groove4dayz Spencer Cozens biography

When Spencer had finished A levels at Newark Technical College he became self-employed building speakers and flight cases but after a year felt playing music was the only way forward. In July 1984 he took the train and moved to London!

The decision was helped by the fact that Spencer’s brother Jason had met guitarist Dominic Miller who needed a keyboard player for his new project Iguazu. An album was in the process of being recorded and there were dates at the Edinburgh Festival – a great start to a musical career! Through Iguazu Spencer met such great musicians as Scott Firth, Dave Heath, Andy Barron and Taj Wyzgowski. Through these varied contacts he soon become very busy in several bands around London.

One of these bands was Savajazz where Spencer met percussionist Miles Bould. Their great friendship has lasted ever since and the two have been in several bands together and have collaborated on many projects ever since. Their own project Peoplespeak (www.groove4dayz.com) has had two albums released – Peoplespeak and Gracenotes, with a third in progress. In 1992 Peoplespeak collaborated with US fusion band Steps Ahead on their Yin-Yang album.

In 1986 Spencer won a place at Berklee College Of Music in Boston, USA. Coming back to the UK in 1987 he enrolled at Goldsmiths College in London and gained a BMus (hons) degree in 1991. His final year had to be part time due to ever increasing musical commitments!

In 1989 Spencer joined Julia Fordham’s band where he met bassist Alan Thomson. Through Alan he met and started working with John Martyn and has been in his band ever since. Spencer has played on all and co-produced several of John’s albums since 1990 and regularly tours with him still.

Spencer teamed up with Jacqui McShee and Gerry Conway in 1995 to write and record an album entitled About Thyme. This album features many guests with whom the three have worked over the years and gained excellent reviews. This project later became Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle (www.pentangle.info) and as such they have released further albums and regularly tour.

In 2000 Spencer joined Joan Armatrading’s band and for the past four years has toured all over the world with her. He appears on her recent DVD/CD release All The Way From America filmed in 2003 on the US tour.

Apart from extensive touring Spencer occasionally teaches as well as engineer and produce select projects. Most recently has been engineering and mixing sound for piano duo Katzenjammer (www.katzenjammerduo.com). He has also worked and gigged with Andy Sheppard, David Hughes, T’pau, Valerie Etienne and Indian flautist Teymour Housego.