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Brian Priestley (born July 10, 1940) is an English jazz writer, pianist and arranger.

Priestley began studying music at age 8, and in the 1960s began arranging jazz pieces for the National Youth Jazz Orchestra and gained a degree in modern languages from Leeds University. In the late 1960s Priestley began contributing to the jazz press and was responsible for entries in Jazz on Record: A Critical Guide to the First Fifty Years, 1917-67 (1968), edited by Albert McCarthy and others.

In 1970 Priestley moved to London and began working with bands led by Tony Faulkner and Alan Cohen. Priestley helped arrange Duke Ellington's "Creole Rhapsody" for Cohen in 1977 and has also worked with Digby Fairweather.

Priestley taught jazz piano at Goldsmiths College from 1977 until 1993, and has worked for various other universities as an instructor over the years. Brian has also authored biographies of Charles Mingus, John Coltrane and Charlie Parker, as well as the book Jazz on Record published by Elm Tree Books, a history of the recording of the musical form.

Priestley is currently living in Tralee, Ireland, where he presents a show on Radio Kerry.

He has also done broadcasting work for the BBC (BBC Radio London and Radio 3) as well as London Jazz FM.

This author page uses material from the Wikipedia article "Brian Priestley", which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0