The SNJO is delighted to welcome Laurence Cottle as their special guest on their upcoming Jaco Pastorius concerts in November.

Laurence Cottle (b.1961, Swansea) is an electric bass guitar master, a highly respected big band leader, an in-demand producer and a prolific composer. He is enormously admired among electric bass guitarists as an instrumentalist who has successfully navigated a career path through rock music and jazz.

His musical journey began at an early age as a very youthful trombonist playing traditional jazz in his father’s band. The young Cottle switched to electric bass guitar in response to changing tastes, and his early influences were creative rock bassists like John Entwhistle and Jack Bruce. Then came a watershed moment in 1976 when Laurence Cottle heard Jaco Pastorius for the first time.[break]

The influence of Jaco Pastorius upon bass guitarists has been incontrovertibly profound, but for Laurence it was a life-changing experience. “Hearing that first album completely changed the way I approached the instrument”, says Cottle.

Since then, Laurence Cottle has established himself as the UK’s foremost exponent of the Pastorius repertoire, balancing a jazz-focused career with session work and composing for television. His jazz projects have included producing albums for Claire Martin, Jim Mullen and Mark Nightingale, and recording with Django Bates, Tim Garland and Gerard Presencer.