British bassist, composer, author and educator Graham Collier died of heart failure in Greece on Sept. 10, according to online reports. Collier was 74.
Described on the Cuneiform Records website as “one of the best known and most important British jazz composers,” Collier wrote seven books on jazz. His most recent album release in the United States was Hoarded Dreams for that label.
Collier turned professional after serving in the British Army as a musician and attending the Berklee College of Music-he became the first British graduate of the prestigious school. According to published obituaries, he was also the first jazz recipient for a bursary from Arts Council England, and in the mid-1980s he established the jazz degree course at London’s Royal Academy of Music. Collier released 19 albums and CDs. His Loose Tubes Big Band helped spark a renaissance of British jazz in the mid-1980s.
