Bill Laurance Trio

Pianist and composer Bill Laurance, a five-time Grammy Award winner, effortlessly blends a wide range of musical styles. Classically trained, Laurance is a founding member of Snarky Puppy and has demonstrated a unique creativity and joy in improvisation for many years.

Laurance initially studied classical piano. After graduating from the University of Leeds, he worked with the trip-hop trio Morcheeba, as well as with saxophonist Chris Potter and guitarist Lionel Loueke. As a founding member of Snarky Puppy, he contributed to the albums Family Dinner Vol. 1 (2013, featuring the Grammy-winning track "Something" with Lalah Hathaway), Sylva (2015), and Culcha Vulcha (2016), all of which won Grammy Awards.

In 2014, Laurance released his debut solo album Flint, followed by Swift (2015), Aftersun (2016 – featuring fellow Snarky Puppy members Michael League and Robert “Sput” Searight, as well as New Orleans drummer Weedie Braimah), and Live at the Union Chapel (2017). In 2019, he released the solo album Cables. In 2018, he collaborated multiple times with the WDR Big Band under the direction of Bob Mintzer, performing his own works in big band arrangements. The resulting album, Live at the Philharmonie Cologne, was honored in 2021 with a German Jazz Award for "Radio Production of the Year." In 2022, he released the solo album Affinity. In 2023, he teamed up with Michael League for the duo album Where You Wish You Were, which focuses entirely on the acoustic sound world of the grand piano.

Line-up:

Bill Laurance – piano & keyboards

Menelik Claffey – bass

Oscar Ogden – drums