Gwilym Simcock Plays Out Of The Box

Gwilym Simcock gives you Jazz that you can’t keep up with. According to Jools Holland, he “Plays his piano like a punch bag.”

Gwilym Simcock has a unique sound that’s a sweet blend of classical and jazz – I think you call it jazzical. And he seems to think his piano is also a drum machine. He plays keys, while slapping about the inside the piano for percussion. He also plays the inner strings like a harp. It’s the kind of sound that doesn’t pause for breath. Pretty impressive.

After the success of his first album, Good Days at Schloss Elmau, Gwilym Simcock will be performing his second album, Near and Now. Each piece is a tribute to a fellow pianist. Think Billy Childs, Brad Mehldau and Russell Ferrante.

If you like jazz that has classical and trad roots, but that has veered off the well-known path to some other magical world… or if you want to see someone who literally lives for the piano; or if you just want to see a guy pretending a piano is a drum set, then yeah, go see him.

Check it out:

“These are the Good Days”

Playing live in Paris

A snippet of how his mind works

Jamming with Pat Metheny