Live on Zoom every month!
Jazz Workshops for VIP members!
Every month we run a live Zoom jazz workshop, often featuring our guest tutors, who are some of the most highly respected and qualified jazz educators in the UK. The topics covered include a wide variety of things that are essential for all jazz improvisers, from deep dives into jazz theory and harmony to jazz improvisation techniques and concepts.
VIP members can get access to the workshop by clicking the button below.
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Sat 3 Oct 10:30am
This month I’m joined by one of the UK’s most in demand jazz pianists, Nick Tomalin. Over his thirty year career his swinging, tasteful bebop-rooted style has made him the favourite accompanist for many of the capitol's best musicians including Jim Mullen, Mark Lockheart, Stan Sulzman, Alan Barnes and many others.
During this workshop Nick will be looking at the music and playing of Bill Evans. Rather than talk about his iconic piano voicings, which are often covered, Nick will be looking at a transcribed solo and seeing what we can learn from Bill's melodic techniques, including bebop phrases, patterns, and use of rhythmic displacement.
So this will definitely be something that we can all benefit from, whatever instrument you play!
Nick studied at Leeds College of Music and the Guildhall School of music and graduated in 1994.
In 1998 he was assistant MD for the UK tour of the Motown tribute musical 'Dancing in the Streets' featuring Edwin Starr and Jackie Graham.
In 2001 he wrote a show - "Molly and the Owl" aimed at introducing younger children to jazz, for which he wrote both the story and the music. In 2005 he secured an Arts Council grant to tour the show, which was a huge success. The piece was recorded and is available to stream and download.
In 2021 Nick put together a 'Shades of Shearing' quintet dedicated to performing the compositions and arrangements of British-born pianist George Shearing. The band has performed at many notable venues including The Concorde Club, Peggy's Skylight, The Pheasantry and Ronnie Scott's Club and the band's first album was released in October 2024.
Nick has a long running partnership with the ex-Itchy Fingers saxophonist and composer Mark Allaway and the two have recorded seven duo albums. Their latest album Jeru: The Music of Gerry Mulligan was released in October 2025.
Nick has been involved in education at all levels and he is currently one of the principal tutors on the popular Grafham Water Jazz Weekends. He has also run sessions for the Cambridge Jazz Co-op.
This will be practical class, not just a theory lesson, so please make sure you have your instrument ready to play.
Everyone is muted in the class, so you are welcome to play along as much as you like, or just tune in and observe. Either is fine. There is also a Q&A session at the end of the class.
The workshop lasts approx 1hr and starts at 10:30am
If you are not already a VIP member, you can get a free invitation to the class by signing up for a no-commitment 14-day FREE trial, which gives you access to everything on the site, including over 100 hours of lessons and courses.
If you can’t make the live session a video recording of the class will be available in the lesson vault.
Just click the button to get the Zoom link.
You need a VIP subscription to join this session.