"I am a singer, musician, songwriter, producer and occasional actress, based in the UK. I specialize in guitar and bass but also play keyboards, drums and percussion. I've been very fortunate thoughout my life to have worked with some amazing people and been part of some very rewarding projects.
Here are a few pictures. Scroll down the page for a selection of video clips and a full biography".
NEWEST!: The Anteaters (formerly of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra) play Music for a Found Harmonium live and unplugged...
NEW!...The Anteaters (ex Penguin Cafe Orchestra) play "Tropic of Cancer" at the Cafe 'Ole..
Here I am playing bass with Paul Brady and crew at the 2008 Cropredy Festival:
Singing and playing guitar with Robert Wyatt for a BBC4 session. The band put together by Annie Whitehead (trombone) includes Janette Mason on piano, Larry Stabbins on sax, Harry Beckett on trumpet, Liam enockey on drums and Dudley Phillips on bass. The song is 'Gharbzadegi': "words take the place of meaning..."
The next one is a promo film for my dear friend Murray Head, who I've worked with for many years. Murray is best known as an actor in the UK, but we regularly play concerts in France. This was filmed in 2009, and captures the band in full flight. Phil Palmer on guitar, Geoffrey Richardson guitar and viola, and the fabulously groovy Tim Goldsmith on the drums.
Wonderful what turns up on the internet...this is me with Boy George back in 1989. The song is 'Life's a Gas' by Marc Bolan. The fans are amazing. George, with characteristic generosity, gives me a couple of choruses for a bass solo. The bass I'm playing was stolen a few months later. It was lovely...grrr.
On bass with Paul Brady and band, Top of the Pops 2, 2003. I made an effort , but Beyonce was also in the studio, so perhaps I was a bit out of my league glamour wise! Brilliant song by Paul called "The world is what you make it".
Here's a really old one; 1983 live in Australia with Joan Armatrading on "Love and Affection". Phil Palmer on guitar (who I still play with), Julian Diggle percussion, Mike Simmons keys and electric blowey thing, Justin Hildreth on drums. God I'm thin. And that hair cut.. what was I thinking? For the techies I'm playing my Wal custom bass which I still have. Amazing instrument, parametric eq on board, hand made from exotic hardwood, it sounds great and weighs about a ton.
A bass solo with the Murray Head band in 2008, filmed in Lillebonne by Francoise....
The biggest gig I ever played I think, on bass with Murray Head in the Place de Concorde. At least 300,000 people, some said up to half a million. It was an anti racism event and we closed the show. An amazing experience. The song is 'Boy on the Bridge': "...he wants to be free but he's frightened to be alone". Lovely guitar by my good friend Phil Palmer and wild viola from Geoffrey Richardson of Caravan, Penguin Cafe Orchestra and now of course, the Anteaters.
JENNIFER'S BIOGRAPHY
Jennifer Maidman is a singer, musician, songwriter, music producer and occasional actress, based in the UK. She is a multi instrumentalist who specializes in guitar and bass but also plays keyboards, drums and percussion
As a teenager she acted with the Renegades, Jimmy Cooper's East London based theatre company, and trained on classical piano and guitar before getting involved in rock music in the seventies, both as a musician and also as a recording engineer for artists including Steve Marriot and Marc Bolan. She has played with many well known artists including Joan Armatrading, Gerry Rafferty, David Sylvian, The Proclaimers, Shakespears Sister, Paul Brady, Bonnie Raitt, Van Morisson, Sam Brown and Boy George. She co-wrote several songs with George including "No Clause 28" and has also written for other artists including Sam Brown.
Her production work includes albums by singer songwriter Paul Brady, "Back to the Centre" and "Primitive Dance", both of which topped the Irish chart, tracks on Linda McCartney's solo album "Wide Prairie", the album "Pipe Dreams" by Murray Head, "The Other Foot" by funk fusion band The Kick Horns,"Uneasy Listening" by Mitt Gamon(featuring Ian Dury) and "Boogaloo" by Jasper Van't Hof's Dutch/African group Pili-Pili.
She was a long-standing member of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra and it was there that she met trombonist Annie Whitehead. Jennifer has produced and played on several albums with Annie, "This is Rude" a collaboration with Harry Beckett and Liam Genockey, followed by Annie's own albums "Naked", "Home" and "The Gathering" . Jennifer produced the jazz/folk fusion album "Airplay" by Northern Lights (a collaboration with english concertina player Alaistair Anderson) and "Soupsongs" , a live recording of the music of Robert Wyatt on which she also contributed guitar and lead vocals.She appeared in a BBC4 documentary about Robert entitled "Free Will and Testament" and also played guitar and accordian on Robert's recent album "Cuckooland" which was nominated for a Mercury award. Film work includes music for "All the Little Animals" with John Hurt and she has recently written and produced the soundtrack for an independent film "Bass Desires" by Vic Ryder and Stacey Makishi.
Jennifer continues to work with Annie and also plays with Paul Brady, Rude and the Soupsongs band in which she shares lead vocals with Sarah Jane Morris. Recently she appeared in "Strange Cargo" at Rich Mix in London, a groundbreaking piece of theatre directed by Clare Hodgson and Jamie Beddard and produced by Nick Merwitzer of Diverse City. She has also been appearing from time to time with the poet Penny Rimbaud, singer Eve Libertine and the artist Gee Vaucher (formerly of the Crass Collective), combining spontaneous improvisation with the spoken word and visual images.
She is currently gigging with Murray Head around France and also appears on Murray's recent album "Tete a' Tete". Her latest project is the Anteaters, formed with fellow members of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra Geoffrey Richardson, Annie Whitehead, Steve Fletcher and Liam Genockey. They continue to play the Penguin's music and are also writing new music together.
