Alex Webb (musician)

Alex Webb (born 1961) is a British songwriter and musician and former journalist. Educated at Manchester University and the University of Connecticut, he is the brother of the late guitarist and composer Nick Webb (the founder of Acoustic Alchemy), the nephew of actress Sylvia Syms and cousin of actress Beatie Edney.

Since the 1980s Webb has played with numerous jazz, pop and reggae groups including Manchester's Carmel and Harlem Spirit. As a songwriter he has collaborated with many UK jazz musicians and vocalists, including Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Tammy Weis, Nicola Emmanuelle, Jo Harrop, and Alexander Stewart. His songs have been recorded by Liane Carroll, China Moses, Alexia Gardner, Mina Agossi, and Alexander Stewart, among others. Musicians he has performed live with include Gary Crosby, Guy Barker, Danny Moss, Denys Baptiste, Nathaniel Facey, Gwyneth Herbert and China Moses. He also performed as a percussionist in the London School of Samba for a period in the early 1990s.

Since 2008, he has also directed and performed in a number of music and spoken word productions, including the jazz history shows 'Strayhorn the Songwriter' (about composer/arranger Billy Strayhorn) in 2010 and 'Jazz at Cafe Society' (about the 1940s New York club) in 2011 – both commissioned by the London Jazz Festival. 'Jazz at Cafe Society' had a successful run at London's Tricycle Theatre in July 2012 and was repeated at London's Leicester Square Theatre as 'Cafe Society Swing' in December 2013 and June 2014. In November 2013, Webb created a narrated jazz show based on two years in the life of the great jazz musician Charlie Parker called Charlie Parker on Dial which played at the London Jazz Festival and subsequently at London's Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.

'Cafe Society Swing' ran for three weeks at New York's 59E59 Theaters over Christmas 2014 with a US cast including vocalists Charenee Wade, Cyrille Aimée, Allan Harris (musician) and an eight-piece band including bassist Mimi Jones, with Webb MD-ing from the piano chair. It attracted positive reviews including a 'Critic's Pick' from the New York Times. The show has since toured the UK in a concert format, fronted by vocalists Vimala Rowe and Ciyo Brown.

In June 2016 Webb released the CD 'Call Me Lucky' on Splash Point Records under the name 'Alex Webb & The Copasetics', which contained 13 original songs sung by 11 different jazz vocalists, including Allan Harris (musician), David McAlmont, Alexia Gardner and some of his previous collaborators such as Liane Carroll and China Moses. The album received universally warm reviews.

Since 2011 a university lecturer in music and events management, Webb has worked at the BBC World Service, BBC News Online and BBC Radio 3. At Radio 3 he co-ordinated the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music and, with BBC Radio 2, the BBC Jazz Awards. He has also worked in music publishing (at the UK Music Publishers Association) and at the music venues Band on the Wall in Manchester (1983–1986), Peter Ind's Bass Clef in London (1988–1989) and the Barbican Centre (2007–2011). He has also worked a freelance journalist for many publications including The Guardian, The Independent, Straight No Chaser and New Statesman; from 1996–1997 he was a political journalist and researcher for Alastair Stewart's Sunday Programme on GMTV. He is a member of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, the Musicians' Union (UK) and PRS for Music.