Had a great time in Germany with the Jorge Rossy/Tilman Oberbeck Quintet the other week. We played at the Jazz Federation, Hamburg, then a few gigs around Karlsruhe. Photo credit: Hans-Ulrich Frank.

Had a great time in Germany with the Jorge Rossy/Tilman Oberbeck Quintet the other week. We played at the Jazz Federation, Hamburg, then a few gigs around Karlsruhe. Photo credit: Hans-Ulrich Frank.

One of the songs I picked for my recent duo recording with Michael Kanan was Way Down Yonder in New Orleans. Written in 1922 by Turner Layton and Henry Creamer, the African-American songwriting team also responsible for the more well-known After You’ve Gone, Way Down Yonder seems to only really be played by more trad/Dixieland…
I played live on BBC Radio 3 a few weeks ago with Alex Mendham & His Orchestra, which plays authentic 1920s/30s jazz and dance music and is resident at the Savoy Hotel in London. You can see footage from one of the tunes we played here, or listen to the audio from the whole show (In…
Some nice pictures from a few recent gigs: This photo of Guillem Arnedo’s band was taken by Eros Alvarez with a film camera at El Refugio Jazz Club in Alicante. This one is by Tom Saunders, who regularly takes photos at Dereham Jazz Club, where I played a set of Richards Rodgers songs. With…
The first single from my new album is out now! It’s an arrangement of “Heart and Soul” by Hoagy Carmichael. It features Tom Farmer on double bass and Jorge Rossy on drums, and you can listen to it or watch the video here. The artwork is by Mariano Gil and the video is by Maximiliano…
I’m pleased to say that my new album is out now on all platforms. Thanks a lot to those who’ve already bought a copy or had a listen. It’s on BandCamp here (CD or musician-friendly digital/streaming). Or all of the usual streaming services here. Or send me a message if you’d like me to send you a CD…
Born in 1928, Hampton Hawes was a pianist from Los Angeles who played with Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, Wardell Gray and Art Pepper. I just finished reading his autobiography, Raise Up Off Me, written with Don Asher, himself a jazz pianist as well as an author. I’d rate it as perhaps my favourite book about…