JOHN ASHTON THOMAS

John has been involved with the world of music since 1969 when he became a chorister at Exeter Cathedral. There he gained early encouragement from Organist Lionel Dakers, who conducted the performance of his first choral work, and assistant Organist Paul Morgan, who performed an early composition of John's in 1974.

John studied Composition and Piano at Trinity College of Music from 1980-84 where his Composition teacher was Richard Arnell. In 1984 John was awarded a scholarship for an additional year of study, and was also awarded the senior Composition prize. During this period he wrote several film scores for students at the London International Film School, and played in several bands including The Pyramid Posse, who were a Dalston-based  reggae band that performed at many open-air festivals organised by the Ken Livingstone-era GLC. On leaving Trinity John worked as a music Lecturer in Liverpool for two years, and also became one of the city's busiest jazz pianists, working with several U.S. jazz artists such as Bill Perkins and Phil Wilson.

John returned to London in 1986 where he rejoined The Chance Element, an experimental minimalist funk band who played  in venues across London and south-east England, and played the Glastonbury Festival in 1992. Members of this band included Martin Speake (Alto Saxophone), Martin Elliott (Bass) and Gavin Harrison and Ralph Salmins (Drums). John resumed his relationship with the London International Film School at this time, writing several more film scores. One, entitled The Contract (directed by Tony Meyer) was shown extensively in theatres across the UK and on national television, giving John the opportunity he needed to join the PRS.

During this period John taught in several schools and colleges in London, as well as working as a keyboard player and writing music for film and advertising use. He also studied for, and was awarded a M.Mus. degree in Composition from the University of London, where his teacher was Stanley Glasser at Goldsmiths' College.

In the early 90s John started a long and fruitful relationship with Candle Music in London where he worked for over ten years writing music for TV, cinema and radio commercials. During this period he also started to write for the Zomba, (now Universal) music library, which he has done ever since. In 1994 he composed the theme music for "Working Lunch", the BBC2 business programme which has so far run for 15 years. in 1995 he wrote the score for "Shoot out at St. David's", a BBC Radio  Drama by written by John Fletcher.

Also in the early 90s John joined the staff at Trinity College of Music, where he teaches Composition, and the Royal Academy of Music, where he taught in the Jazz Department for 12 years. At the Royal Academy John led a series of ambitious projects that involved the students transcribing and performing an album's worth of material. These included Jaco Pastorius's Word of Mouth album, as well as projects featuring the music of Gil Evans, Oliver Nelson, Quincy Jones, Don Ellis and Earth, Wind and Fire.

For many years John led a Jazz Fusion band called "Heading Out" whose members included Martin Speake, John Parricelli, Mick Hutton, Damian Risdon and Julian and Mark Cox. They played their debut gig at the Jazz Cafe, and played many of London's leading Jazz venues including the Barbican centre, the 606 club and the Bull's Head. More recently John has put together a band in Los Angeles to perform his Jazz music which has included Gerry Brown (Drums), C.C. Thomas (Bass), James Santiago (Guitar) and Jim Honeyman (Sax).

Some highlights of John's career as a composer of concert music have been "Meeting Points", a ballet performed at The Place, London in 1984. "Let's Get Moving! ", for chamber ensemble and Tape was selected by the SPNM programme director Graham Fitkin for performance at the ICA in 1994. "Two Blake Songs" for mixed choir was performed by the London Concord Singers at St. Michael's, Bloomsbury in 1994. "Music of the early 21st century" for Alto Saxophone and electronics was recorded and performed by Martin Speake and John in 2000, and was released by Sonic Arts Network on the CD "Sonic Postcards". "The Magic Piano" for Piano and laptop was premiered by John in 2003. "Music for 3 Quintets, 3 Sextets and 7 Percussion" was performed twice in 2005 at Blackheath Concert Halls by Trinity College of Music.

In 2001 John started working with film composer and fellow former Trinity College student John Powell. The first film on which John worked with John Powell was "Rat Race". Others have been "Happy Feet", "Horton Hears a Who", two of the "Bourne" series and "Hancock". In recent years John has been engaged as an Orchestrator on dozens of film scores: in 2009 he has worked on "GI Joe: Rise of the Cobra", "Night at the Museum II", "Ice Age III", "A Christmas Carol" and "Green Zone".

In 2008 John arranged the Orchestral introduction for Diana Ross's performance at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo, and in 2009 he produced a number of arrangements for Diana Ross's appearances at the Symphonica in Rosso concerts in the Netherlands.

John is also a composer of dozens of pieces of library music, and wrote and recorded a series of Orchestral pieces for the Universal music library at the close of 2008.

John is married with two children.