b. England. Batchelor, a skilled and stylish bass player, is one of several excellent UK jazz players who have been building a reputation for years and who first came to notice in the slipstream of Courtney Pine’s celebrity. In common with others of the Jazz Warriors circle he exhibited a highly serious and dedicated attitude to his music. For a while he led a fine quartet, comprising saxophonist Brian Edwards, pianist Jonathan Gee and drummer Winston Clifford. He also played as a member of the Ed Jones Quartet and the Shelly Ambury Quartet. He has played with Steve Williamson and Williamson, in turn, has played in Batchelor’s band, producing some of his finest work on a 1989 demo-disc. In 1995, he relocated to New York to work with Reggie Workman in the Mannes Contemporary Music program at Manhattan’s New School. A busy session and touring musician, in 1998 Batchelor joined vocalist Nnenna Freelon’s band.