Adam’s solo performances explore the full range of the solo jazz piano vocabulary, from ragtime to explosive free playing. As with his other work, languages are overlaid (sometimes literally, with stride in the left-hand and free playing in the right), or mixed on a more subtle level. During this process Adam’s forward-looking personality and lyricism always shine through.
Please press play below to listen to The Crow Pound, a solo piece recorded in 2008 at the Axis Theatre, MMU, Alsager. Here a left-hand boogie figure is hinted at in a free improvisation, before becoming the basis of a full-on boogie section. By the end of the piece, the contours of the boogie figures remain, but they are played in clusters in a percussive section that eventually becomes a free passage involving elbows and palms.
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Recently Adam has started to incorporate other mechanical keyboard instruments into his solo work, including a prepared toy piano, an Indian harmonium, a prepared Hohner Pianet, a 100 year-old Dulcitone and a small free-bass accordion. As with his piano-playing, Adam enjoys both exploiting and subverting the styles and techniques associated with each instrument, while also investigating their idiosyncratic individual qualities and potential for free playing. Below is a video of Adam performing on Dulcitone and toy piano at Manchester Jazz Festival 2014:
Notable solo gigs have included performances at Leeds International Jazz Conference 2005, Gateshead International Jazz Festival 2011, Manchester Jazz Festival 2014 and ABC No-Rio in New York, 2015.
Adam debut solo piano album, ‘Friendly Ghosts’ is released on EfPi Records in summer 2017.