John Watson

I studied piano from 6 years of age including about 8 years with a pupil of Percy Grainger, worked at Allans Music for 9 months in 1973 and since then have done one days paid work (movie extra) that wasn't me performing.
I toured with a pub covers band, moved to Sydney with my jazz vocal harmony floorshow group appearing on many TV shows like Walsh & Parkinson. I began working a legendary piano bar in Sydney called Minskys in 1983 which ended in 2020. At the same time I was a working on call piano player for casual club work which meant turning up at clubs usually without any idea of who I would be playing for and being expected to read the show with a quick talk through 15 - 30 minutes before showtime. It was great experience with all genres of music covered, opera, jazz, Scottish jigs, Italian and French singers, country and instrumentalists that loved to play the fastest pieces they could manage to show off their skills but we had to keep up.
I would be a great help to proficient players who want to expand their knowledge whether working on reading charts, ideas for developing jazz playing and especially rock and pop piano along the lines of Billy, Elton and Leon Russell