12/10/2026
🔦 Alumni Spotlight: Nico Widdowson 🔦
London-based pianist, composer and Leeds Conservatoire graduate Nico Widdowson released his debut album On Fools and Clowns (Trash City Records) on 18 September. Written after his move from Leeds to London, the record captures a period of uncertainty and transition, balancing joy, anger, absurdity and affection in music that is as playful as it is sincere.
Described as a “love letter to improvised music and its history”, the album sees Nico tracing a lineage from stride pioneer Willie "The Lion" Smith through Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Sun Ra and Jaki Byard.
Alongside Nico, the trio features bassist Joe MacLaren (Finn Carter, Tedd Maul, Cool Quiet) and a shared drum chair between Jordan Hadfield (Wulu, Yazmin Lacey, Jungle, Oska T, Maddy Coombs) and Charlie Hutchinson (Pyjaen). The group’s risk-taking attitude to improvisation was forged through regular performances in Soho, where new material was tested and reshaped in front of audiences long before entering the studio. The result is an album rooted in jazz tradition, shaped by contemporary realities, and driven by a belief that music can be funny, vulnerable, messy and deeply human all at once.
Nico was the winner of the 2025 Tina May Jazz Award and a member of the Peter Whittingham Award-winning Ferg's Imaginary Big Band, and has quickly established himself as one of the most distinctive young pianists on the UK scene. He has also recorded as part of the acclaimed Fergus Quill Trio, been featured on BBC Radio 6, BBC Radio 2, Jazz FM and Worldwide FM, and has been invited to play at festivals including We Out Here, Love Supreme, Manchester Jazz, EFG London Jazz Festival and Leeds Jazz Festival.
