From an early age I’ve always had a passion for music, and have also been a fan of improvising ever since I could reach (or climb up to!) a piano. My parents saw the feel for music that I had, and soon started me on classical piano lessons (which unfortunately I didn’t enjoy) Being forced to stick to rules and ‘dots’, with a teacher who had no passion for music, quickly drove me to nurture my own passion: Jazz. Instead of doing my set practices for my ‘teacher’, I would spend my time improvising, discovering more & more music and even musical theatre, which eventually led me onto theatre work.

My love for theatre inspired me to produce music for local amateur shows I was involved with, replacing the very poor standard they’d become used to. After producing for a few local productions realising I had something, I started to take it more seriously, and landed my first professional production job at the age of 15, working for one of the top backing track companies, Paris Music Limited. From then on, the rest of my school life was spent creating pro tracks for companies all around the world, rather than worrying about school! (you can find out more about the backing track side of things here). As I began college, I started to concentrate more on live playing; managing to get a weekly jazz club gig. This was far more beneficial than college, I met lots of good musicians, resulting in acquiring more gigs, and learnt many great pieces, and spending every Wednesday night for a year improvising with pros really helped train my ear… It also helped with being late for college every Thursday morning!

I have worked professionally since the age of 15, and now at 22,  have produced tracks & arrangements for theatres all around the world, including The West End, working for major production companies, from full show arrangements, to commercial jingles. As a pianist, I’m fortunate enough to work regularly with many of the countries top musicians, and have played some of the UK’s most prestigious venues, and events, from international jazz festivals, to engagements with The Royal Family.

As musical director and/or supervisor, I have worked with a wide range of stars on various shows, such as Phillip Schofield (ITV), John Altman (EastEnders), John Partridge (EastEnders), Ashleigh & Pudsey (Britain’s Got Talent Winners), Kim Hartman & Vicki Michelle (‘Allo ‘Allo), Marti Pellow (Wet Wet Wet), Danielle Hope (Over The Rainbow Winner & West End Star), Tom Lister (Emmerdale) & Maureen Nolan (The Nolan Sisters) to name a few. You can check out some of my current projects here.

Thank you for checking out my site, and please contact me if you have any questions or queries. 🙂

All the best!

James Harrison