Four years ago Observer restaurant critic, writer and broadcaster Jay Rayner came to 5×15 to talk about his passion for playing jazz piano. He had been playing for 35 years, was still distinctly mediocre but loved it. ‘We rarely talk about the things we love but are not very good at,’ he said. That night triggered a series of events, which led to an awful lot of practicing, a bunch of gigs and even a live session on BBC Radio 3.
On March 4th, Jay returns to 5×15 with his jazz trio to explain what happened that night, and to examine the issue he faced: how does the amateur go about taking themselves seriously? How do we manage the process of going from being mediocre to acknowledging that a new skill has been acquired? With the bassist Robert Rickenberg and saxophonist Dave Lewis.