As a child Graham was soon introduced to the pleasures of playing and listening to
music. His mother played a baby-grand piano at home and it was she who encouraged him to
have lessons. He worked through the classical piano grades to grade 5, and continued
lessons until the age of 14. However at this time the Beatles and the Rolling Stones burst
on to the music scene and the in-thing was to play guitar. Graham quickly learnt
sufficient guitar technique to become a member of the Blades rock band whilst at
school, playing and singing mainly Beatles and R&B songs.
In his years at Southampton University studying electronic engineering, he moved into
the folk and blues era, this being the time when Bob Dylan and the "folk scene"
were popular. Graham developed a finger-style guitar technique and performed the blues and
many songs by Bert Jansch and John Renbourn in the university folk club. But his musical
tastes moved on and he soon became a member of the university modern jazz
band.
After leaving university and moving to Coventry, Graham became active on the jazz scene
in middle England and has continued doing so for about 30 years, playing both guitar and
piano. One of his earliest collaborations (on guitar) was with Steve Tayton (alto sax),
and their band Wave performed regularly at The Cottage in Earlsdon, Coventry
during the 1970's.
Later Graham was one of the original members of the 5-piece contemporary jazz band, Footprints,
known mainly for its original compositions, many of which were penned by him. The band
recorded an album No Hurries which was produced by saxophonist Tim Whitehead.
Currently he concentrates on the piano, and is particularly in demand to accompany jazz
vocalists. First he accompanied Christine Chin, until she returned to her home country,
Jamaica. For 16 years he has worked with Roy Forbes, the Birmingham based jazz and blues
singer. In 2006 Roy and his band, including Graham, played a series of very successful
gigs at the Marbella Jazz Festival in Spain. Other singers with whom Graham has worked are
Denise Gordon, Sue Kibbey and Ethel Fitzjohn. More recently in 2012 a collaboration
with Coventry based singer Sheila Waterfield has led to the release of a new album I
Wish You Love.
Fresco, a close musical collaboration with saxophonist, Ian Hill, has spawned
a platform that embraces creative performance, jazz composition and song-writing. They
play as a duo and sometimes with other musicians. They also are part of the contemporary
quintet Jucamaya whose repertoire includes much original material by Graham.
Graham has a small recording studio at home in which he has exercised his skills in
performance, production, recording and mixing. Projects have included his solo album Personal
Freeway, the Roy Forbes/Fresco album entitled Last Orders, and Jucamaya's
albums Thinking of Joe and Curious Terrain. More recently he has
collaborated with guitarist David Williams on a CD titled Grateful Hands.
Over the years Graham has accompanied many well known jazz soloists, such as Barbara
Thompson, Jim Mullen, Dave O'Higgins, Mornington Lockett and Alan Barnes, on local gigs.
Although he concentrates on jazz keyboard/piano, Graham continues to do the occasional
gig on guitar. These are mainly jazz gigs, but perhaps surprisingly also included playing
rock guitar in a production of The Who's Tommy at the Rugby Theatre in 2006. The
previous year it was Jesus Christ Superstar at the same theatre.
His favourite pianists are Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea, though he listens to and is
influenced by the broadest range of music. His adaptive, rhythmic piano style means he is
at home in a variety of musical settings ranging from jazz standards, blues, through to
hard-hitting contemporary jazz. Whichever the musical environment, Graham's
sincerity and enthusiasm for his music is always apparent.