaser, Muzik, Ministry and The Times.
The three singles released to date are; ‘Mosquito Coast ’98 (mixes)’, ‘Just Listen To The Record/The Duke’ & ‘Fusão’, which included a remix by the almost legendary Trüby Trio (Compost Records).
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