Alex Maguire

British pianist Alex Maguire remembers improvising on the piano before he received any lessons, which started at age eight.

He researched music on the College or university of London and obtained a BA. He also took lessons from Wanda Jeziorska, Andrew Ball, and Howard Riley.

He brands as his motivation several respected figures within the free improvising scene, such as Tony Oxley and Evan Parker, in addition to jazz players Cecil Taylor and Eric Dolphy.

Maguire says he’s thinking about “pre-literate music, anything first instead of imitative (regardless of idiom)”.

He studied with traditional composers John Cage and Michael Finnissy and his arsenal of methods and statistics, which extend from avant garde traditional piano to jazz, from kwela to R&B, made him very popular.

He had an ongoing musical relationship with drummer Steve Noble and has contributed to Tony Oxley’s Special event Orchestra and Sean Bergin’s MOB organizations.

He has toured with his personal nine-piece, the Kitty O'Nine Tails, with drummer Louis Moholo and saxophonist Alan Wilkinson.

Of particular note are his recordings with reed player Michael Moore, 1999’s Mt. Olympus and 2001’s White colored Widow. Maguire has also played with Elton Dean (saxophone), Fred T Baker (bass) and Liam Genockey (drums) within the jazz quartet Psychic Warrior.