Jon Thorne

Thorne is self-taught and started playing at the age of 23. He has studied and played jazz for a number of years following and considers Danny Thompson his bass mentor.

Renowned as a passionate, energetic and highly skilled performer, Thorne's career as a double bassist has spanned a broad range of the musical spectrum.

As bassist in the band Lamb since 1996, he has extensively used live double bass playing in electronic music and recorded 6 albums, toured 45 countries in 5 continents and played many of the world's leading music festivals including Coachella, Roskilde, Werchter, Glastonbury, Montreux Jazz, North Sea Jazz and NYC Central Park Summerstage. During the career of the successful group, Thorne acted as an unofficial third member with his most potent contribution on the group's second album Fear of Fours.

He has performed on MTV USA, MTV Europe and BBC television/radio, and has had music used in various British and European film, television and advertising media.

He leads an octet called Oedipus Mingus, which plays arrangements of the music of Charles Mingus.

He has also performed with and recorded on albums with artists as diverse as Scott Matthews, Liam Bailey, Robert Miles, Trilok Gurtu, Robert Fripp, Donovan, Guy Barker, Badly Drawn Boy, Kate Havnevik, Lou Rhodes, James Yorkston, King Creosote, John Smith, The Accidental, CocoRosie, Amos Lee, Jesca Hoop, The Memory Band, Mr Scruff and Steve and Martha Tilston.

He co-wrote six songs on the self-titled debut album by Love Amongst Ruin with drummer/vocalist Steve Hewitt, released in September 2010.

His debut album Manchester Road was released through SAM LTD/ EGEA records in 2006 featured 12 original compositions of jazz with pianist Steve Brown and drummer Luke Flowers.[1]

His first orchestral suite Watching the Well, a Manchester Jazz Festival commission, written for and featuring legendary British bassist Danny Thompson, debuted at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester in 2007, and was released on the Naim label in November 2010 to strong critical acclaim.

In 2016, Thorne formed the trio Yorkston/Thorne/Khan alongside Scottish folk musician James Yorkston and New Delhi sarangi player Suhail Yusuf Khan. They released their debut album Everything Sacred that year, followed by a second album Neuk Wight Delhi All-Stars in 2017. Their third album, Navarasa: Nine Emotions, was released in January 2020.

Thorne is also a house music producer and DJ, performing as DJ Random. He occasionally teaches privately; his most notable students so far have been John Parker from Nizlopi and Nick Blacka from GoGo Penguin.

Thorne was born in Rye Street Cottage Hospital in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire. He lived in Rhodesia from the age of 6 to 11. Between ages 11 and 15 he lived in Salcombe in South Devon before heading north to Manchester, via Plumley, Knutsford, Northwich and Oldham.

Thorne now lives on the Isle of Wight. He is married and has three children and a kitten.

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