Beccy Rork is a saxophonist, teacher and arranger living in East Sussex.
She began playing saxophone in the 1990s, having saved the princely sum of £300 as a teenager for a second-hand instrument, and eventually fulfilling her childhood dream of playing the saxophone.
Throughout secondary school in Norfolk, Beccy played the cornet in the school brass band (the closest saxophone equivalent available).
Having bought a tenor saxophone, Dean Masser, a recent prize winning graduate of Leeds College of Music, had the dubious honour of teaching Beccy to play from scratch, and introduced her to the Jazz greats Dexter Gordon, Stan Getz, Coltrane and Cannonball, and a whole new world of music.
With Dean’s encouragement, she began to play in Blues, Funk and Soul bands in Norwich, and went on to study Jazz, Popular and Contemporary Music at Leeds College of Music, as well as gaining her LGSMD in Jazz at Wakefield College.
During the summer breaks, Beccy headed for sunnier climes and toured through France with the Moliendo Café Trio (double bass, guitar and alto saxophone), where her melodic style and warm tone were likened to that of Art Pepper, Paul Desmond and Bud Shank.
She moved to Brighton in 2000 after being invited to play in the epic 10 piece P-Funk band ‘Thumpasaurus’ led by fellow CLCM alumni Maz Davis. She has settled in Sussex with its rich and vibrant community of musicians, and she continues to perform throughout the UK and Europe with a variety of line-ups, playing mostly alto with her guitar/sax duos, and tenor and soprano for the majority of the larger band projects, from Jazz Duos with piano or guitar, through Trio, Quartet, Quintet, right up to 17 piece Big bands and Terry Pack’s unfeasibly large Big Band ‘Trees’.
Beccy has also organised and directed two ‘100 Saxophones’ fundraising events with Simon D’souza and Mark Bassey as part of the Brighton Festival, and continues to co-direct and write arrangements for weekly Saxshop sessions and performances.
Currently you can see Beccy performing with ~
Moliendo Café ~ Sax/Guitar Duo with Charles Rickards (Jazz, Blues, Bossa,
Funk and Soul)
Maggs’ Groove ~ Sax/Guitar Duo with Lou Maggs ~ they also perform as a
trio with Phil Naylor joining on drums (Latin, Blues, Jazz, Funk, Stevie Wonder,
Motown, 60’s and 70’s)
Butxaca ~ Sextet playing an eclectic mix of Jazz influenced music,
from Simon D’souza, Paul Simon, Barbara Thompson, Steely Dan,
Joshua Redman, Herbie Hancock and others.
Lucy Pickering’s Court and Spark ~ Quintet reinterpreting the music of Joni Mitchell.
Hilary Burt’s Blue Calluna ~ 8 piece playing Jazz, Latin, Funk and Folk
influenced originals
The One World Orchestra (previously Paul Busby Big Band) playing the original
music of Paul Busby and material from Philippe Guyard’s Studio 9 Orchestra
Saxshop~ long running Community Workshop ensemble of 30 Saxophones,
performing arrangements of Jazz, Blues, Funk, Soul, Afro-beat, Township, Motown,
60s to 80s classics – arrangements and direction by Beccy Rork and Charlotte Glasson
Beccy has also played as a guest with Sussex bands, Skatoons, Skakestra, Joko and Bungaroosh, in Norfolk with Mr Pitiful and in the Isle of Man with All The President’s Men and Blue Vannin.
She has recorded sessions for radio and TV, and has played on a number of albums; Terry Pack’s Trees ‘Heart of Oak’, ‘Into the Woods’ and ‘Peter Peregrine’ (soprano/clarinet) and Hilary Burt’s debut album Blue Calluna (sop/tenor/flute).
Festival appearances include, Love Supreme, Port Erin (Isle of Man) Jazz Festival, The South Coast Jazz Festival, Chidfest, La Rochelle Arts Festival, Brighton Festival and the Edinburgh Festival.
Beccy has played at numerous Jazz Clubs (Dean Street Pizza Express, London, Brighton’s Verdict, Steyning Jazz Club, The Watermill Jazz Club, The Jailhouse and Jazz at The Vic, Arundel, Crawley Blues Club), Labour Party Conferences, Bistros, Pubs, Restaurants, Ice Cream parlours in France, Naturist camps in South West France, on The Orient Express, Thames Riverboats, the Burj Al Arab in Dubai, and various Brighton and Sussex live music venues such as The Komedia, Concorde II, Brighton Dome, Worthing Dome, Con Club Lewes, as well as many weddings across Sussex, Surrey and Kent.
email beccyrork@gmail.com
Contact: Tel: 07979 876092
© beccyrorkmusic.co.uk
