Nick Tomalin is a jazz pianist and composer who has been working as a professional musician and educator for nearly 30 years. Nick studied jazz at Leeds College of Music and completed his post-graduate studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1994.
Nick has performed at many prestigious jazz venues in London including the 606 Club, the Jazz Café, the Vortex and Ronnie Scott’s, both with his own band, and as sideman for some of the country’s leading jazz musicians including Jim Mullen, Mark Lockheart, Stan Sulzman and Alan Barnes. In 1998 he was assistant MD and played keyboards for the UK tour of the Motown tribute musical “Dancing in the Streets” featuring Edwin Starr and Jackie Graham.
In 2001 he wrote a show - “Molly and the Owl” - aimed at introducing younger children to jazz, for which he wrote both the story and the music. In 2005 he embarked on an Arts Council funded tour of the show which was a huge success. The piece was recorded and is now available to download from CD Baby and iTunes.
In 2021 Nick released a Christmas duo album with saxophonist Mark Allaway called Winter Chimes which featured a variety of seasonal songs, some traditional, some more unusual. Nick has recently formed a 'Shades of Shearing' Quintet dedicated to performing the compositions and arrangements of British pianist George Shearing, the band performed a sold-out show at Ronnie Scott's in November 2022.
Nick has been involved in jazz education at all levels. He is one of the principal tutors on the Grafham Water Jazz Weekends and he also runs educational courses for E17 Jazz.