Real name: Roderick Franks

Effective period / Period of releases: 1993

British classical trumpet player and trumpet pedagogue. Born 15 May 1956 in Shipley, West Yorkshire, England, UK - Died 20 July 2014 in Nottinghamshire, England, UK.
He studied at the Royal Northern College Of Music and started out by performing with brass bands such as The Brighouse And Rastrick Brass Band and The Black Dyke Mills Band. He then moved to Norway to become Principal Trumpet in the Bergen Filharmoniske Orkester (1977-1983). On his return to England, he joined up with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble (1984-1986) and became a co-founder of the London Brass in 1986 and The English Brass Ensemble. In 1988, he became a member of the London Symphony Orchestra and, after two years, he was appointed Principal Trumpet until 2011. He taught at The Guildhall School Of Music & Drama, the Royal Northern College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music.

Also worked for:
Hammonds Junior Band
BBC Northern (Philharmonic) Orchestra
Hallé Orchestra
LSO (1988-1990, tp1, 1990-2011 sickness then assistant from Phil Cobb (2)).