Malcolm Edmonstone

Malcolm Edmonstone (born 1980, Perth, Scotland) is a British jazz pianist, arranger and educator. In 1998 he moved to London to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he is now Head of Jazz. In addition, Malcolm is Artistic Director of Jazz for the National Youth Orchestras of Scotland. He has forged a career as a modern jazz musician, working as a pianist, educator, arranger and musical director in many high profile situations. In 2016 he made his BBC Proms debut, arranging and conducting for Iain Ballamy and Liane Carroll.

Whilst studying at GSMD, he was called on by Laurie Holloway to cover the piano chair on an international tour with his wife, the late jazz legend Marion Montgomery. Since then Malcolm has continued to work with Laurie on various projects, including the first three series of the BBC1 show Strictly Come Dancing, where he played piano and arranged a significant portion of the music. During this time Malcolm was writing prolifically and having his arrangements performed live on television to audiences upwards of 10 million.

At 21, he met Jacqui Dankworth and soon became her Musical Director. Together they have toured the world and been involved in numerous recording projects, including albums Detour Ahead and Back to you. In 2009, Malcolm had the honour of working alongside the late Sir John Dankworth on Jacqui's 2011 album It Happens Quietly. They worked together on the arrangements on what proved to be the last of many occasions in which Sir John mentored Malcolm’s development as a writer.

Malcolm works with some of the most original musicians in the UK. Since 2011 Malcolm has worked closely with Liane Carroll, one of the leading lights of jazz. Together they have produced concerts with choir and jazz orchestra and most recently Malcolm is featured as pianist and arranger on her 2015 Linn Records release Seaside. He is a member of Mike Walker (jazz guitarist)’s Madhouse band, and has played with many of the UK’s leading jazz musicians, including Mark Lockheart, Stan Sulzmann and Iain Dixon. At the 19th meeting of the International Association of Schools of Jazz, Dave Liebman invited Malcolm to play in his only appearance during that conference. In 2011 he appeared at the Royal Opera House in a Masterclass with legendary jazz drummer Peter Erskine and later the same year at the Royal College of Music, as part of their Festival of Percussion.

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