Major projects, commissions and collaborations often rise to prominence in a rare welter of funding and publicity, only to disappear beneath the waves of the next new thing. Fortunately, people sometimes recognise the intrinsic value of their contents well after the world-changing event is over, and maybe even re-evaluate them.

Personal Standards Vol. 3 is a synthesis of that re-evaluation. Tim has been fortunate enough to have been invited and funded to write several major projects, including for the London Jazz Festival Nine Sketches of England for Solo Saxophone, and Turner and The Thames. As Artist-in-Residence at Tate Britain, he wrote, premiered and recorded Colour Beginnings, which received a 5-star review in BBC Music Magazine.

Personal Standards Vol. 1 was the expression of a long-held desire to record popular and personally influential songs from his life history in the context of an acoustic jazz quartet. It was rewarded by becoming a ‘Jazz Album of the Year’ in BBC Music Magazine and ‘Album of the Week’ in The Guardian. It led to further adventures which are reaching their maturity in Personal Standards Vol. 3.

Tim has drawn forth tunes from all those sources, including Skies Sketch Book page 3 from Colour Beginnings, The Thames at Isleworth Ferry from Turner and The Thames, A Shout To Wing (written on the structure of the standard Without a Song) from Personal Standards Vol. 1, and You Wish (written on the structure of Stevie Wonder’s I Wish).

You’re Not Alone (Tim’s tune, not Michael Jackson’s), recorded at Ronnie Scott’s Club, failed to make the cut onto the album Lucky Boys with Italian pianist Giovanni Mirabassi, but the enthusiasm of the present quartet encouraged Tim to include it in Personal Standards Vol. 3.

The introductory arrangement of the beautiful standard My One and Only Love, is an attempt to describe the transition from the ethereal universal questions of love into its manifestation for human beings one-to-one:
You fill my eager heart with such desire
Every kiss you give sets my soul on fire
I give myself in sweet surrender
My one and only love.

Tim says: “It’s a joy to bring together all these apparently disparate influences under one roof, which, like the strengths of human community, produce something remarkable in their interaction, with the crucial interception of these perceptive musicians, David Gordon, Tom Hooper and Dave Whitford, to catalyse the elements.”

“Those of us who have caught him live… have been left in blinking disbelief. It’s not just his mastery of the tenor saxophone, phenomenal though it is, but the absolute conviction of his playing that is so impressive.” Dave Gelly, The Observer/BBC

“He is a prodigious tenor player whose graceful compositions always rise above the mere technicalities of the conservatoire… Amid the crowd of anonymous, garrulous and hard-edged tenor saxophonists, Tim Whitehead’s music is marked by a sense of grace and economy.” Clive Davis, The Times

“Whitehead has a highly personal, always gorgeous sound on tenor and an infinite vocabulary – in a country of fine saxophonists he is one of the finest.” Peter Bacon, Jazz CD of the Week, Birmingham Post

“There are many fine tenor players on the current British scene but Tim Whitehead is undoubtedly one of the best we have.” Peter Lund, Crescendo