“A rising star of the piano” – BBC Radio 3, Jazz Line-Up
“There is no jazz code he hasn’t deciphered and mastered” – Manchester Evening News
Adam began, like many pianists, by practising boogie and blues with friends during school lunchtimes. He received piano lessons covering jazz harmony and repertoire in his teens, before moving north to study Contemporary Arts at MMU Cheshire, where he received a first class honours degree and an MA with distinction. Having decided towards the end of his undergraduate studies to devote his time to the study of jazz, Adam followed his studies at MMU with Master’s study at Leeds College of Music, receiving a MMus in Jazz Studies (Performance) in 2005. While at Leeds he studied with pianist Mark Donlon and also took lessons with pianist Matthew Bourne. In 2005 he received the college’s Sam Hood Rosebowl for Outstanding Jazz Performance. Returning to MMU to teach and continue his practice and research, Adam received a PhD in 2008 and continues to hold a part-time post as Programme Leader for Popular Music in the Cheshire faculty’s Department of Contemporary Arts.
Adam’s distinctive piano playing has been noted for the diversity of its stylistic reference points; idioms drawn from any period of jazz history may be blended, collided, subverted, hinted at or played completely ‘straight’ in his performances. Despite this playful and often witty approach, Adam’s playing is committed rather than ironic and detached, and reveals a love of piano jazz from ragtime to free.
Adam’s projects as a leader include a duo with sonic artist Paul J Rogers and a project involving a 7-piece ensemble called the Imaginary Delta. The duo with Rogers mixes piano performance with electronic processing, samples from early recordings and home-made instruments such as the diddley-bow. They released their debut album, Second-Handed Blues, on ASC Records in 2011 to excellent reviews and Radio 3 airplay, and have performed at notable venues including the Vortex and the Capstone Theatre, Liverpool. The Imaginary Delta was commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival, and premiered at Band on the Wall, Manchester, in July 2011. The project includes a 3-horn front line and also features Paul J Rogers on laptop, turntable and diddley-bow. The music revisits early jazz forms in a surprising, passionate and at times highly deconstructive way. A live recording will be released on SLAM in spring 2012. In addition to these projects, Adam also performs as a solo pianist and in a conventional piano trio format. Notable solo performances include recitals at the Leeds International Jazz Conference 2005 and at the Sage, Gateshead in 2011. The trio has performed at clubs, arts centres and festivals throughout the country, and were heard on Radio 3′s Jazz Line-Up in 2009. Please see the individual project pages for further details and audio tracks.
As a sideman Adam has recorded 6 albums for Manchester’s Gondwana label, under the leadership of Nat Birchall and Matt Halsall. These albums have received critical acclaim in the music press and the mainstream media, and have received widespread airplay. Adam also frequently collaborates with colleaugues in the Department of Contemporary Arts at MMU.
In 2009 Adam was selected for Take Five Five Edition VI, a prestigious professional development scheme designed to ”give some of the UK’s most talented young jazz musicians the unique opportunity to take time out to develop their craft”. Take Five is a Jerwood charitable Foundation/PRS Foundation initiative with additional support from Arts Council England and Musicians Benevolent Fund. As part of Take Five, Adam worked with 7 excellent emerging musicians – including BBC Jazz Award-winner James Allsopp, 2010 Mercury-nominee Kit Downes and current Radio 3 New Generation Artist Shabaka Hutchings – on workshopping and performing new compositions. The week-long process was overseen by legendary saxophonist John Surman.