After living his early years in Jamaica and Hong Kong, Dominic Howles moved to leafy Somerset at the age of 13 to encounter two things he had never experienced before; Snow and the Wurzels. Undaunted by such an onslaught, he soon got into playing bass guitar in local bands with influences being Bruce Foxton, Jean-Jacques Burnel, Mark King, Larry Graham, Robbie Shakespeare and Stanley Clark. Things were to change though in 1984 when Dominic saw Weather Report at the Glastonbury festival. This was to spark an interest in jazz that has carried on to the present day. While still on bass guitar, he attended jazz workshops run by respected London session sax player and arranger John Barton, who had moved down to Frome. The move to double bass came a few of years later and from then on the acoustic side of jazz had taken over. Not long after, Dominic joined the Tommy Chase Quartet with whom he toured the country playing festivals, making TV and radio transmissions. He then received a full scholarship to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama(1991-1992) on the one year post graduate course in Jazz and studio music. Whilst there he was able to play with renowned pianist John Taylor, singer Norma Winstone and saxophonist Stan Sulzmann. Since leaving Guildhall, Dominic has been busy on the British jazz scene playing all across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. He has also done TV (the Johnny Vaughan show, etc), Radio sessions (Stacey Kent, Blue Harlem, Tommy Chase etc) and theatre shows (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Sweet Charity, West Side Story, etc). Some of the people who he has played and recorded with include:- Stacey Kent, Anita Wardell, Christine Tobin, Kevin Fitzsimmons, Bobby Wellins, Don Weller, Nick Brignola, Gary Smulyan, Kate Williams, Julian Siegel, Phil Robson, Tim Richards, Gareth Lockrane, Leon Greening, Pete Lukas, Pete Long, Malcolm Earle Smith, Pete Cater, Frank Griffith Nonet, Mick Garrick big band, Tim Whitehead and many others. Recently, Dominic has put together a few gigs for his own nonet with big influences being Jim Mcneely, Steve Gray and Thad Jones. He also has his own quartet whose normal lineup is Gareth Lockrane – flutes, Nick Tomalin – piano, Dominic Howles – double bass and Matt Fishwick – drums. Double bassists who are an influence are :- Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Oscar Pettiford, Wilbur Ware, Sam Jones, Scott La Faro, Dave Holland, Larry Grenadier, Christian Mcbride and many others. Dominic has recently recorded his own Septet in late 2013. The band includes Allison Neale-Flute, Steve Fishwick – Trumpet, Jamie O’Donnell – Alto , Josephine Davies – Tenor, Nick Tomalin -Piano, Dominic Howles – Double Bass, Matt Fishwick – Drums. The planned CD release date will be in the Autumn of 2014 and the CD will be called Bristolian Thoroughfare, by the Dominic Howles Septet. from www.dominichowles.com
