“I’ve always been very open-minded!” declares pianist James Pearson cheerfully. And he’s not joking because this extraordinarily versatile musician has over the decades not only led his own jazz trio, long the house band at Ronnie Scott’s, and toured with The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars, but has also played classical concerts, been the favoured accompanist of many of the UK’s greatest jazz vocalists, recorded with both Paul McCartney and Jeff Beck, and performed in pantomimes and on cruise ships.
One of his current projects is A Musical Portrait Of Oscar Peterson, which celebrates the centenary of Peterson’s birth. He explains why Peterson’s music resonates so much with him: “The pure pianistic skill. He just made the piano sing – and also swing. That was the most important thing to him. And he could make the piano sound very orchestral with his big tremolos and things like that.”
Pearson doesn’t attempt to replicate Peterson’s music. “I wouldn’t be able to,” he laughs. “I haven’t got the technique! And I wouldn’t want to. It’s more an affectionate portrait of what I get out of Oscar.”
Pearson actually met Peterson. “I was very fortunate. I was playing with an opera singer in Barbados and it turned out Oscar Peterson was staying in the same hotel and I met him around the swimming pool! He was on holiday with his family and we had a good chat. And the next day he said, ‘Do you want to come and have some cocktails?’ and even though he was on holiday he had a little keyboard in his room and would practise on it. He was a bit like me – even on holiday the music was always there. He couldn’t switch off.”
Tribute, or themed, shows are a speciality of Pearson’s for he also performs shows in honour of Dudley Moore, George Shearing, Erroll Garner and others and a 125 Years of Jazz Piano show. “It’s funny because jazz is always moving forward but a lot of people like to hear music that they know. A lot of members of Ronnie Scott’s, for example, love to hear the music of Erroll Garner because it reminds them of what got them into jazz. But when I play these tributes, I don’t do impersonations. I play a bit like [the artists] but it’s more about sharing the joy of jazz and of these characters.
“And the 125 Years show is about explaining how jazz piano has changed, from early ragtime through stride, mainstream, bebop … Because originally you didn’t have bass players. As soon as bass players joined in you had to play the piano differently, you didn’t need to do the bass notes. And then guitars would often join in so you didn’t need to do so many chords. I think audiences find that interesting. I certainly find it interesting!”
His tribute show to Dudley Moore, who is better known as a comedian and film star, is very close to Pearson’s heart. “I’m fascinated by Dudley Moore because I used to work a lot with John Dankworth and Cleo Laine and he did that job when he’d just left Oxford [University]. And I like to do those shows to remind people that he was a fantastic musician and wrote some beautiful compositions. There’s a poignancy about them and the melodies are very good. ‘Before Love Went Out Of Style’ is one of the most beautiful ballads – it’s like a Bill Evans piece.”
Like Moore, Pearson studied classical music, in his case at the Guildhall School Of Music And Drama. It seems odd though that he didn’t enrol on a jazz course. “When I went to Guildhall there wasn’t an integrated course like now. You had to do one or the other and I had quite an old-school upbringing and pleasing the family might have been in my mind. But at the Guildhall I could do a bit of the jazz course so I did, whilst doing my classical stuff.”
Pearson believes that his classical studies have enhanced his jazz playing. “Definitely. Studying classical piano you have to make sure your physical technique is really good and your wrist action and you learn techniques like how to crescendo and all those things. If you can put all that into your jazz, it makes the piano sing more.”
After leaving the Guildhall Pearson widened his experience. “For a couple of years I was running a jazz jam session in The Jazz Bistro in London. I cut my teeth playing in that little club. And then I got a job on a cruise ship. I found that very hard work because you had to play the same thing every night. But I also did the York Theatre Royal pantomime [for three years] and that was quite fun. York is beautiful, you were there for ten weeks and you got paid quite well. Also I wrote the music so got a percentage, albeit it was 0.0001 of the door! And when you do pantomime you learn about musical effects like there are certain harmonies to create tension and [humour] and things like that.”
Early in his career also, Pearson began working with Ian Shaw. “We met and just clicked and he gave me a week at Ronnie Scott’s,” he says. “I was so excited to have my first week at Ronnie’s! And I’m still playing with Ian.”
Another great singer, with whom Pearson has worked extensively, is Polly Gibbons. “She’s an incredible singer,” he enthuses. “She has a ridiculous range and is very soulful and a great improviser. She really loves the words and she’s a very playful singer and I think one of the essences of jazz is that playful ability, having fun with the sounds and syllables as well as giving it musical depth when you’re getting the actual message of the song across.”
Pearson reflects on the role of an accompanist: “You want to make the person you’re playing with feel as comfortable as possible. And the challenge is to choose which notes to play or not to play because you could be playing a note that might clash with the melody that they’re singing. But I love playing with singers because it’s very unpredictable, you never know where it might go.”
In 2006 Pearson became house pianist at Ronnie Scott’s, later becoming Artistic Director, in which role he is part of the team who book artists for the club.
Pearson explains how Ronnie’s currently organises its shows. “The first set starts at 6.30pm which does seem early but people of a certain generation like to get home at a reasonable hour. The second show is a mixture of younger people and the late show is a very young, energetic crowd.”
Pearson recalls one particularly memorable late show. “We were playing and a whole lot of women suddenly stood over us. They didn’t say anything, they just sort of pushed us off – and it turned out to be Beyoncé’s band! We were doing a Paul Simon track and it morphed into a sort of groove track, it went from one feel to another! These organic things are wonderful when they happen and they happen as long as you create space for them to do so.”
His role in Ronnie’s has changed somewhat, says Pearson. “A lot of what I do now is out of the club. We have The Ronnie Scott’s All Stars which is a great fun band and we do a show called The Ronnie Scott’s Story in which we talk about the history of Ronnie Scott’s and we have screens and musical clips and soundbites. We do it in theatres, representing the club and spreading the message.”
Pearson still gives classical recitals, sometimes with The Hallé or other orchestras. “I do get nervous playing classical music because I don’t do it all the time. And whereas with jazz it’s coming from you – there’s no right or wrong as long as it sounds OK – with classical you’re interpreting someone else’s music so there’s already a right way to do it. But I love it. I don’t have to do it for my living so I do it for pure pleasure.”
As a session man Pearson played orchestral piano on a Paul McCartney track, ‘Only Our Hearts’. “I got to meet him and in fact we sat at the piano and talked about pop composition and harmony for about twenty minutes.”
McCartney clearly impressed Pearson. “He totally did. He has an amazing musical instinct. He understands things even though he hasn’t had formal musical training. And he was very good at the piano as well – you never know if these people can actually play but, yes, he absolutely can play.”
Meeting someone as mega-famous as McCartney can turn normally sane people into gibbering idiots. But not Pearson. “Yes, he’s very famous but the fact that we both do the same thing, on different levels, gave me the confidence just to be normal around him and not try and prove anything. And he came across as such a nice person.”
Jeff Beck is another rock icon with whom Pearson worked. “I played on his last album [18] and I was very sad when he died. He was another who had an incredible musical instinct and was a perfectionist. Like McCartney he had a sound he wanted and if he wasn’t getting it he would persist until he found it. You can understand how these people have become so successful. They have a vision and if it’s not right, they know it’s not right.”
Oddly, the only albums released under Pearson’s own name are The Best Things In Life (2004) and Swing The Club (2009) which was recorded live in Ronnie Scott’s. “[Recording] is something I’ve slightly put on the backburner because I’ve been doing so many other projects but it’s definitely something I need to do and probably will do. There is a Swing The Club Volume 2 which we didn’t release at the time but we might bring out now.”
As a performer Pearson believes in engaging his audiences. “I’m passionate about performance,” he says. “A lot of people are scared of jazz so I give a context for the music, whether it’s an anecdote about what the composer was doing when he wrote the song or just a funny thing. That gives people something to latch on to and is a way of making them feel comfortable. And I find that works. People do like the anecdotes – as long as I don’t talk too much!”
Pearson is planning on presenting his A Musical Portrait Of Oscar Peterson show several times before the end of the year including at Ronnie Scott’s on 2nd July and at several jazz festivals. “There’s also a version we do with two pianos, just me and Joe Webb, and maybe later I’ll do a big band version. It’s very happy sounding music, in general. It puts a smile on your face and a lightness in your step. I think there’s a place for that in this day and age!”
