Maverick pianist Elliot Galvin is quite possibly one of the UK’s most inventive emerging instrumentalists. His eponymous trio were winners of the European Young Jazz Artist of the Year Award in Germany in 2014 and, to date, have released a trifecta of critically acclaimed albums, each with a distinctive theme and associated sound world. Galvin is also a prolific composer and collaborator, having performing at 12 Points with trumpeter Laura Jurd’s Mercury nominated band Dinosaur in 2015. It is within his own trio though that Galvin’s precociously unique talents have free reign to roam. Concept albums are not common currency in today's musical world, indeed, the concept of an album at all is at odds with the listening habits of the majority. However, bucking trends, banishing stereotypes, and starting with a blank canvas is where Galvin is most comfortable. And, it is across strong album concepts where these most fertile and imaginative ideas are executed.Having based his first two albums (Dreamland and Punch) on a famous local amusement park, the core piano trio was augmented by toy pianos, stylophones, staccato bursts of cassette loops, wheezy melodicas, and assorted gadgets to evoke the cacophony of sounds and senses of a bustling fairground, each wrapped within inventively arranged and tightly executed pieces.

On his most recent record Galvin takes his title, The Influencing Machine, from writer Mike Jay’s account of the life of 18th-century double agent, philosopher, polymath, and first-recorded paranoid schizophrenic, Tilly Matthews. Galvin wanted his project to reflect “the parallels between the life and times of James Tilly Matthews and the modern world”. While music speaks for itself, an understanding of the musicians muse enriches the context of what The Guardian’s John Fordham describes as “Elliot Galvin’s ballpark of brilliantly executed bright ideas”.

Performing at 12 Points on Friday night at 9:05pm
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