It has been said that Neil Cowley is the most listened-to pianist on the planet. This is a hard claim to argue with: In 2011 he was invited to play piano for Adele’s album 21, which went on to sell millions of copies across the globe. “Adele is one of life’s one-takewonders,” Neil reminisces. “She nails it pretty much every time, which is one of the reasons she deserves the success she has enjoyed.”
Clearly, then, Neil is a highly accomplished studio musician. Where he has really made his mark, however, is in the world of Jazz and Funk. His band, the Neil Cowley Trio, have an up-beat, jazz-meets-rock vibe that has earned them impressive album sales and a hectic European touring schedule.
Yet such success didn’t come easily. An early duo effort called Fragile State ended in disaster in the early 2000s when their record label went bust, taking Neil’s money with it. “It was time to make a change,” he says. “I gave Evan a ring, [the trio’s drummer] and along with an old flat mate of mine on double bass we recorded our debut record in about two days.” The result was the band’s debut album Displaced, which went on to win Best Album at the BBC Jazz Awards. “It was at that point that we realised we might be on to something,” he confesses wryly.
The trio’s sound is difficult to categorize. The combination of catchy melodies and driving, rhythmic chords lends the music a rocky, lean edge: “ It’s a band that looks like a Jazz Trio [piano, double bass and drums] but sounds more like it has absorbed every genre of music it can get it’s hungry little hands on”, enthuses Cowley.
While the band is best known for it’s “rifftastic, hooky” melodies, as he puts it, they also have a more intimate side. Their slower numbers have a touching poignancy and thoughtfulness — explored to the full in their latest release Touch and Flee. Cowley says, “One of the things we had started to enjoy at our concert hall gigs were the longer passages of melody and development. The consensus was that we wanted to create truly contemporary concert hall music.”
‘Kneel Down’, the first track on the album, has a dark, nostalgic feel. Neil’s piano improvisations, drenched in reverb, soar over the minimal bassline. The music is suspended in time and space, the only hint of forward movement provided by Evan Jenkins’ sensitive drum-work. Building to an emotional climax about four minutes in, the music dies away, leaving the piano line to fade slowly into the distance.
“I heard it said that as a musician you always end up returning to your roots,” muses Neil, as I ask him about his early life as a musician. In his case these roots were classical ones. Having performed a Shostakovich piano concerto at the age of 10, he abandoned a potential career as a classical pianist to focus on R&B and funk. “I had no intention of becoming a professional musician… I found parts of my musical education gruelling as a child” he explains.
“Aged 14, a soul/RnB band appeared in my world. All the guys in the band were in their mid twenties and they gave me my first gig, introduced me to James Brown and everything beyond. The addiction was immediate and it was a world of music that I chose, rather than something being forced down my throat.” He is keen to stress, however, that his early training as a classical pianist has been a helpful influence on his Jazz career. “I love the sense of space and drama that my classical training continues to inject into my compositions… that definitely comes through in my music”.
So what plans does Neil have for the trio over the coming weeks and months? “A new album for sure” he says. “Also we’re going to be touring Touch and Flee extensively throughout 2015: we’re currently looking at an Australian tour for early next year!”.
It looks like we might be hearing a lot more of the world’s most listened to pianist. It’s alright for some.
