Mark Lockheart

Lockheart came into the world on 31 March 1961 in Lymington, Hampshire, England. Immersed in music throughout his upbringing, he took up the saxophone while still young and completed his studies at Trinity College of Music in London in 1983. Alongside fellow newcomers on the British jazz circuit, he joined Loose Tubes. From 1991 onward he fronted Perfect Houseplants, mixing genres in projects with the Orlando Consort and sustaining contemporary UK jazz through the group’s main lineup. He also reunited with his former Loose Tubes colleague Django Bates in Delightful Precipice, worked with Graham Collier, and later appeared with numerous leading London ensembles. His recording and performance partners have included pianist Michael O’Suilleabhain, bass player Geoff Gascoyne, guitarists Billy Jenkins and John Parricelli, composer Gail Thompson, folk singer June Tabor, and recorder player Pamela Thorby. Near the close of the 1990s he launched the Scratch Band to present original works financed by the Peter Whittingham Award. Through the late 2000s he kept directing Perfect Houseplants, the Scratch Band, and Big Idea while performing with established UK jazz figures, among them Sebastian Rochford’s Polar Bear.

An exceptionally skilled instrumentalist, Lockheart has matured into a composer of note. Equally adept at writing for both intimate and expanded ensembles, he has forged a personal compositional voice that complements his singular approach to the instrument.