Jenkins was educated in music at
Cardiff University and the
Royal Academy of Music: of the latter, he is a
fellow and an Associate. He joined the
jazz-rock band
Soft Machine in 1972 and became the group's lead songwriter in 1974. Jenkins continued to work with Soft Machine up to 1984, but has not been involved with any incarnation of the group since. Jenkins has composed music for advertisement campaigns and has won the industry prize twice.
Biography
Early life and education
Karl Jenkins was born and raised in
Penclawdd,
Gower,
Wales (now part of
Swansea). His mother was Swedish, and his father was Welsh. Jenkins received his initial musical instruction from his father, who was the local schoolteacher, chapel organist and choirmaster. He attended
Gowerton Grammar School.[2]
For the bulk of his early career, Jenkins was known as a
jazz and
jazz-rock musician, playing
baritone and
soprano saxophones, keyboards and oboe, an unusual instrument in a jazz context. He joined jazz composer
Graham Collier's group and later co-founded the jazz-rock group
Nucleus, which won first prize at the
Montreux Jazz Festival in 1970. In 1971, Jenkins collaborated with
Linda Hoyle on her album
Pieces of Me, co-writing 8 of the 11 tracks, playing piano and oboe, as well as arranging and conducting the orchestra.[4]
Soft Machine
In 1972, Jenkins joined the
Canterbury jazz fusion rock band
Soft Machine, playing saxophone, oboe and flute along with keyboard instruments. The group played venues including
The Proms,
Carnegie Hall, and the
Newport Jazz Festival. The album Six, on which Jenkins first played with Soft Machine, won the Melody Maker British Jazz Album of the Year award in 1973. Jenkins also won the miscellaneous musical instrument section (as he did the following year). Soft Machine was voted best small group in the Melody Maker jazz poll of 1974. The albums in which Jenkins performed and composed were Six (1973), Seven (1973), Bundles (1975), Softs (1976) and Land of Cockayne (1981). Jenkins was the group's primary composer on Seven and the subsequent three albums.
After
Mike Ratledge left the band in 1976, Soft Machine did not include any of its founding members, but kept recording on a project basis with line-ups revolving around Jenkins and drummer
John Marshall. Although Melody Maker had positively reviewed the Soft Machine of 1973 and 1974,
Hugh Hopper, involved with the group since replacing bassist
Kevin Ayers in 1968, cited Jenkins's "third rate" musical involvement in his own decision to leave the band,[5] and the band of the late 1970s has been described by band member
John Etheridge as wasting its potential.[6]
Other works
In November 1973, Jenkins and Ratledge participated in a live-in-the-studio performance of
Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells for the BBC.[7] It is available on Oldfield's Elements DVD.
Works
Jenkins has created advertising music, twice winning the industry prize in that field. From the 1980s, he developed a relationship with
Bartle Bogle Hegarty, starting with composing musics for their
Levi's jeans "Russian" series. He composed a classical theme used by
De Beers diamond merchants for their television
advertising campaign focusing on jewellery worn by people otherwise seen only in
silhouette. Jenkins later included this as the title track in a compilation called Diamond Music, and eventually created Palladio, using it as the theme of the first movement. Other arrangements have included advertisements for the
Renault Clio.
Jenkins was the first international composer and conductor to conduct the
University of Johannesburg Kingsway Choir led by Renette Bouwer, during his visit to South Africa as the choir performed his The Armed Man: A mass for peace together with a 70-piece orchestra.
Jenkins' choral work The Peacemakers was first performed in New York City's Carnegie Hall on 16 January 2012. Jenkins conducted from the podium.[citation needed] The seventeen-movement piece features extracts from religious texts and works by notable humanitarians. A recording was released on 26 March 2012; it features the
London Symphony Orchestra and several choirs, as well as guest vocalists and instrumentalists. Additional concerts in the UK and US took place later in the year.[9][non-primary source needed]
Jenkins composed the music for the 2012
BBC Wales series The Story of Wales presented by
Huw Edwards.[10]
A work entitled The Healer – A Cantata For St Luke was premiered on 16 October 2014 (7:30 pm) in St Luke's Church,
Grayshott, Hampshire, and was recorded and broadcast on
Classic FM.[11]The Healer received its US premiere at Carnegie Hall, New York on 19 January 2015. In September 2015, the recording of the premiere of The Healer was released on CD by Warner Classics as part of the 8-disc boxed set Voices.
A compilation CD Still with the Music was also released in September 2015, coinciding with the publication of his autobiography of the same name.
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Lyrics
Many of the songs written by Jenkins have specifically written phonetic lyrics, but they are not in any language.[14] Instead, they are syllables intended to have a musical effect, but not to carry any specific meaning.[14] This
glossolalia is similar to the sounds of "
scat singing", except that this latter artform sometimes emphasises of-the-moment
improvisation as well.[15]
The composer has said the lyrics to his "
Adiemus" series of songs are in "an invented language", and have no particular meaning.[14] He has observed, "The text was written phonetically with the words viewed as instrumental sound, the idea being to maximise the
melisma by removing the distraction, if one can call it that, of words”.[14] Some listeners compare his lyrics to the
Latin language, but other critics discount such a connection.[16]
Other songs he has written use Biblical or literary texts for the lyrics.
In 2016, Jenkins received the
BASCA Gold Badge Award for his unique contribution to music.[28]
Jenkins' work Tros y Garreg (Welsh for Crossing the Stone) was performed at the
coronation of
King Charles III in 2023,[29] with Jenkins in attendance.[30]
Compositions
Discography
With Graham Collier
The Graham Collier Septet
Deep Dark Blue Center (1967) – Jenkins: Baritone saxophone. With
John Marshall on drums, future
Soft Machine
The Graham Collier Sextet
Down Another Road (1969) Piano, oboe. Jenkins composed Lullaby For A Lonely Child, John Marshall on drums
Compilations
Workpoints (2005) – Jenkins, soprano and baritone sax
Deep Dark Blue Centre / Portraits / The Alternate Mosaics (2008) 2 CD – With
Alan Wakeman, John Marshall, Harold Beckett,
Kenny Wheeler.
Relook : Graham Collier 1937–2011: A Memorial 75th Birthday Celebration (2012) With John Marshall,
Nick Evans, Gary Burton, Frank Ricotti,
Roy Babbington, Kenny Wheeler, Alan Wakeman etc.
With Neil Ardley – Don Rendell – Ian Carr
Greek Variations & Other Aegean Exercises (1970) – With
Jack Bruce, Jeff Clyne, Roy Babbington, John Marshall, Barbara Thompson, etc.
With Barry Guy/The London Jazz Composers' Orchestra
Ode (1972) – Jenkins Oboe and soprano and baritone sax
Marc Charig on bugle, Alan Wakeman on tenor and soprano saxes, future Soft Machine and cousin of
Rick Wakeman.
Softs (1976) –
John Etheridge replaced Holdsworth and Alan Wakeman added on saxes. Jenkins only plays keyboards from this point.
Rubber Riff (1976) – Originally an album for libraries providing "modern rock music featuring keyboards and guitar" composed by Karl Jenkins. As well as Jenkins some other then-current Soft Machine members played on the album. Reissued as in 1994 under the "Soft Machine" name.
Land of Cockayne (1981) – Last Soft Machine album with Jenkins: Jenkins keyboards, John Taylor electric piano Fender Rhodes, Allan Holdsworth and Alan Parker guitars, Jack Bruce bass, Ray Warleigh sax and flute, Dick Morrissey tenor sax, John Marshall drums.
Live albums
Alive & Well: Recorded in Paris (1978) – Jenkins keyboards, John Etheridge guitar, Steve Cook bass, John Marshall drums, Rick Sanders violin.
BBC Radio 1971 – 1974 (2003)
British Tour '75 (2005)
Floating World Live (2006) – Recorded in 1975.
NDR Jazz Workshop (2010) CD + DVD – Recorded in 1973
Switzerland 1974 (2015) CD + DVD
Compilations
Triple Echo (1977) – Available on vinyl on a triple album. Jenkins on the last 4 pieces
The Untouchable (1990)
As If... (1991) – Contains songs from the Third , Fourth , Fifth & Sixth albums.
Softs / Alive And Well (Recorded In Paris) / Bundles (1992) – 3 CDs
The Best Of Soft Machine – The Harvest Years (1995)
De Wolfe Sessions (2002) – Presented as Karl Jenkins' Soft Machine.
MP3 Collection (2003) – Contains albums Volume One (The Soft Machine) to Rubber Riff + At the beginning[31]
Six + Seven (2004) – 2 CDs
Out-Bloody-Rageous An Anthology 1967–1973 (2005) – 2 CDs
Tales Of Taliesin (The EMI Years Anthology 1975–1981) (2010) – 2 CDs
Original Album Classics (2010) – Contains albums from Third to Seven.
With Mike Oldfield
Tubular Bells – BBC 1973 – Recorded live in studio for the BBC in November 1973 and released in 1993. Available on DVD Elements – The Best of Mike Oldfield.
Music of the spheres (2008) – Jenkins; orchestrations, string direction and production.
With Planet Earth
Planet Earth – Avec Mike Ratledge, Tristan Fry, etc. (1978)
With Plaza
Plaza – With Mike Thorne and Mike Ratledge. (1979)
With Rollercoaster
Wonderin' – With Mike Ratledge, Dick Morrisey, Ray Warleigh, etc. (1980)
With Mike Ratledge
Cuts For Commercials Volume 3 (1981)
For Christmas, For Children (1981)
Movement (2010)
Some Shufflin' (2010)
With JAR
Only You/Ballad From An Unmade Movie – Single from The Projet Jenkins Aspery Ratledge, JAR (1988)
With Kiri Te Kanawa
Kiri Sings Karl (2006) – Jenkins orchestration and production
River Queen (2005) – original film score River Queen by New Zealand director Vincent Ward
Tlep (2006)
This Land of Ours (2007) – with Cory Band and Cantorion
Sarikiz (2008)
Stabat Mater (2008)
Quirk – The Concertos (2008) – This album is a compilation of concertos by the composer that were previously commercially unavailable. These are: "Over the Stone" (2002), La Folia (2004), Quirk (2004) and also includes new concerto "Sarikiz" (2008).