Press release: Tommy Smith and Gwilym Simcock release concert recording

© Derek Clark

Saxophonist Tommy Smith and pianist Gwilym Simcock release their first recording together, Eternal Light on Friday 3 October 2025 exclusively via Bandcamp.

A live album recorded direct to 2-track at The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh, 11 September 2025, Eternal Light captures Smith and Simcock in concert at Scotland’s flagship jazz venue. It features seven original compositions – two new works by Simcock, Weathered and Old Husbands’ Tale, alongside five of Smith’s recent compositions: Eternal Light, Land Between the Rivers, Body or Soul, Harlequin, and El Niño.

The music highlights the deep rapport between two of Europe’s most distinctive voices in contemporary jazz, weaving lyrical interplay, improvisational risk, and a profound sense of storytelling.

Smith has enjoyed an international career spanning collaborations with Gary Burton, Chick Corea, John Scofield, and Arild Andersen. Simcock, one of the most versatile pianists of his generation, has built an international reputation through collaborations with Pat Metheny, Bill Bruford, and the Impossible Gentlemen. Their duo partnership has been described as “a conversation that can go anywhere — from whisper to roar, from abstraction to melody” and Eternal Light reflects the pair’s commitment to risk-taking and reinvention, presenting a body of work that is both grounded and exploratory.

“The duo is the most intimate and exposed of formats,” says Smith. “There is nowhere to hide, although the solo saxophone is even more transparent, but that is also where the beauty lies. The saxophone and piano have such complementary voices. The piano offers harmony, rhythm, and colour, while the saxophone can be a pure line, like a singer.”

Smith and Simcock met while performing with different groups at festivals and it was Smith’s long-time duo partner, the late Brian Kellock who suggested that Smith and Simcock would work well together.

“It felt natural right from the start,” says Smith. “It was as if we were already speaking the same musical language. Over time, we discovered that we share a similar appetite for risk and lyricism, and the duo developed organically. It has become one of the most rewarding partnerships of my career.”

The album is being supported by concerts at Watermill Jazz in Dorking on Tuesday 14 October and the Concorde Club in Eastleigh, near Southampton, on Wednesday 15 October.