Beginnings

Pete was born at a very early age. This, he feels, had no effect on his reluctance to play jazz for the next twenty years. In fact, he readily admits that his ten-and-a-half shoe-size had long been established before such words as ‘augmented’ and ‘altered’ had encroached upon his adolescent vocabulary. Pete also rather shamelessly admits to not only having owned a ukulele-banjo as a young teenager, but also to having learned every George Formby song which contained the slightest hint of a thinly veiled double entendre. Apparently though, it was the allure of the 7th chords which got the lad and it was an obvious transition therefore to move directly from G. Formby to the works of Egberto Gismonti, Pat Metheny, Herbie Hancock and Ralph Towner, influences which he would still cite as relevant today.

Many a lengthy opus

But to go back a little: in the seventies and early eighties, Pete had a lot of hair and so felt duty bound to play in guitar-wielding rock bands. Being a bit of a smart-arse, he joined a band which eschewed the 3-chord trick, favouring the unnecessary musical complications flaunted most obscenely by Yes and Genesis. With the suffolk-based band Kashmir, Pete wrote many a lengthy opus, recorded, and undertook several world-domination tours of East Anglia.

The habitual dark brown overcoat

Then, something happened: Pete was offered a place at the Leeds Jazz College in 1981. He accepted the place on the understanding that jazz meant playing good-time stomping stuff in pubs, getting paid a fiver and drinking as much beer as could be consumed during a gig (following the demise of Kashmir, he had joined a stompers band in his native Bury St Edmunds). On his arrival at the college, he realised he had been duped: The hipsters were listening to The Brecker Brothers. Pete rebelled by assuming the persona of George Orwell, wearing a habitual dark brown overcoat and writing poetry rather than attending music classes.

A turning point in musical appreciation

Incredibly though, something good happened during those dark brown years: Pete got to hear Steely Dan’s ‘Aja’, Pat Metheny’s ‘American Garage’ and Joni Mitchell’s ‘Hejira’. This was the turning point in Pete’s musical appreciation. He somehow managed to respectably graduate from the Leeds Jazz College and moved to Paris to begin a glorious career unfettered by stompers or George Formby.

It was in Paris that Pete began gigging intensely, backing singers, generally freelancing and working on his own musical projects. His touring group, The New Noakes Quartet recorded two CDs (Through Green And Pleasant Lands and Up To Here - on the 33Jazz label) and toured Europe and the UK extensively during this period. He also released the CD East Coast Joys with his trio to much critical acclaim.

Oxford’s contemporary jazz club

On relocating to the UK in 1997 (after his ten-year sojourn in Paris), Pete reformed his touring band as the ‘New Noakes Internationals’ and in 2001, recorded Blue In Black And White. This album was generally hailed as the groups finest work to date, John Etheridge summarising it thus: “All in all, this is as strong an album of contemporary composition and soloing as you’ll hear anywhere”.

In 1999, in partnership with drummer Mark Doffman and bassist Raph Mizraki, Pete set up Oxford’s contemporary jazz club ‘The Spin’. These three formed the house-band, with whom scores of the UK’s jazz glitterati have now performed (Gilad Atzmon, Tim Whitehead, John Parricelli, Roger Beaujolais, Mornington Lockett, John Etheridge, Ben Castle, Mark Lockheart etc. etc…).

During the Covid lockdown, the club was closed for 18 months, but in the summer of 2021, it re-opened with a completely new energy, much thanks to Pete meeting Stuart Miller, who became his partner in the running of the club. Stuart hired Ryan Quarterman and Billy Quarterman to redesign the website and to maintain all I.T. and media matters. As a result, the mailing list has since more than doubled and every gig of ‘Spin 2’ has been a sell-out! Please visit www.spinjazz.com for details.

Delightful and sweetly executed, relaxed but intricate...

In 2002, Pete recorded the duo album The Play Of Light with Argentinean guitarist Luis D’Agostino which JAZZWISE described as a “delightful and sweetly executed, relaxed but intricate...” Then, in 2006, the duo put out their live album Double Singular, receiving much radio play and critical acclaim.

In 2003, Pete put together a brand new band, CURIOUS PARADISE which toured extensively and produced 3 CDs plus one DVD. The music was entirely written by Pete, very much inspired by the great American group, Oregon. In its various incarnations, it comprised many of the finest British jazz musicians of the period, including: Mark Lockheart (saxophones), Phil Peskett (keys), Oli Hayhurst (bass) and Russ Morgan (drums), along with Pete on various guitars.

Sell out shows

Around 2007, Pete formed the unique quartet, ‘Eclectica!’. This comprised 2 guitars (Pete & Luis), violin (Lizzie Ball) and cello (Bernard Gregor-Smith). The repertoire was, as the group’s name suggests, eclectic, with the band performing all sorts from Stevie Wonder to Rimsky-Korsakov. This eclecticism opened many a gate at the most diverse venues - for example, in one month, they performed sell-out shows at both Ronnie Scott’s and The Wigmore Hall!

In 2008, Luis returned to his native Argentina and was replaced by the Swiss guitar virtuoso, Nicholas Meier. This was a most fruitful guitar partnership for Pete as not only did they quickly put out two albums with Eclectica!, but they went on to create the Oxley-Meier Guitar Project, which has now performed hundreds of concerts in the UK and Europe. They have released 5 albums to date, ranging from duo to quintet formats.

Aside from all of the above, Pete is a prize-winning violin-bow maker (Gold Medal, Paris, 1999 and others!)

Pete continues to wear trousers.