Laurance lands on Leeside for Jazz weekend

From studying classical composition while immersing himself in jazz, funk, and drum’n’bass, to a chance encounter on the Leeds music scene that would lead to a career touring the world with Snarky Puppy, Bill Laurance has always resisted easy musical categorisation.

This weekend, Music Network brings the acclaimed British pianist to the Triskel Arts Centre as part of the 2026 Guinness Jazz Festival where a lucky audience will experience Laurance at his most intimate: alone at the piano.

Speaking ahead of the tour, Laurance describes performing solo as “total freedom” where the music itself guides you. “It’s about letting the music tell you what to play, fully immersing yourself in the vulnerability of what the moment decides.”

Alongside repertoire from his latest solo piano album, ‘Lumen’, the concert will feature wide open improvisations, in which every performance is completely different.

The apparent ease with which Laurance moves between musical worlds can be traced back to his formative years at the University of Leeds. Rather than choosing between them, Laurance allowed those influences to coexist, gradually forging a musical language that draws on English classical traditions, electronica, and jazz-rock alongside contemporary grooves and an intense commitment to improvisation.

It was also in Leeds that a seemingly ordinary pick-up gig changed the course of his career. Then in his twenties and trying to make a living on the city's music scene, Laurance found himself performing alongside a young Michael League in singer Michael Solomon Williams’ band. That led to a friendship between the two musicians. When League later found himself looking for a pianist, he invited Laurance to the US to record the first Snarky Puppy album, ‘The Only Constant’.

What followed was one of contemporary jazz's great ensemble success stories. As an original member of Snarky Puppy, Laurance has played hundreds of concerts around the world, as the group developed from its independent beginnings into a five time Grammy Award-winning international phenomenon.

Yet his own work has increasingly revealed another side of his musical identity. Across a solo career that began with ‘Flint’ in 2014 and has continued through albums including ‘Swift', ‘Aftersun’, ‘Cables’, ‘Where You Wish You Were’, ‘Bloom’, ‘Keeping Company’ and now ‘Lumen’, Laurance has developed a distinctive compositional voice in which melody, rhythm, atmosphere, and improvisation continually intersect. His music can feel cinematic and expansive one moment, stripped back and intensely personal the next.

A master collaborator, Laurance has performed with a stellar roster of artists including David Crosby, Salif Keita, Morcheeba, Terence Blanchard, Laura Mvula and Jacob Collier, and has composed for major dance companies such as Alvin Ailey and English National Ballet.

Alongside touring as a solo artist and with Snarky Puppy, Laurance is the Artist in Residence at Morley College London. He is a passionate educator and continues to guide the next generation of artists at music institutions all over the world.

Bill Laurance plays the Triskel Arts Centre in Cork city on 24 October at 2.30pm as part of the 2026 Guinness Jazz Festival.