Steinway 2-Piano Festival

2 Pianos, 6 Pianists, 12 Hands & 60 Digits

JBGB Events

Event Has Passed

Last Show: Monday 14 th March 2022

PizzaExpress Jazz Club (Soho)

After two sensational and much appreciated concerts in the 2016 and 2018 London Jazz Festivals, our 2 Pianos, 6 Pianists, 12 Hands & 60 Digits concert arrives at Dean Street for the Steinway Two Pianos Festival. We present an evening of stunning, original performances and improvised piano magic, and above all pure entertainment from 6 of the UK’s greatest jazz pianists. The evening will feature a range of piano styles, including Harlem stride, ragtime, boogie-woogie, gospel, blues, swing, be-bop & modal. You will enjoy solo piano performances from all six, along with pre-planned duets and rotating duets showcasing every pianist improvising with the other five in turn, concluding with a manic improvised finale featuring all six together.

Gareth Williams – is one of the most intensely creative, dynamic and exciting performers in the UK. He has been described as "a fantastic improviser" by John Fordham in The Guardian and Jazzwise observed "Gareth is the embodiment of creative energy, a physical player who gets wrapped up in his work, with a keyboard command that's both impressive and well-directed".

David Newton – is the most  respected pianist working with the finest vocalists and instrumentalists in European jazz. He is, in the late Sir John Dankworth’s memorable phrase, “a National treasure”. David has been voted the best in the British Jazz Awards for an a record breaking 15 times.

Rob Barron – described as “one of the most creative and versatile pianists of his generation”, released his first album as leader “What’s In Store” to critical acclaim in 2016, with a piano style evoking his passion for the American tradition, citing Wynton Kelly, Cedar Walton and Hank Jones as major influences. He is a professor of jazz piano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. 

Tom Cawley - has performed worldwide – with some of the country’s leading artists, most notably Peter Gabriel, with whom he has also recorded two albums and a live DVD. He  has performed, recorded and broadcast extensively over the last ten years. Tom leads the house band at Ronnie Scott's club, and is a professor of jazz piano at the Royal Academy of Music.

Robin Aspland - A gifted and very imaginative improviser, with deep roots in the music, Robin is one of the UK’s busiest jazz pianists. As an accompanist, his taste is impeccable and, as a soloist, he finds unexpected delights in whatever material he addresses. He has worked with a vast array of leading jazz musicians: George Coleman, Bobby Watson, Eddie Henderson, Ronnie Scott, Steve Grossman, Kenny Wheeler, Dave O’Higgins, Art Themen, and many others. His ability to find new and exciting approaches to harmonic material has made him a favourite with some of Britain’s best known singers: Cleo Laine, Georgie Fame, and Van Morrison, to mention a few.

Chris Ingham – As a composer, in 2017 he provided the soundtrack for the six-part documentary series Wartime Crime for Discovery/UKTV and the Tom Odell-directed How the Beatles Changed The World for Netflix, also appearing in the latter film as a talking head. Recent soundtracks include The Rise of the Superheroes (2018), Charles Manson: Music from an Unsound Mind (2019) and Days Of Rage: The Rolling Stones' Road To Altamont (2019). He formed his jazz quartet in 2013 and has led over 150 performances of his Hoagy Carmichael, Dudley Moore and Stan Getz repertoire projects all over the UK. He is also musical director/pianist/MC of film song repertory quintet Jazz At The Movies and Rebop, a modern jazz repertory sextet. He has been a record producer for Ruthie Henshall and Joanna Eden and is the author of Rough Guide to The Beatles and Rough Guide to Frank Sinatra. He curates jazz clubs in Diss (The Corn Hall) and Bury St Edmunds (Hunter Club).