Geoff Eales
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Geoff Eales Trio featuring Martin France and Chris Laurence
Geoff Eales is regarded as one of Europe’s most inspirational jazz pianists and composers. In March 2009 Geoff launches a new trio with the legendary line-up of Chris Laurence and Martin France which looks set to take his career and profile to an all time high.
“Eales is a born improviser with an apparently unassuageable appetite for rhythmic and melodic exploration” – Chris Parker ( The Vortex Jazz Club )
“…as original as they come, listening to everyone but beholden to no single influence, Eales demands your attention with the force of his musical personality and keeps it with his musicianship”
- Budd Kopman ( Cadence USA )
The seeds of Geoff’s passion for jazz were sown very early when his father, a local Welsh dance-band pianist, taught him the 12-bar blues at the age of eight. But a love for classical music was also instilled in the young pianist and , when he began a B.Mus course at Cardiff University in 1969, it did appear that Geoff was moving away from the idea of a career in jazz towards the life of an academic. This was “confirmed” when, after his Masters Degree, he enrolled on a Ph.D course. However on leaving University in 1975 he completely turned his back on academia in order to pursue the precarious but exciting life of a jobbing musician. After a three-year stint playing commercial piano on cruise ships, Geoff joined the BBC Big Band in 1978. This soon led him to the very top of the London session scene where he remained for another twenty years.
Thankfully this wasn’t the end of the story. After what seemed like a life-sentence accompanying opera divas, playing to order on countless film sound tracks, supporting inane Royal Variety Show acts and composing and arranging Muzak, he had had enough. It was time to dig deep in search of the real Geoff. This began with the release of his debut solo jazz album in 1999, “Mountains of Fire”. Since than a steady stream of albums has followed culminating in his latest release on Edition, “Master of the Game”, his eighth CD – by far his most ambitious and challenging album to date.
During the period of his Jazz Renaissance, Geoff has played at many of the world’s leading jazz clubs including New York’s Birdland, the Jazz Bakery in Los Angeles, Louisville’s Jazz Factory and the Blue Note Clubs of Japan. He has also appeared at major festivals both here and abroad such as Cork, Brecon, Zagreb and Belgrade.
Check out some photos from Geoff’s recording session with Martin France and Chris Laurence.
- Recording and mixing ‘Master of the Game’ for Edition Records due out in 2009
4th Mar 09 – Geoff Eales / Michael Coates – Pizza Express, Beckenham
8th Mar 09 – Geoff Eales Trio [w/ Chris Laurence and Martin France] – Pizza Express, Soho – ALBUM LAUNCH
2nd Apr 09 – Geoff Eales Trio – Watermill, Dorking
13th Jun 09 – Geoff Eales Trio – Helmsley Arts Centre
Geoff Eales at Zagreb Jazz Festival
