I recently read two great books about jazz that paint vivid pictures of important and fascinating times and places in the history of the music. A.B. Spellman’s Four Lives in the Bebop Business is divided into four sections, each one portraying a key figure in the 1960s jazz avant garde: Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Herbie Nichols and Jackie McLean. Each section acts as a mini biography, featuring interviews with the musicians in question and with family members and musical associates. The interviews were conducted in New York City in the mid 1960s,…

The May issue of Jazz Journal features an interview I did last summer with David West. It’s mostly about my duo album with Michael Kanan, which was released shortly after David and I had this conversation. Hoping to have some more concerts scheduled with Michael soon!

I’m recently back from a fun trip to Spain recording with an international quintet featuring Jorge Rossy. We recorded in Jorge’s studio in Begues, a small town outside Barcelona, and the resulting album should be here in the not too distant future. The band (now called Jorge Rossy’s ‘Rebop’) also features Linus Eppinger on guitar, Tilman Oberbeck on double bass and Phelan Burgoyne on drums.

Jazz fan and photographer Joe McCarty documents the gigs at the White Horse in Bedford, which drummer Mark Hale presents to a faithful crowd each Monday. Here’s one Joe took of me. Check the rest of his photos here.  

Happy to have some nice trio dates coming up this March and April. Check the flyers above for more info (click twice for full size), and click on the links in the list below for venue details/tickets. And here’s an interview/preview with London Jazz News. Hope to see you at one of them! 7 March – Hampstead Lounge & Jazz Club 16 March – Burdall’s Yard, Bath Spa Live 19 March – The White Horse, Bedford 21 March – The Flute & Tankard, Cardiff 31 March – The Bear Club, Luton 4 April – Kansas…

I was flattered to have my album included in a few jazz journalists’ ‘Best of 2017’ end of year lists recently, including these two really nice ones from Simon Adams and Dave Gelly in Jazz Journal:

I was also very happy to be included in Nick Lea’s list for Jazz Views and Tim Stenhouse’s list for UK Vibe. And I’ve updated the ‘Press’ section of this website with some other reviews the album received.