Biography
Rebecca Nash works as a pianist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and educator, having grown up in Bristol, England. Her original compositions blend elements from soul-jazz, electronica, rock, drum'n'bass, and additional sources. She plays a central role in the vibrant, cooperative music communities of both Bristol and London, serving since 2010 as keyboardist for Dee Byrne's Entropi, pianist and arranger with the ten-piece Paradox Ensemble, a key participant in Nick Walters' Quintet, and a frequent partner with vocalist/songwriter Sara Colman. Her first recording as leader, The Peaceful King, came out in 2018, followed in 2022 by Redefining Element 78.
She spent her childhood and youth in Bristol, taking up classical piano during school years while also pursuing pop music. At age 12 she received Miles Davis' Kind of Blue from a relative as a birthday present, which sparked her deep interest in jazz; soon afterward she encountered Bill Evans' solo piano interpretation of "Waltz for Debby." These experiences prompted her to keep developing her piano technique. When she turned 15, her uncle began mentoring her in jazz piano, harmony, theory, and introductory improvisation. From 2003 to 2007 she studied at the Welsh Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales, completing a Bachelor of Music degree, then earned a Master's at Trinity College of Music in London in 2010 before assembling her own trio.
In 2011 she entered trumpeter Nick Walters' Paradox Ensemble and appeared on its 2013 debut EP Entanglement. Around the same period she worked with jazz singer Rosalie Genay on Realms, supplying distinctive arrangements of songs by Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, while also contributing piano and keyboards to Benin City's first album, Fires in the Park. The next year she became a member of the London-based folk-jazz group Flekd, which issued its self-titled debut, and joined saxophonist and composer Dee Byrne's Entropi project.
Nash composes regularly for radio and theater, creating material for BBC radio, SWAN Theatre Company, and The Dena Lague Dance Company. In 2015 her trio accompanied jazz singer Josephine Arthur on the debut album Break Free, while Entropi released New Era. Beyond performance and composition she teaches, holding positions with the Cheltenham Festivals, Birmingham Jazzlines, and Birmingham Conservatoire, where she serves as artist-in-residence, and she currently leads B: Music's Rise Up program as chief instructor, guiding six female musicians aged 16 to 25 both individually and as a group.
During 2017, after extensive touring across the U.K. and numerous festival appearances, Entropi captured its second album, Moment Frozen. Nash also assembled Atlas, a sextet featuring Walters on electronics, longtime Entropi colleague Matt Fisher on drums, Nick Malcolm on trumpet, bassist Chris Mapp, and guitarist Thomas Seminar Ford. That October the group entered Birmingham's Highbury Recording Studio to record six original pieces by Nash and two by Julian Siegel; three tracks incorporated vocals, for which she invited jazz vocalist Sara Colman to participate as guest. Although Nash produced the album in 2017, it remained unreleased for nearly two years. In 2018 she began performing live with vocalist/songwriter Sara Colman's band and contributed to the critically acclaimed ballads collection What We're Made Of, and she was named Honorary Associate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
While maintaining her involvement with Colman, Nash continued appearing regularly with Atlas. When Whirlwind Recordings issued Peaceful King in July 2019, reviewers worldwide praised its poised fusion of modal and spiritual soul-jazz, electronica, fusion, and pop, as well as its fluid balance of precision and spontaneity. The group secured prominent engagements at We Out Here, London SpiceJazz Soho, the Manchester and Glastonbury Festivals, and leading London venues including Ronnie Scott's. Nash also received the commission to compose the first Rising Star piece for the Bristol Jazz Festival.
That summer she joined Colman and her band plus a string section at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, resulting in Ink on a Pin, a set of reinterpreted Joni Mitchell songs whose title derives from a lyric in "Blue."
In August 2020, during an early lull in the COVID-19 pandemic, Nash and Colman spent ten days at Sage Summer Studios Artist in Residency in Gateshead, accompanied only by chickens. They developed new material around their co-written song "Ribbons," releasing it and "Turning Over Stones" as singles while an album remained in progress.
In April 2022 Nash reconvened a refreshed Atlas lineup—now including guitarist Jamie Leeming and American alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher, whose book Twelve-Tone Improvisation had shaped her recent writing—to record the nine-track Redefining Element 78, a Bristol Jazz Festival commission. The digital edition appeared in December to enthusiastic notices, with physical copies following in February 2023.
She spent her childhood and youth in Bristol, taking up classical piano during school years while also pursuing pop music. At age 12 she received Miles Davis' Kind of Blue from a relative as a birthday present, which sparked her deep interest in jazz; soon afterward she encountered Bill Evans' solo piano interpretation of "Waltz for Debby." These experiences prompted her to keep developing her piano technique. When she turned 15, her uncle began mentoring her in jazz piano, harmony, theory, and introductory improvisation. From 2003 to 2007 she studied at the Welsh Royal College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales, completing a Bachelor of Music degree, then earned a Master's at Trinity College of Music in London in 2010 before assembling her own trio.
In 2011 she entered trumpeter Nick Walters' Paradox Ensemble and appeared on its 2013 debut EP Entanglement. Around the same period she worked with jazz singer Rosalie Genay on Realms, supplying distinctive arrangements of songs by Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits, while also contributing piano and keyboards to Benin City's first album, Fires in the Park. The next year she became a member of the London-based folk-jazz group Flekd, which issued its self-titled debut, and joined saxophonist and composer Dee Byrne's Entropi project.
Nash composes regularly for radio and theater, creating material for BBC radio, SWAN Theatre Company, and The Dena Lague Dance Company. In 2015 her trio accompanied jazz singer Josephine Arthur on the debut album Break Free, while Entropi released New Era. Beyond performance and composition she teaches, holding positions with the Cheltenham Festivals, Birmingham Jazzlines, and Birmingham Conservatoire, where she serves as artist-in-residence, and she currently leads B: Music's Rise Up program as chief instructor, guiding six female musicians aged 16 to 25 both individually and as a group.
During 2017, after extensive touring across the U.K. and numerous festival appearances, Entropi captured its second album, Moment Frozen. Nash also assembled Atlas, a sextet featuring Walters on electronics, longtime Entropi colleague Matt Fisher on drums, Nick Malcolm on trumpet, bassist Chris Mapp, and guitarist Thomas Seminar Ford. That October the group entered Birmingham's Highbury Recording Studio to record six original pieces by Nash and two by Julian Siegel; three tracks incorporated vocals, for which she invited jazz vocalist Sara Colman to participate as guest. Although Nash produced the album in 2017, it remained unreleased for nearly two years. In 2018 she began performing live with vocalist/songwriter Sara Colman's band and contributed to the critically acclaimed ballads collection What We're Made Of, and she was named Honorary Associate of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.
While maintaining her involvement with Colman, Nash continued appearing regularly with Atlas. When Whirlwind Recordings issued Peaceful King in July 2019, reviewers worldwide praised its poised fusion of modal and spiritual soul-jazz, electronica, fusion, and pop, as well as its fluid balance of precision and spontaneity. The group secured prominent engagements at We Out Here, London SpiceJazz Soho, the Manchester and Glastonbury Festivals, and leading London venues including Ronnie Scott's. Nash also received the commission to compose the first Rising Star piece for the Bristol Jazz Festival.
That summer she joined Colman and her band plus a string section at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, resulting in Ink on a Pin, a set of reinterpreted Joni Mitchell songs whose title derives from a lyric in "Blue."
In August 2020, during an early lull in the COVID-19 pandemic, Nash and Colman spent ten days at Sage Summer Studios Artist in Residency in Gateshead, accompanied only by chickens. They developed new material around their co-written song "Ribbons," releasing it and "Turning Over Stones" as singles while an album remained in progress.
In April 2022 Nash reconvened a refreshed Atlas lineup—now including guitarist Jamie Leeming and American alto saxophonist John O'Gallagher, whose book Twelve-Tone Improvisation had shaped her recent writing—to record the nine-track Redefining Element 78, a Bristol Jazz Festival commission. The digital edition appeared in December to enthusiastic notices, with physical copies following in February 2023.
Albums
Singles
