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After finishing as MD/bandleader on Punch Drunk’s The Drowned Man in July 2014 I was determined to continue working with dancers – I’d developed a serious admiration for the cast on the show - their talent, hard work and general style and sass had imbued an (admittedly rather late flowering!) deep interest in the relationship between music and movement. Like the best musicians they felt like dreamers looking for any angle they could use to express themselves and push their personal creative envelope. After a little while I started to pick up the odd class as an accompanist – initially working at The Place but quickly moving to regular work too at Laban and London Studio Centre – and quickly started to learn about the bottomless pit of opportunity (and challenges!) that the interface between the improvising musician and the ballet or contemporary dance class gives you to explore. Initially I just played piano (always the root of the route!) but after a few months of apprenticeship moved on to developing a rig that would better express the music I was feeling – a combination of piano, synths, melodica and several pedals….over the next 18 months I developed a sound, all the while getting more and more used to the many varied pulses, tempos and moods you can work with from session to session….it was especially working with Liz Alpe at Laban that I started to develop the lines and moods that would end up being the core of ‘Rhythm and Moves’ – and soon I was adapting my rig and approach to many different ballet and non-ballet teachers’ musical needs across the spectrum too.

Having recorded these pieces I’ve realized that after initially thinking perhaps that I had made an album of pure ballet/contemporary exercises, perhaps trying to subvert the usual solo piano adages you find online that instead it’s music that continues sonic and composing ideas I’ve worked with on previous projects but is deeply influenced by the work I’ve been doing in the dance studios…a kind of love letter to the fleet of foot from a renowned dad dancer….hoping that you’ll find something to move to….maybe choreograph to….or give you an idea for something that can be developed further. This music is for the many amazing teachers and young dancers whose unstoppable energy has powered my musical ambition for the past couple of years.I do hope you like what you hear.

February 2018

A musician and composer for many years over many musical areas, William has enjoyed global success with projects Heavy Shift, Philadelphia Bluntz and The South Trio , composed much TV/media music, was MD and co-composer on Punch Drunk’s London show The Drowned Man and currently works mainly in the contemporary dance/ballet world as well as producing and mentoring other artists.Photo Gill Vaux