Ian Darrington

Ian Darrington is currently Director of Jazz Performance for Wigan Council Education Department with special responsibility for jazz education, having joined their instrumental teaching staff in September 1977. Ian was educated at Dudley College of Education, Huddersfield Polytechnic and Bretton Hall College of Education.

He is the founder and director of the Wigan International Jazz Festival, now in its nineteenth year and co-founder of the Wigan Jazz Club now in its twentieth year. He is also musical director of the award winning Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra, a post he has held for over twenty-three years. During this time he has produced eleven albums the most recent of which was released in November 1999. Through his work with the Orchestra he has toured France, USA (five times) Hong Kong, British Columbia, Poland, Ireland, Czechoslovakia, the Faroe Islands, Hungary, Israel, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore & Australia.

Artists that Ian & WYJO have worked with include Maynard Ferguson, Bobby Shew, Salena Jones, Georgie Fame, James Morrison, Buddy Childers, Conte Candoli, Bill Perkins, Eddie Bert, Bill Watrous, Elaine Delmar, Marion Montgomery, Jiggs Whigham, Don Rader, Don Lusher, Kenny Baker, Eric Delaney and many more.

Ian has performed big band workshops throughout Europe and the USA. He served as a clinician for the Daily Telegraph Young Jazz Competition working in schools and colleges throughout the United Kingdom. He was adviser and guest musical director to the Cork School Of Music Big Band between 1993 and 1996. During the summer of 1999 he performed a series of big band workshops in Singapore.

In 1997 he was awarded a Master of Arts Degree from Liverpool University where is currently studying for a Ph.D. The subject of his research is ‘An Investigation in to the Evolution of Trumpet Mouthpiece Design and the Relationship Between the Effects of Design and the Music of the 20th Century with special reference to jazz and big band music.

At the 2000 International Association of Jazz Educators Conference in New Orleans Ian Darrington was awarded the Humanitarian Award for Jazz Education.

In September 2000 the Rotary Club awarded Ian a Community and Vocational Award in

recognition of services within the community.

In October 2001 Ian was awarded the MBE by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. The award was for his services to music and was announced in the Queen’s Birthday Honours on 15th June 2001.

In summer 2002 Ian was appointed to the board of the International Association for Jazz Education, serving as the European representative.

Ian Darrington can be contacted on:-

139 Wigan Lane

Wigan WN1 2NB Lancashire UK

Tel 01942 243974 Fax: 01942 255217 Mobile: 07785 982524

E-mail: Ian.Darrington@btinternet.com