My musical core is improvisation – I’m a storyteller more than a traditional performer – with clear unfolding grooves and rich textures and harmonies that express deep feelings. I’m influenced by jazz and pop as well as classical music. I’ve also released some classical piano repertoire which I play in a very accessible way with natural, flowing manners.

I love all art forms that inspire deep feelings… something that I can genuinely connect to or naturally relate to. Music that’s just cool or clever – like a pair of designer sunglasses – is not for me. I enjoy creating simple, pure, unsophisticated music just as much as creating dazzling firework displays. My passion is to make music that comes directly from real life with all its mess, from painful experiences and of course from joyful times too. But joy only exists in relation to pain and vice versa. The deepest purpose of music for me is to bring solace and catharsis: it soothes or releases our pain, and of course, it can express pure joy too. It can also offer escape but that interests me less. I approach music from a candid, intimate, sometimes dark place.

Like most people, I’ve had emotional struggles in my life, and my music is a reflection of that struggle: but more than a description, it’s therapy, the medicine I take to heal my wounds. When I communicate with music, I aim to “speak” from my soul. Unlike words, which can hide or manipulate truth, music is utterly honest. And my musical story is about compassion and recovery – from feelings of emptiness, despair and worthlessness that I suffered from as a child, to seeking and finding love and connection as I continue to live my life. So music is a kind of alchemy: we can use it to face our darkest feelings, without fear or censoring, and transform them into something profoundly beautiful.

I dislike pretentiousness: very natural, simple music can be wonderful. All music, from understated and modest to dazzlingly virtuoso, can have transcendental power – it can show us a direct route to equanimity and bliss. So, for me, making music is like mixing an elixir – something delicious and heart-opening that gives me the power to understand my life, to cherish my story, warts and all. My hope is that others might enjoy and benefit from my elixir too. And if you do, then I’m thrilled that my music “speaks” to you.

albums