When I started to pick out tunes with one finger on the family piano at some very tender age, it was only a matter of time before the piano lessons began in earnest. Everyone said how remarkable the little chap was. Well I practised a lot, Mum saw to that.

At some point in my junior years, Dad made me a guitar. At the time skiffle was all the rage. So out came the pots and pans and my first band began to take shape. Tommy Steel had little to fear. The neighbours who came to investigate the racket went home highly amused. Maybe I should have been a comedian. The guitar continued to play a small part in my musical life but was never to be taken too seriously.

When my teens arrived, I found myself in many bands, culminating with various national gigs and trips to Hamburg following the well worn track set down by the Beatles a decade earlier.

The rock “thing” reached its natural conclusion however and the mandatory 'song writing' experience gave way to more serious instrumental stuff. It’s a common phenomenon. I found myself writing music for a children’s youth theatre, local radio productions and even the choir of a Townswomen’s Guild.

Being a musician means a lifetime or learning. I continue to absorb so much from the great piano legends. So it is that if you listen very carefully to my playing you might just detect the faint influences of my personal heroes, Art Tatum, Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans or Hank Jones. No, I didn’t actually say that I sound or play like any of those guys!

Give my downloads a listen, see what you think. They are designed to be undemanding and easy to listen to. I want them to appeal to everyone.