ANTHONY TIDD BIOGRAPHY
Affectionately referred to by those who know him as London’s “second best-kept secret”, bass player, composer and arranger Anthony Tidd has attracted the attention of many a listener, critic, and musician alike.
Anthony was born in London’s East End to Trinidadian parents in 1972. The East End of the ‘seventies was a teeming mix of first-generation immigrants. Anthony’s childhood offered a kaleidoscope of influences from calypso rhythms to Jamaican reggae; ska bass to British formal classical training to Motown. By the age of 6 he had won a place at the prestigious Newham Academy of Music. There he studied theory, piano and violin and played in many youth orchestras. As Anthony entered his teenage years he became aware of a deepening divide between the hegemony of the classical music he was studying and the incredibly diverse sounds bubbling around him in the outside world.
Anthony left the Academy and embarked on a two-year exploration of popular music, listening to Michael Jackson, James Brown and Level 42, among others. He traded in his violinist’s skills for electric guitar, keyboards, piano, drums, percussion and electric bass. At the age of 16 he was accepted at the Thurrock College of Music on the strength of a demo he had put together with two friends under the name Quite Sane. The spare-time project had already created a small buzz in East London where the trio performed regularly at clubs, bars and schools, often with musicians twice their age. Quite Sane quickly established themselves as the premier young band on the scene and, in 1993, were awarded the Capitol Radio Best New Band honors.
The then-experimental music scene of the late ‘80s eventually led Anthony into jazz and improvisation. Soon enough the likes of Steve Williamson, Mano Ventura, Bhekki Mseleku and Courtney Pine started to take notice of the young bass player and began to call him for gigs. Anthony developed an influential and long-lasting friendship with South African percussionist and writer Eugene Skeef who exposed him to many of the jazz greats and educated him in African history and culture.
In the early ‘nineties, a Quite Sane demo fell into the hands of American M-BASE alto saxophonist Steve Coleman and Rich Nichols. Rich managed the then un-signed band The Roots. They were both so impressed with what they heard that they flew to London on a talent-scouting crusade. The result was that Anthony was invited to play with Steve’s band The Five Elements and was flown over to the States to produce for The Roots. At the same time, Anthony was a much in-demand player in the UK, working with Talvin Singh, Björk, Greg Osby, Misty Oldland, The Cash Crew, London Posse and more.
Anthony made a permanent move to Philadelphia in 1996 and began work on a Roots project called the Jazzyfatnastees, a female vocal trio from L.A. He landed a permanent spot in The Five Elements and toured internationally with them. He also got the opportunity to play with Me’shell N’Degeocello.
Anthony can be found occasionally teaching in the classrooms of UC Berkeley, on stage with various Roots members, touring Europe with the likes of Me’shell N’Degeocello or Steve Coleman, playing a session with Soul Asylum, producing Zap Mama or even finding time to tinker with one of his own projects.
The September 3, 2002 Cool Hunter/Rykodisc release of “The Child of Troubled Times” marks Anthony Tidd’s recording debut.
