Very saddened to hear about Graham Collier.
I met Graham with Harry Beckett when Argentum played at the London Jazz Festival. I spoke for a long time with Harry, and we'd actually suggested a idea of working together; but I didn't really speak much to Graham at all, although he was really friendly when we did.
I then got an e-mail from him congratulating me on the Argentum piece on the Jazzwise DVD, which was a surprise since in some ways the piece is very constructed. But he was very encouraging from the get-go.
His ideas as a jazz composer [and I believe he, Braxton and Threadgill are the only people to define the term properly in the modern age] really struck a chord with me. It's impossible to agree with him on everything: but you always have to listen to him.
We had occasional e-mail correspondence over the few years, one from him showing me the view out of his window on his Greek island in the middle of that bitter winter of 2009. He was a real supporter of my music—particularly the trio, and a real inspiration.
Here's Peter Hum's well-written obituary, and here is Graham's site, which all musicians should read and re-read.
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