Mick Hutton – Bass

Classically trained on the piano, Hutton taught himself to play the bass, developing his own technique using three basic positions with the left hand coupled with three fingers on the right hand. He has been well known on the British jazz scene since 1980 and has toured extensively in Europe, Scandinavia, USA and Japan. He has recorded more than 100 jazz CDs and also worked in film and television, recording several hundred radio broadcasts in Europe and the USA.

He has recorded with Julian Argüelles, Iain Ballamy, Django Bates and Ken Stubbs (First House), the Chris Biscoe Sextet and Bill Bruford’s Band Earthworks. In addition, Hutton worked throughout his career with Alan Barnes, Peter Erskine, Tina May, Jim Mullen, John Scofield, Alan Skidmore, Tommy Smith, John Taylor, Stan Tracey, and Kenny Wheeler. In 2002, he played on Robin Williamson’s album Skirting the River Road, and the same year he played in a trio with Martin Speake and Paul Motian (Change of Heart).

In the 1990s, in addition to leading his own band, Hutton started working with Steve Argüelles, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, John Surman, Gary Husband and numerous American artists, including John Scofield, Bob Berg and Randy Brecker.

Hutton had a thirty-year association with Trinidadian pianist and steel pannist Russ Henderson MBE, one of the founders of the Notting Hill Carnival; Hutton wrote Henderson’s obituary for The Independent newspaper on 8 September 2015. Hutton was a member of the Humphrey Lyttelton band for several years, during the course of which he also played with Acker Bilk, George Melly and Kenny Ball. Hutton has studied and recorded with various other instruments, such as steel pan and cuatro.

(biographical details from Wikipedia)

This track is from the first Earthworks album that appeared in 1987. Having wound up his eponymous band, ‘Bruford’, with Jeff Berlin on bass, the drummer took things in a completely fresh direction featuring his electronic Simmons kit alongside saxophonist Iain Ballamy, keyboard player, Django Bates, and Mick Hutton on double bass. This track features Bates on his horn, a unique texture he brought to this band alongside his idiosyncratic synth playing. The part is generally easy to play but there are a couple of passages where things hot up a little so watch for those.