Stephen Claytî„€
BASS
Stephen is from the North of England and started playing clarinet at the age of 12, playing in county youth orchestras and bands. At the age of 18 he switched to playing electric bass and for the next 25 years played semi-pro in a piano, bass & drums trio throughout the North of England. This work involved playing dinner dances, hotel residencies and concerts. He also played in cabaret bands for several years including some occasional theatre work
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Since moving to the Cotswolds in the mid-nineties, Stephen has played in rock and blues bands and more recently played bass in several Swing Bands in Cheltenham. His musical interests are wide and varied, from the Swing Era ... through Prog Rock ... to Jazz & Blues. He is also an accomplished composer and has written musical scores for both theatre productions and personal performances
Alan Dwight
PIANO
Alan has taught music in Gloucestershire Secondary Schools for over 30 years, which has included arranging and organising a multitude of concerts and other events, leading numerous choirs and instrumental groups, as well as directing the production of many stage musicals including The Wizard of Oz, Oklahoma, My Fair Lady, The Boyfriend, Bugsy Malone and Oliver
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Outside of education he has worked with local Amateur Dramatic groups as a rehearsal and performance pianist, playing in a variety of venues across the county. As well as playing in Peach Island Jazz, he presently also plays keys for a Cheltenham-based Big Band and a party band that provides Rock covers for private functions, weddings and local festivals
Leah Maggs-Brooke
DRUMS
Since learning to play the drums at the age of 10, Leah has played in various venues. She started the rock life young when father got her a paid gig at a local pub whilst at the ripe old age of 14. She's played percussion in school musicals, brass bands and wind orchestras and has performed in jazz bands across the globe. Leah has also accompanied other musicians on the guitar, piano and ukulele but stays true to her drumming roots
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Leah is active in the Gloucestershire music scene, and continues to perform at open mic nights in pubs with her pop and rock band Sophie & The Sticks. She also composes and arranges music having had classics such as ELO's 'Mr Blue Sky' and Psy's 'Gangnam Style' performed by the Edinburgh University Brass Band
Karen Wray
SAX
It is now many decades since Karen began training as a classical pianist from the age of 5, winning a music scholarship and several competitions along the way. Her formal musical education progressed as she took up the cello as a second instrument, and later the clarinet
However the joy in Karen's life has always come from playing the saxophone! At age 12, the chance arose to lead the school sax quartet on soprano; and later that year, she joined GYJO on tenor, playing professional level big band charts. At this point Karen knew that jazz was at the heart of her musical style and sax became her main focus. In recent years, she played in other local big bands: The Metz, CAJE ... where she met the other members of Peach Island ... and has recently joined Glevum Big Band. Karen is currently enjoying the early retirement needed to make time for playing every day, as she also plays jazz clarinet in The Diminished 7 ‘trad jazz’ band, and soprano sax in Splanky saxophone quartet
Her love of learning has never ended, and in 2018 she enrolled at Jazz School UK to study jazz language, theory and performance. Each month she attends workshops lead by some of the UK’s finest jazz musicians, including Nikki Iles, Dave O'Higgins and Alan Barnes to name but a few