Dom Pipkin & The Ikos

The festival welcomes one of the hottest jazz acts in the UK on Sunday 30th August.

Dom Pipkin & the Ikos roll into sunny Rye a passion for performing real music that takes you back to a time when the great jazz musicians and composers influenced music forever.

A combination of authentic New Orleans music delivered with a modern originality that also pays respect to the songwriters of a bygone era. Expect classy ragtime, honky-tonk rhythms, blues and some soul for good measure.

Dom’s left-hand driven, New Orleans blues piano style is joined by The Ikos’ wailing sax and pristine harmonies. London based piano player Dom Pipkin was originally a member of Errol Linton’s Blues Vibe, before splitting to form his own group Dom and The Iko’s.

His style developed out of a love of the New Orleans piano professors - Professor Longhair, James Booker, Huey ‘Piano’ Smith, Jon Cleary, as well as from a whole host of jazz and blues influences, such as Errol Garner and Otis Spann.

His solo set (most famously booked privately by the late Stanley Kubrik) shows his classical and sometimes rhapsodic influences, married with a tough approach to the blues and driving left hand rhythms.

The band The Iko’s takes the New Orleans influence and fleshes it out with drums, harmonies, wailing sax etc, and has been resident at Ronnie Scott’s London, and around the RnB club scene, where it’s reputation as a top level live act is second to none.

Born in Chester, England, but growing up in the Netherlands, Dom learned ‘official’ piano as a kid and started fooling around with blues and jazz aged about 12, copying records from the local music library, and forming his first band at the same time.

A period of cutting his teeth around the blues scene followed, leading to the Errol Linton gig, with whom he opened up for The Blind Boys of Alabama, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and Dr. John.

He also became Morcheeba’s keyboard player around this time, recording on their influential Big Calm album; and pursued various beat-driven projects around the city whilst picking up another blues driven musical ‘day’ job with tribute band The Rollin’ Stoned.

He had a long touring stint with London’s The Fallen Heroes too, where he met Iko’s saxophone genius Tony Rico.

With a huge amount of radio, TV and touring work under his belt, notable projects have included leading Pauline Blacks Blue Jazz Trio, recording with Ray Davies and Cornershop, backing Talking Heads’ David Byrne and junglist Shy FX, accompanist to singers Trudi Kerr and Martina Topley-Bird, and piano teacher to our own Jonathan Ross. He’s appeared on BBC Radio 2 and in concert with Guy Barker.

Through his regular piano solo slot at the legendary Black Gardenia club in Soho he became friends with Paloma Faith, with whom he records and tours all over the world as part of her regular band.

Asked to join The Jim Jones Revue and Hey Negrita for his boogie skills, rocking solo piano sets at speakeasies such as London’s Nightjar and Ronnie Scott’s, or providing funked out and experimental keys with bandleaders Bukky Leo, Roy Pfeffer, Ramon Goose, Kevin Davy or James Evans around town, Dom Pipkin always brings that bit of New Orleans/blues/grit to any musical situation.

”…a highly impressive pianist … Fans of Diz Watson, Jon Cleary and Dr John, as well as their late predecessors, should keep an eye out for this band.” Blues In Britain magazine

“Dom Pipkin flails the organ to within a millimetre of Jimmy Smth and just dig that almighty piano.” Straight No Chaser magazine (Max Reinhardt)

“A great piano player” Andy Kershaw

“A genius” James Bond composer, David Arnold

“I can’t hold a candle to this guy. He’s a great piano player” Jamie Cullum, live on Radio 2

“You’ve been quite the revelation!” Paul Jones (Manfred Mann, The Blues Band), BBC Radio 2

“Love your piano playing” Paul Weller