Friday 16th January 2026
Rob Cope’s Joyride with Gwilym Simcock will play two sets of joyful and melodic original music - a very special night to remember of soaring melodies and exciting improvisations!
Line up:
Rob Cope – saxophone
Gwilym Simcock – piano
Nick Smart – trumpet
Flo Moore – double bass
Sophie Alloway – drums
Rob Cope is a freelance teacher and performer. Rob studied saxophone for most of his life, culminating in a master’s in music performance and Royal Academy of Music (2010-2012). He has released two albums, Gods of Apollo and more recently the critically acclaimed Gemini on Ubuntu Music, both feature giants of British jazz and his new band, Joy Ride continues this tradition. Rob curates and produces The Jazz Podcast in his spare time.
Gwilym Simcock has carved out a career as one of the most gifted pianists and imaginative composers on the European scene. He moves effortlessly between jazz and classical music, with a ‘harmonic sophistication and subtle dovetailing of musical traditions’. Gwilym has been hailed as a pianist of ‘exceptional’, ‘brilliant’ and ‘dazzling’ ability, and his music has been widely acclaimed as ‘engaging, exciting, often unexpected, melodically enthralling, complex yet hugely accessible’, and above all ‘wonderfully optimistic’.
Nick Smart - Head of Jazz Programmes at the Royal Academy of Music, Nick Smart is an internationally renowned jazz trumpeter, educator and conductor who has given guest masterclasses and performances around the world.
Flo Moore has performed with many established artists, such as Jordan Rakei and Jason Rebello (Sting). Her current live projects include Jordan Rakei, Quinn Oulton, Lokki (Drew MacFarlane), The Lovers of Invention, Sam Leak’s Looking Glass, the Tom Ridout Quintet, Tomorrow’s New Quartet and Jeremy Sassoon’s MOJO. She was previously a member of award-winning bands Ezra Collective and Nerija.
Sophie Alloway is in demand on the London jazz scene where she has played with the likes of Jason Rebello, Mornington Lockett, Yazz Ahmed, Laurence Cottle, George Melly, Guthrie Govan, Shez Raja, Vimala Rowe, Geoff Eales, Nigel Price, Tony Allen, Wild Card, Tony Kofi, Jay Rayner, US actor/comedian Jason Kravits, among many others. She played for Prince Charles in Buckingham Palace shortly before he became King.
www.ram.ac.uk/people/nick-smart
www.ram.ac.uk/people/flo-moore
Video 1 (rob Cope with Claire Cope “Every Journey Has A Beginning”): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU84CrHxcE8&list=RDeU84CrHxcE8&start_radio=1
Video 2 (Gwilym Simcock “These Are the Good Days” – Mercury Prize performance): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2Q9nQg4JmM&list=RDw2Q9nQg4JmM&start_radio=1
