Jazz Hands: The Swansea-born pianist with a passion for podcasting

I’m a pianist and composer, working in both classical and jazz music. I was born in Swansea in 2001 and moved to London with my family in 2005, where I am currently based. I hold a first-class degree in music from King’s College London, where I am also an associate, and will be starting my Master’s degree there in composition in September 2024.

One week after my twentieth birthday I woke up unable to apply any pressure to my right wrist and thumb. Over time, this would metastasise to my left hand, with pain eventually radiating up my arms if I decided to use them. I was diagnosed with several repetitive strain injuries: carpel tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, writer’s thumb, possible thoracic outlet syndrome... this would not be ideal for most. But as a pianist in the second year of my music degree, the situation felt dire. That was three years ago.

Today, thanks to rigorous and ongoing retraining with pianist Teresa Dybvig in the Taubman Approach to piano technique, I can play again, even better than I could before. This was not always an easy experience and there were long stretches of time when I didn’t even want to listen to any music at all. Except for one artist: Dave Brubeck. His music alone sustained me when nothing else could and, to this day, I wonder why. 

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I was properly introduced to the music of American Jazz pianist and composer Dave Brubeck when I was nineteen. As a Jazz pianist, naturally I had heard many of his popular tunes from his hit 1959 album Time Out, but I was unaware of his Nocturnes, his ballets Points on Jazz or Glances, his oratorios and orchestral works, or the several dozen jazz recordings spanning his career. Immediately, I detected something in his music that inspired me. I couldn’t quite articulate it, but it was exciting, bold, brave, unusual, and every single track sounded like Dave and no one else. How can a wash of sounds from a wooden box with strings and hammers – a piano – sound like someone? That is originality.  

Around the same time, during one of the endless covid-19 pandemic lockdowns, I decided to launch a podcast. I called it the Euterpean Podcast after the Ancient Greek muse of music, Euterpe. This allowed me to connect and have interesting conversations with musicians during a time of total isolation. Episode by episode, I began writing to musicians around the world and even managed to interview famous figures like the English conductor Benjamin Zander who has been and still is enormously influential on my way of perceiving music. I am truly grateful to each of them for their generosity. 

Boldly, I decided to write to Professor John Salmon, a pianist specialising in the classical works of Dave Brubeck. He had known Dave and worked with him from the 1990s up until his death in 2012. We ended up having two wonderful conversations on my podcast, the first on Brubeck and the second on improvisation, which offered such insight into Dave’s music – getting ever closer to an understanding of his originality. It was soon after my first conversation with John, however, that I injured my hands. That’s when everything changed.

^{Me playing at Ronnie Scott’s in London}

At first, I was very positive. The physiotherapist’s instructions became a daily ritual and the initial injury began to heal. Unfortunately, the pain would remain for much longer as my injury had altered my approach to the keyboard, and nothing felt comfortable anymore. I came to learn that my injury was more likely caused by the way in which I was playing the piano rather than the length of my practice sessions. Patient and understanding university teachers with experience teaching injured pianists did their best but after almost a year, the situation had regressed to the point that I had to postpone exams again.  

Rather like the lockdowns, the second time is never as fun, and music became an ordeal. The thought of listening to anyone play the piano became anathema. Why did Dave Brubeck’s music not only provide respite but inspire me to continue retraining? Over the years, a few ideas have come to mind. At the age of 30, Dave broke his neck in a surfing accident and consequently he experienced nerve pain in his hands for decades afterwards. This altered the way he played; many ascribe this reason to his use of bold block chords.  

Music is a deeply spiritual and subtle artform. As I listen again and again, I always hear something new, and I always learn something. Since my injury I have spoken privately with Philip Clarke, Brubeck’s biographer, and on the podcast with Darius Brubeck in an attempt to understand this music, and the man behind it, more deeply. I have performed three recitals, which include his music in the programme, and know there is still so much to be explored. I can confidently say that it is in large part thanks to Dave Brubeck’s music that I am the musician I am today and, looking forward, I plan on performing both his classical and jazz music for a long time to come. 

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