Welcome

Welcome to the Mike Kemp Music website where you can find out about Mike Kemp and his involvement with exciting projects.

At the first live jazz he ever attended when he was fourteen years old, Mike decided to take up piano on hearing Billy Kyle with Louis Armstrong’s All Stars.

Probably best known these days for having led his piano, double bass and drums trio, he started learning his craft in home town Coventry jazz clubs and dance bands before travelling around France, Germany, Spain and Morocco to play for the American military firstly with The Doug Richford Quartet.

Making his first BBC radio broadcast in 1967 with the Trevor Jones Jazzmen, Mike went on to The MillionAirs Big Band, backing cabaret aboard QE2, Bob Kerr’s Whoopee Band, Pete Allen’s Jazz Band and the Benny Green Quartet. He has played with the bands of Alan Elsdon, Steve Lane, Brian White, Alan Gresty, Terry Lightfoot and The Pasadena Roof Orchestra. His trio played to great acclaim at the Culture Centre in Chicago.

Some of the bands Mike has played with include:

Dud Clewes Jazz Orchestra, Trevor Jones Jazzmen, 5-Way Adapter, Brian Newton Big Band, Don Mather Quartet, Harlem, Silver Sword Trio, Herman Wolfe Quintet, Doug Richford Quartet, Tony McCane Quartet, Soul System, Leo Sikkenga Band, Toll House House Trio, Trevor Horne & the Hornets, MillionAirs Big Band, Dennis Terrenzio Orchestra, Sonny Rose Orchestra, Derek Butterworth Orchestra, Red Sun, Charlie Galbraith Band,Brian Williams Big Band, Sheraton Hotel Quartet, Jimmy Graham Band, Bob Kerr Whoopee Band, Pete Allen Jazz Band, Rio Roberts Trio, The Hamblin Big Band, Mardi Gras Jazz Band, Liz Fletcher, Bruce Turner Quartet, Bob Caldwell Trio, Don Mather Big Band, Pete Allen Jazz Band, Clinton Ford, Yvonne Evans, Tad Newton’s Jazz Friends, Elizabeth May, Benny Green Quartet, Maxine Daniels, Tim Phillips Jumping Jazzmen, Alan Elsdon Jazz Band, Katherine Gang, Perdido Street Jazz Band, Jeremy Huggett’s Band Of Gold, Brian White Jazz Band, Muggsy Remembered, Geoff Cole Five, Emile Martin’s Fallen Heroes, Spike Robinson, Molly Toff & The Cocktails, Terry Lightfoot Jazz Band, Steve Lane & the Red Hot Peppers, Doctor Teeth Big Band, Broadway Melodists, Charles Sheinman Trio, Sticky Wicket Swing Band, Some Like It Hot, Andy Derrick Jazz Quartet, Chez Chesterman Band, Uncle Eric’s Beer Parlour Jivers, Broadway NiteLites, Kinda Blue, Pasadena Roof Orchestra, Lounge Lizards, The Geoff Tooley Combo, Red Alert, Tony Carter Quartet, Slide By Slide, Southampton All-Stars Big Band, Musessence, Raynes Park Jazz All Stars, Paul Roberts Jazz Band, Buzz Hughes’ All That Jazz, The Cheshire Cats, The Suzanne Mott Quartet, The Neal Astbury Show, The Mellowtones, Tongue and Groove Big Band, Richard Exall’s Shooting Stars of Jazz, Amy Roberts