A warm welcome back to Adam Glasser at Googlies. Adam Glasser was born in Cambridge. The family moved to Johannesburg, and he spent his childhood and teens there. His father, the South African composer and music director Stanley ‘Spike’ Glasser, steered him towards music and handed him his first harmonica at seventeen. Adam left it alone for a decade. He turned to the piano instead and took what work he could find: small gigs, cruise ships. Ask what shaped him and two names come first: the saxophonist Bra Sello, and a band called The Drive. Behind them sits the township sound of the 1970s, pop-jazz played loud. Rachabane’s ‘Tegeni’ and ‘Mafuta’. Tete Mbambisa’s ‘Stay Cool’. The sax jive of Thomas Phale and David Thekwane. He came back to England in the 1970s to study, took a BA (Hons) in European Literature, then went to Paris for jazz piano. The stay was short. Back in London he freelanced, hotels, restaurants, private functions, while he sharpened his playing and put together a trio and a quartet. The eighties went well. He worked with the South African alto saxophonist Dudu Pukwana, whose album Zila ’86 carried Glasser’s tune ‘August One’, and he played festivals in Spain, Italy and Belgium. The harmonica came back to him at sea. He met a player on a Caribbean cruise-ship gig and asked for lessons. That was the spark. He taught himself from there, chasing a sound he could fold into his jazz, and he worked out how to play piano and harmonica at the same time. In 2006 Adam Glasser produced Inyembezi, the comeback record by the Manhattan Brothers. South Africa let the release slip by. The work behind it had taken years: Glasser put Joe Mogotsi’s singers back on London stages, toured them abroad, and saw them home to South Africa once apartheid had ended. A harmonica is a rarer sight on a jazz stage than a saxophone, so come and hear what Adam does with it. An optional 2-course supper (except Big Band Sundays) is available but must be booked, vegetarians & others with dietary requirements will be accommodated if requested when reserving. Reservations are required for all events. Entry: members £12.00 non-members and guests £15.00 There is a 50% concession for students for all events. We do not have the facility to accept payment for entry or meals by credit or debit cards although we do at the bar.