Simon James (musician)

Simon James (born March 13, 1954) is an English acoustic guitarist and an original member of Acoustic Alchemy. After leaving the band, he later went on to form Kymaera, a Latin-style contemporary jazz band.

Early years and education

Born in York, England, James was educated at Ampleforth College, North Yorkshire Leeds College of Music studying flute and guitar (Gordon Crosskey), and Trinity College of Music, London, where he studied guitar and composition with Hector Quine and David Newbold respectively. After obtaining his LTCL he joined the teaching staff at Trinity in 1977 and became guitar tutor at the Purcell School of Music in 1984. In 1981 he attended the first Master Class in Flamenco to be given by Paco Peña in Cordoba, and this traditional art from Spain became a very strong influence in his music clearly present in the early Alchemy recordings.

Career

In 1979 James became a founding member of the band Acoustic Alchemy, He has toured solo, with Acoustic Alchemy , with Nick Webb and with Maria Ewing and has performed on live broadcasts for radio and television.

In 1984–1985 James and Webb began a collaboration with the actress Sylvia Syms on a series of shows combining poetry and music ("The Female Principle", "If This Be Love", "Mothers And Daughters", "Love Lust And We All Make...
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