NICO WIDDOWSON
NICO WIDDOWSON
@trashcityrecords_
@nicowiddowson
nicowiddowson@gmail.com
trashcityrecords1@gmail.com
Nico Widdowson is an award winning pianist whose original music mixes the noisy emotional energy of the avant-garde with an appetite for old swinging styles.
★★★★
The Times
His trio features bass player Joe MacLaren (Finn Carter, Tedd Maul, Cool Quiet), and a shared drumming chair between Jordan Hadfield (Wulu, Yazmin Lacey, Jungle, Oska T, Maddy Coombs) and Charlie Hutchinson (Pyjaen). They have a philosophy in the band: to care a little less about making mistakes and a little more about being themselves, as well as the deep importance of both earnestness and comedy in music. Their music embraces imperfection, pairing ugliness and beauty side by side, so they become one and the same.
‘On Fools and Clowns’ is out now on Trash City Records.
Award-winning UK pianist Nico Widdowson channels the humour, frustration and humanity of life as a young musician on On Fools and Clowns, an ambitious debut that places stride piano, free improvisation and deeply personal storytelling side by side. 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.
The result is an album that embraces contradiction. Humour sits alongside seriousness. Beauty collides with ugliness. Moments of tenderness are followed by bursts of chaos. A tune inspired by a mould-ridden rental house shares space with a heartfelt dedication to family; a celebration of artistic community sits alongside reflections on financial pressure and creative self-doubt.
Last year Nico won the Tina May Jazz Award for young Jazz Musician of the Year, and through Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band they won the Peter Whittingham award and were nominated for the Innovation Award at the Jazz FM awards.
★★★★
The Times
“It’s fantastic to hear young British pianists drawing inspiration from such early jazz, even if it probably won’t pay the rent.”
‘one of the most staggeringly beautiful and emotional compositions I've ever heard.’
- Hilary Seabrook (Harmonious World)
“Widdowson knows the rules. He just seems to enjoy finding out what happens when he breaks a few.”
- Jazz Views
“Widdowson reminds us of something fundamental: jazz can be angular, tousled, devilishly funny, and utterly human.”
- Jazzda (PL)
Selection of other recent albums Nico has been a part of:
The New Atomic (2026) and Live at Lancaster Jazz Festival (2024) - Ferg’s Imaginary Big Band
MABGATE (2023) - MABGATE
¡Blamo! (2022) - Fergus Quill Trio