Geoff Gascoyne

Born on 23 November 1963 in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England, Gascoyne began piano lessons at six and developed into a formidable player on the instrument. During his school years he shifted focus to bass, performing in punk outfits and other current pop groups of the day. By the early 1990s he was holding the bass chair with the jazz-tinged pop band Everything But The Girl while also substituting in assorted jazz ensembles, among them Jim Mullen’s group alongside Mornington Lockett and Dave O’Higgins. He subsequently joined Georgie Fame’s band and stayed for more than ten years. At the same time he established himself as a sought-after session player, contributing bass to recordings by numerous prominent figures across pop and jazz, including Peter Churchill and Guy Barker, and he appeared on screen as a member of Barker’s ensemble in the 1999 film The Talented Mr Ripley.

Gascoyne first encountered singer Trudy Kerr in 1995 when he joined her band on bass; the pair married in January 2002. Entering the new century he maintained a busy recording schedule across many projects, most prominently with Jamie Cullum, collaborating in duo settings, pickup groups, and the singer-pianist’s regular ensemble, a partnership that resulted in extensive international touring. He also assembled his own Project band, an ensemble that merges jazz instrumentation with chamber-music forces and features Martin Shaw, Tim Garland, Sebastian De Krom, Cullum, and Kerr.