BILL Laurance, keyboard player with popular American jazz fusion troupe Snarky Puppy, plays a concert with his own band at the 02 ABC in Glasgow on Wednesday, March 1. London-based Laurance met Snarky Puppy powerhouse, bass guitarist Mike League, through a mutual friend who had, like Laurance, studied at Leeds Music School and had also spent time at the University of North Texas, where Snarky Puppy formed. After playing some gigs with League, Laurance was invited to join Snarky Puppy and has gone on to appear on the band’s records including Something, which featured soul singing star Lalath Hathaway and won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance in 2014. Away from his touring and recording commitments with the American band, Laurance has worked with artists including electronic band Morcheeba and rapper-singer Miss Dynamite and last year he released his third studio album, Aftersun followed by a CD and DVD set, Live at Union Chapel.

billlaurance.com

NASHVILLE-based singing duo Brigitte Demeyer & Will Kimbrough play Glasgow’s Foxstar Club at the Argyll Hotel on Friday, March 24, the sole Scottish date on a UK tour to mark the release of their debut album, Mockingbird Soul. Californian Demeyer, pictured, is a late starter who wrote her first song in her twenties before coming to the attention of Nashville writer and producer Buddy Miller and Alabama-born Kimbrough, a former Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year, has toured with Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris and Jimmy Buffett. Mockingbird Soul is the product of six years working together and is inspired by blues, gospel, early jazz, country music, bluegrass, folk and early rock ’n’ roll.

brigittedemeyer.com

EDINBURGH'S Playtime jazz sessions have announced their next three-week programme. Guitarist Kevin Mackenzie joins Playtime regulars Martin Kershaw (saxophones), Mario Caribe (bass) and Tom Bancroft (drums) to celebrate the music of the great saxophonist John Coltrane on Thursday. London-based saxophonist and Whirlwind Recordings artist Rachael Cohen makes her first Playtime appearance on Thursday, March 9 and former Young Scottish Jazz Musician of the Year and winner of the Peter Whittingham Jazz Prize with Glasgow quartet Square One, pianist Peter Johnstone joins the Playtime team to pay homage to Herbie Hancock on Thursday, March 23. The Playtime sessions run fortnightly through the year at the Outhouse Bar in Broughton Street Lane and the music begins at 8:00pm.

playtime-music.com