ONE of themajor cogs in the hit-making machine that is Adele is back to his day job in Birmingham next week.
Neil Cowley is currently themost listened to pianist on the planet due to his collaborations with Adele on both her huge global chart-topping albums 19 and 21.
However, his day job is with his band the Neil Cowley Trio who released their latest albumin February tomass critical acclaim.
TheMail caught up with Cowley as he set off on an eight-date tour of the UK and first asked himwhether he could believe what had happened to Adele over the last 12months.
He said: “It’s incredible—I was right there at the beginning of the recording process of 19.
“The intro to Hometown Glory (Adele’s first single) was justme doing the soundcheck and they said ‘that’s fine we’ll use that’.We are quick workers when we get together.
“She has an amazing voice but I did not think for aminute it would get this big for her. I’mjust very humbled to be a part of it and it is something to be extremely proud of.”
It is not just Adele with whomCowley has been working with over the past year with somemajor rising stars also calling on himto sprinkle hismagic on their debut albums.
These included Brits Critic Choice winner and chart-topper Emeli Sande and BBC Sound of 2012Michael Kiwanuka.
“Michael Kiwanuka is very, very talented and has a beautiful voice beyond his years so it was a pleasure to work with him.
“It was a bitmore bitty with Emeli Sande in terms with howmuch I did but I did do the piano on Next ToMe. I seemed to have cornered themarket in the pounding piano sound.
“I also worked with Birdy and she is a wonderful talent as well. I’mlucky to have a good relationship with producers and obviously seeing these artists achieving success is very rewarding.”
The unique selling point of Neil Cowley Trio is that theirmusic is purely instrumental but Cowley says that doesn’t make it any less emotional ormoving as music.
He said: “What we’re doing is not going to be the biggest selling albumof all time but what we do is heartfelt and people do warmtowards it and tend to become lifelong fans.
“It is a hard ask for people to get on board withmusic with no vocals but it is what we love and what we are passionate about.” Cowley added that the live tour will see themusic on record truly ‘come alive’.
He said: “We are really excited about the live shows. People should expect a lot of the new record and asmuch emotion as we can pack in and plenty of energy on our part hopefully above and beyond what you can expect fromother bands.”
Neil Cowley Trio play BirminghamCBSO Centre on Friday, April 13. See the venue for details.
