John Turville has developed a reputation as ‘one of the leading jazz pianists of his generation’ (Ian Mann). After studies at Caius College, Cambridge (where he was a choral scholar) and the Guildhall, he quickly established himself as a performer and composer on the European scene. John has recorded three albums as a leader which have won multiple awards including MOJO’s #3 Jazz Album of the Year, and ‘Best Album’ in the Parliamentary Awards 2011, the 2009 PRS Promoter’s Choice Award. John was also awarded the ‘Best Instrumentalist' prize in the inaugural 2010 London Jazz Awards. More recently, John completed a 20-date Arts Council Tour with his quintet around the UK in 2019, touring his album ‘Head First’. This was the only jazz event featured in The Guardian’s weekly guide, and received four-star reviews in The Guardian, Jazzwise, BBC Music Magazine and regular radio play on Radio 3 and Jazz FM.

John is also an in-demand sideman, regularly touring Europe and Asia. He has recorded over 30 albums with many established jazz and tango artists, including Tim Garland, the Yuri Goloubev Trio, Alan Barnes, the BBC Singers, Thomas Gould, Will Todd, Transtango, the London Tango Orchestra, El Ultimo Tango, the Matt Ridley Quartet and many others.

John has recently performed with a variety of jazz and tango ensembles at Kings Place, Musig im Pflgidach (Muri), Jazz Nod Odra festival (Wroclaw, Poland), the Salisbury and Bath International Festivals, Vamos Festival (Newcastle), Festival Musicos do Mundo (Sines, Portugal), the Katara European Jazz Festival (Doha, Qatar), Southern Soul festival (Montenegro), the Leipzig Tango Festival, and the Tango Para Musicos symposiums in Dresden and Buenos Aires.

John co-runs the E17 jazz collective and jazz festival, as well as conducting and composing for the 13-piece E17 Large Ensemble, his tango quintet ‘Almagro Ensemble’ and the co-led sextet ‘Solstice’, who’s debut album ‘Alimentation’ was released in 2017, also accompanied by a 20-date Arts Council tour. Their second album is due for release in 2021 on the Ubuntu label.

John is an experienced composer for strings, voices, jazz and tango ensembles, and was recently commissioned to write a new work for his tango quintet with the contemporary tango dancer Richard Manuel. John has also been commissioned to arrange a number of crossover works, including Schumann’s Liederkreis and the Debussy Preludes for jazz ensemble, voices and multiple pianos. John is also a passionate educator; in addition to his work at Yehudi Menuhin he also teaches at Birmingham Conservatoire, Royal Holloway, and the Purcell School.

John is a regular coach on masterclasses in Germany (Saarwellingen), a visiting professor at the Concertato Masterclass (Anacapri) and has been on the panel for a number of awards, including the PRS ‘Help Musicians UK’ fund and the Worshipful Company of Musicians finals. John is also the external adjudicator in jazz piano at Trinity Laban.