Jon Hiseman
Drummer, impresario and music publisher who pioneered jazz-rock with his band Colosseum
JON HISEMAN, who has died aged 73, was a drummer distinguished in both rock and jazz idioms, a bandleader, recording engineer and producer, and music publisher.
His impressive grasp of these and other skills was acquired over the course of a long and successful career shared with his wife, the composer, saxophonist and flautist Barbara Thompson.
Philip John Albert Hiseman (he took the name “Jon” later on) was born on June 21 1944 in Blackheath, south-east London, and brought up in nearby Eltham. By the time he left Addey and Stanhope grammar school, aged 18, he was playing drums regularly in two semi-professional local bands. In need of a job, he applied to become a management trainee with Unilever, and was selected.
Hiseman made his first recording at 21, with the New Jazz Orchestra, a 17-piece band with an average age of 23. It was at a New Jazz Orchestra rehearsal in 1964 that he first set eyes on his future wife, Barbara, and they were soon a couple.
By 1966 Jon Hiseman was living two full-time lives, those of a freelance musician and a normal human being, a combination which only the manic energy of youth could sustain. In July 1966 he accepted an offer to replace Ginger Baker as drummer with the Graham Bond Organisation, thus officially becoming a full-time professional musician.
“Organisation” was hardly the appropriate term: Hiseman, using skills learnt at Unilever, soon discovered that the group had been running at a loss for some time. Meanwhile Bond, a brilliant natural musician who played both saxophone and Hammond organ (sometimes simultaneously), was a heroin addict and fantasist prone to mood swings. However, Hiseman’s year with the band did have one happy and lasting outcome, in that it introduced him to Dick Heckstall-smith, a saxophonist, friend and inspiration in his future endeavours.
Jon Hiseman and Barbara Thompson were married on July 29 1967. At this point they had entirely separate careers; Jon had joined Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, while Barbara was a member of the She Trinity, a female instrumental and vocal trio.
Fame disbanded the Blue Flames after a few months to concentrate on his solo career, and Hiseman’s next move was to John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, where he found Dick Heckstall-smith already installed. Their mixture of blues and jazz, well represented on their one album, Bare Wires (1968), upset some of Mayall’s strict blues fans but attracted high praise from the critics. Having observed the growing queues outside the venues at which they were appearing, Hiseman successfully persuaded a doubtful Mayall to double the band’s fees.
When Mayall cut the Bluesbreakers down to four players, Hiseman decided to start his own band, to be called Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum. This was the age of “progressive” rock, a usefully vague term promising something new and worth listening to. Most commentators agreed that this certainly applied to Colosseum, in particular their second album Valentyne Suite (1969), with its threepart title piece and strong jazz flavour.
Colosseum disbanded in 1971, following the release of the third album, Colosseum Live. Hiseman’s next band, Tempest, was described by one critic as “mainstream rock, but with a touch of class”. It featured the brilliant guitarist Allan Holdsworth and released two albums.
Alongside these major undertakings was a full schedule of other activities, prominent among which was the United Jazz And Rock Ensemble. Based in Germany and composed of continental and British musicians, the group had a large and enthusiastic following in Europe. It operated between 1974 and 2002, releasing 14 albums, and both Hiseman and his wife were among its leading members.
Punk rock, bitter enemy of the Progressive variety, arrived in 1975, the year Hiseman launched Colosseum II. Nevertheless, with the guitarist-singer Gary Moore on board, the band toured successfully and released three albums. The second of these, Electric Savage
(1976), was overheard in a record company’s office by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who was planning a suite of variations on a theme by Paganini for his brother Julian, the cellist.
He recognised at once the sound he had been imagining. The result was a recording of Lloyd Webber’s Variations played by a group that included Hiseman, Barbara and members of Colosseum II. The opening sequence, featuring Barbara’s flute, became the theme music to The South Bank Show, which ran on ITV for 32 years. Jon and Barbara went on to work with Lloyd Webber over the next 10 years on, among other projects, Cats, Starlight Express and his classical work, Requiem.
In 1979 Hiseman joined his wife’s band, Paraphernalia, as its drummer and manager. By this time, the name of Barbara Thompson was attracting serious attention, and within the next 10 years she had become one of the most recognisable British jazz musicians in western Europe. Her music, while original and by no means “easy listening”, was melodic, warm and approachable.
Hiseman had a recording studio built on to their house, catering to a variety of musical and commercial clients. He also set up a musicpublishing company, Temple Music. Barbara devoted her non-playing time to composing music in the classical idiom. Colosseum III – a revival of the original band – began making occasional tours.
In 1997, Barbara was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. In 2001 she announced her retirement and disbanded Paraphernalia. Two years later, having found medication which suppressed the symptoms, she returned, taking the place in Colosseum III of Dick Heckstall-smith, who had died in 2002. But her condition continued slowly to deteriorate.
A remarkable BBC television documentary, Playing Against Time, depicting the couple’s life while living with her condition, was broadcast in 2012. Hiseman’s final band was JCM – Jon, Clem (Clempson) and Mark (Clarke). An album, Heroes, was released earlier this year. It was while touring to promote the album that he was taken ill.
He is survived by his wife, and by a son and a daughter.
Jon Hiseman, born June 21 1944, died June 12 2018