The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast

Geoff sits down with Swedish jazz guitar virtuoso Ulf Wakenius in a back room at the Pizza Express Jazz Club in London and traces the real chain of events that took him from Scandinavian gigs to recording with Ray Brown and spending 10 years beside Oscar Peterson.
Ulf describes the moments that quietly changed everything: touring Europe with Ray Brown, landing in CBS Studios in New York, and realising the tape is rolling after a head arrangement that took minutes…not days.
Ulf explains Oscar’s fearless way of keeping the music fresh, sometimes literally dropping the set list and starting something else, and why that kind of pressure makes a band stronger. He breaks down what “the Oscar style” means from the guitar chair: tremendous swing, unstoppable time feel, and a touch that can turn the piano into a roaring big band or a whisper-soft ballad.
We get practical about learning jazz standards. We talk Aebersold play-alongs, building a personal repertoire without trying to memorise the entire ocean, and why rhythm changes sits right behind the blues as a core form every jazz musician should embrace. Ulf names a few favourite standards but chooses to play the 50s Leiber/Stoller/Miller standard ‘Bernie’s Tune’ (accompanied by the ever-present Quartet app), and shares how blues language, Miles Davis-style articulation, and saxophone phrasing all feed his improvisation.
If you’re practising standards, chasing better swing, or just want a vivid jazz podcast filled with real stories, there’s plenty to steal for your own playing.
Subscribe for more conversations like this, share the episode with a musician friend, and leave a review with your favourite standard so we can feature your picks in a future chat.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.

Paul McCartney in the room on your first tune at Ronnie Scott’s would rattle anyone, but pianist and composer Tom Cawley somehow turned moments like that into fuel! Geoff sits down with Tom for a warm, very honest catch-up that traces Tom’s path into the London jazz scene, from a school big band in Lincoln to the Royal Academy of Music, and the sudden realisation of just how much listening, harmony and time feel it takes to become a working musician.
We dig into jazz standards as the core training ground for improvisation, especially for rhythm section players. Tom talks comping language, chord voicings, how to create space, and why context matters more than any single lick. He plays two choruses of Charlie Parker’s 1940s standard ‘Confirmation’ on Geoff’s slightly out-of-tune Yamaha, then unpacks what he’s thinking about when he goes “outside”, plus the lasting influence of Phineas Newborn Jr and a hard-won love for Thelonious Monk’s deliberate weirdness.
The conversation gets personal too: the value of honest feedback, the highs of playing with Peter Gabriel, touring the ‘Scratch My Back’ project, and the kind of confidence that comes from simply enjoying playing on stage. Tom also shares a frightening stretch of hearing loss and tinnitus that made it hard to hear bass frequencies, and how that changed his relationship with nerves, cues and trust on the bandstand.
If you care about jazz piano, improvisation, music education, and the real-life craft behind standards, press play. Subscribe, share this with a musician mate, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the podcast.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.

We're at the Royal Academy of Music in London with the internationally renowned jazz educator, trumpeter and conductor Nick Smart. Geoff talks to Nick about what it takes to run a top jazz course, why small intakes are designed around real working ensembles, and how the best training stays rooted in playing, listening, and learning tunes properly rather than hiding behind theory talk. Jazz standards can feel like a rite of passage Nick says, but they're really something more useful: a shared musical language that lets you walk into a room full of strangers and make honest music fast.
We get specific about repertoire and improvisation: why standards are "non-negotiable", how the Academy builds a year-by-year repertoire list, and why a tune like ‘Autumn Leaves’ still earns its place as a first-step standard. We also dig into what to avoid early on: songs that are too fast, too chromatic, or too cramped to let younger players develop their ear and time feel. If you care about jazz practice techniques, jazz education, and learning standards in a way that actually sticks, this conversation is packed with grounded guidance.
Geoff widens the conversation to talk about Kenny Wheeler: his humanity, his link to the tradition, and the Royal Academy's connection to his archive of handwritten scores. That leads to ‘The Lost Scores’ project, the long research trail through BBC programme records, the pandemic pause, and the eventual release of Kenny Wheeler Legacy: ‘Some Days Are Better:The Lost Scores’ (Greenleaf Music), complete with a Grammy nomination! We also talk nerves, privilege, craft, and what it means to keep doing the work when you spend so much of your life talking about music instead of playing it.
If you enjoyed this, please subscribe, share the episode with a musician friend, and leave us a review so more listeners can find the podcast.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.

Tokyo is the backdrop for a relaxed but deep jazz guitar conversation between host Geoff and Los Angeles-based, world-renowned guitarist and educator Larry Koonse, hours before they play at the Blue Note.
We talk about how a life in jazz actually gets built: early listening at home, finding the music through friends, and learning from mentors who shape your sound for decades. Larry explains why jazz standards sit at the centre of his development, not as museum pieces but as the shared language that lets two musicians meet and connect instantly. He also shares a practical approach to building vocabulary by “owning” small two-bar or four-bar phrases, plus a clear way to escape shape-based guitar playing by making simple melodic decisions your ear can grasp.
Larry traces his earliest influences to a home filled with Bill Evans, Count Basie and Stan Getz, plus the lived example of his guitarist father touring with George Shearing. Like many players, he truly commits to jazz as a teenager, not through a single “lightbulb” moment but through peers, hanging out, and learning the street-language side of music that doesn’t always fit neatly into formal education.
The conversation also maps a working musician’s path: saying yes early, playing banjo in a Dixieland band, ukulele for Hawaiian gigs, restaurant work, and top 40 jobs that build range and resilience. Larry shares formative touring years with Cleo Lane and John Dankworth, including the regret of not reaching out sooner before it was too late, a sobering note about gratitude in a musician’s life. He describes playing with Warne Marsh and occasional gigs with Lee Konitz, where planning is minimal and the lesson is recovery when things go amiss.
The episode then lands on an improvisation of Benny Golson’s 1950s standard ‘Whisper Not’ (accompanied by the Quartet app), chosen for its strong bass motion and baroque feel, plus the workout of minor ii-V-I movement. Add talk about his treasured Roger Borys archtop guitar, the play-along realism of the Quartet app, comping space with pianists, and even favourite chords, and you get a grounded guide to jazz guitar, jazz improvisation, and standards that travel well anywhere.
If you care about jazz guitar, improvisation, ear training, and learning standards in a way that travels, hit play, then subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave us a review.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.

In this episode, Geoff catches up with the super-talented saxophonist, guitarist, composer and arranger Harry Greene - a recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music who is already making a big name for himself on the London jazz scene.
We are in a back room at The Stables Theatre in Milton Keynes and it is abundantly clear that Harry has a serious work ethic and a wide-angle taste. He takes us right back to the moment Pink Floyd’s ‘Money’ hooked him, not just for the groove, but for the fact it featured both sax and guitar, and he decided he wanted to learn both! From there we explore the real building blocks of a career in in jazz: teachers who unlock vocabulary, the early thrill of hearing Charlie Parker language, and the kind of listening that turns curiosity into fluency.
We also get practical about what life looks like after training. Harry talks about living outside London in Suffolk, and why the commute pushes him towards arranging, composing, and music production work alongside gigging. You’ll hear how he balances playing sax and guitar across different bands and genres, including dates with Incognito and the excitement of travel. We zoom in on improvisation with an impromptu performance of  the Leiber/Stoller/Miller 50s standard ‘Bernie’s Tune’ (accompanied by the Quartet app no less), and unpacking the choices, colours, and pathways he reaches for, plus the saxophone voices that shaped him, from Hank Mobley to Dexter Gordon.
If you’ve ever argued about charts versus learning by ear, we go there too. Harry shares why reading and clear charts can save hours, how under-preparation is the fastest route to nerves, and what it took to prep off-book horn parts for a recent pop tour with Olly Murs.
We finish with a quick-fire run of favourites, a love letter to Ronnie Scott’s, and even a favourite chord. Subscribe for more conversations like this, share it with a musician friend, and leave a review with the one track that changed your musical life.
Presenter: Geoff Gascoyne
Series Producer: Paul Sissons
Production Manager: Martin Sissons
The Quartet Jazz Standards Podcast is a UK Music Apps production.