LondonJazzNews reports the death of former Nucleus keyboardist Geoff Castle on January 15.
Nucleus played Newcastle Jazz Festival on several occasions as well as other gigs in the area. I don't recall if Castle was with the band although, given that his tenure with Nucleus is listed as 1974 - 1982 and, according to my festival programmes, Nucleus' NJF gigs were later, maybe he didn't.
My only personal recollection of Geoff Castle goes back to February 23, 2010, when he played and led from the piano a Nucleus reunion at the Southbank Centre as part of a tribute to the late Ian Carr. I posted about that event here.
Other than that, I can't really comment other than to say that his CV as laid out on the LJN site sums up a musician who was dedicated to his art.
It would be good to hear from anyone who attended Nucleus gigs in the northeast or who have first hand experience of hearing Geoff Castle live.
RIP.
Lance
The photos are courtesy of Harry Monty and are of Geoff with the Graham Collier Band at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival.
The photos are courtesy of Harry Monty and are of Geoff with the Graham Collier Band at the 1971 Montreux Jazz Festival.
3 comments :
I heard Geoff Castle's Expanded Band at the Corner House, Newcastle in 1994. From memory the line-up included Brendan Power playing harmonica. Thanks to Chris Yates' invaluable memoir 'Blue Horizons' for stirring/confirming the memories.
Sorry to see that Geoff Castle has died.
He also appeared at the 3rd Gateshead International Jazz Festival at the Sage on Saturday 17 March 2007 as part of Nucleus Revisited. The rest of the band included Tim Whitehead, Chris Batchelor, Mark Woods, Mark Purnell and Rob Statham.
he was a very very nice man. As well as enormously talented.
Post a comment