“What do you mean you can’t play the piano?”

I’ve discovered there are three things that get you noticed: hard work, passion and a bit of luck. I remember the first time I played something recognisable on the piano. I managed the opening bars from Dvorák’s 9th symphony From The New World (the bit from the Hovis advert). I remember my mum, who was chatting on the phone, just gawking at me open mouthed. Being 4 years old, I didn’t think much of it and until I was about 12 thought everyone could hear a song and then play it on the piano. All my friends had pianos in their homes and I just thought that’s what they were for.

Turns out I was somewhat misled. Anyway, I got my first gig at 16 playing three nights a week at a Chinese restaurant. The piano dated back to at least the Ming dynasty and depending on the humidity of the restaurant, sometimes all the C’s on the piano didn’t work and other days most of the flats and sharps were out of action.

So every gig became a new adventure in making-it-up. Musically, I was raised on a strange mixture of classical, Abba, Gershwin, Queen, Liberace, S-Express, musical theatre, Guns’n’Roses, film soundtracks, all sorts of nonsense. This gave me a varied musical grounding for college, where I studied hard at piano, voice and music technology. Then it was off to university to learn how to compose for the screen with a music and media degree. It’s served me well, I actually use what I learned at uni everyday in my work.

Throughout my life I’ve always played at weddings and corporate gigs, often for royalty and celebrities which is always a giggle and I enjoy it because I get to play the songs I love and get paid for it! I’ve also scored a couple of films and written a fair bit for the stage too. My latest commission is to compose the music for a new Christmas musical for children, set to open in late 2009. It’s the cutest thing ever, about a puppy.

I’ve just finished my first jazz album called You’d Never Know. It’s a little collection of recordings I’ve made of some standards which I love, a couple of fun showtunes and jazz numbers that I’ve written myself. The track listing and the digital store are on the Latest CD Release page.

As well as all that, I’m currently working with Sony on a series of video games for Playstation2 & 3. It’s a music game called Singstar and it’s won a couple of Bafta awards too, which is nice. I often perform at some of the world’s greatest venues and clubs which is a real honour; and my concert series ‘An Enchanted Evening’ and ‘Songs That Tell Stories’ have both done really well too. I’m proud of my work as a pianist and singer.

So there’s me in a musical nutshell. Always a lot in the pipeline and yes, I work hard, but it’s what I do best because I love it all. Hope you enjoy my little corner of the internet and please feel free to get in touch via the contact page to say hello!

Jamm x