Neil Cowley is a contemporary jazz pianist

Jazz piano

Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instrument's combined melodic and harmonic capabilities...

 who previous incarnations include Fragile State, The Green Nuns of the Revolution, and the recently formed Neil Cowley Trio that appeared on Jools Holland in April 2008 and won the 2007 BBC Jazz Award for best album, "Displaced".

Biography

Cowley began as a classical pianist. He performed a Shostakovich

Dmitri Shostakovich

Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....

 piano concerto at the age of 10 at Queen Elizabeth Hall

Queen Elizabeth Hall

The Queen Elizabeth Hall is a music venue on the South Bank in London, United Kingdom that hosts daily classical, jazz, and avant-garde music and dance performances. The QEH forms part of Southbank Centre arts complex and stands alongside the Royal Festival Hall, which was built for the Festival...

.

In his late teens Cowley moved into being a keyboardist for soul and funk acts Mission Impossible, Brand New Heavies

Brand New Heavies

The Brand New Heavies are an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing, a suburb of London, England.-Biography:The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental acid jazz group called Brother International....

, Gabrielle

Gabrielle (singer)

Louisa Gabrielle Bobb is a multi-platinum selling, BRIT Award winning English singer, who records under the name Gabrielle. Gabrielle began her career temping during the day and singing for free in London clubs at night...

 and Zero 7

Zero 7

Zero 7 is a British musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. The group members began their musical careers as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, Simple Things was released in 2001 and received critical acclaim...

. He also appeared as a co-composer and session musician with the jazz-rock group Samuel Purdey.

In 2002, he formed the duo Fragile State with Ben Mynott; after its end, the Neil Cowley Trio.

In 2006 he released an album called Soundcastles under the name Pretz.

In 2008 the Neil Cowley Trio recorded cover versions of The Beatles

The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...

' "Revolution 1" and "Revolution 9

Revolution 9

"Revolution 9" is a recorded composition that appeared on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled LP release . The sound collage, credited to Lennon–McCartney, was created primarily by John Lennon with assistance from George Harrison and Yoko Ono. Lennon said he was trying to paint a picture of a revolution...

" for Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

magazine.

With Fragile State

• Nocturnal Beats
• The Facts And The Dreams (2003)
• Voices From The Dust Bowl (2004)

With Neil Cowley Trio

• Displaced (2006)
• Loud... Louder... Stop! (2008)
• Radio Silence (2010)

External links

• Neil Cowley at All About Jazz