John-paul Gard - BIO John-Paul started playing Hammond organ at the age of 10. He had been influenced by his late father who was an organ player and music enthusiast. He had always been exposed to jazz by his father and would play music to John-Paul as he travelled in his dad’s car when his father toured around the country with his job selling jewellery. John-Paul took lessons with Alan Woodley and within 8 months he won the national UK competition “Home Organist of the Year.” Alan Woodley continued to teach and influence John-Paul and they regularly stayed in touch until Alan sadly passed away last year. John-Paul was offered a job in his local organ shop and during his 6 years there he met some of the finest players and demonstrators in the business and also played many concerts. This exposure to the best Hammond musicians enabled John-Paul to develop his own style which is also heavily influenced by Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Joey DeFrancesco. His other influences are Errol Garner, Oscar Peterson,Harry Stoneham,Jerry Allen, George Flurey, Tony Peglar and Alan Haven. When John-Paul was 20 he gained a place on a 3 year music composition course at Coventry University where he studied with Prof Julian Heleby, Dr Christopher Best, Owen Dutton and Robert Ramskill. He also had tuition from Jason Rebello and Dave Buxton. During his studies at Coventry University he was also offered a place at the famous Jazz college, Berklee Music College in the USA. John-Paul’s recent credits are appearing with his own band John-Paul Gard’s Pedal Mania but also with, The Eddie Martin band (Blues) The Lee Goodall Trio, Mike Britton Trio, The Esmond Selwyn Organ Trio with Esmond Selwyn (Guitar) and Robin Jones (Drums) He has also appeared with Swedish guitarist Andreas Olberg organ trio at The IGG Festival. He is also a member of Cookbook, The George Benson Tribute Band o. Another project for this busy Hammond player is another band “Organic” based in South Wales. A great success that John-Paul is currently part of is The Jon Dalton Organ Trio based in Venice Beach USA which has recently released the album “Warm ghosts in a Cold World” which is climbing the Jazz charts in the USA. After a lifetime of influence from the great Jimmy Smith, John-Paul Gard has recently recorded his own album "Come on Rita" which is all jps own compositions with his trio. He has recently received a new endorsement by The KEYB Organ Group and also now with the Ketron music group.