The Jazz Police - Jarrod Coombes

I started singing at the age of eight in the school choir, which I did till the age of twelve.  I was always interested in rock n roll since I used to hear early Elvis on the way to the seaside on family holidays as a kid.  I was kicked out of music at secondary school after two years, so no musical training was obtained.

Having some older friends, I was fortunate enough to go to London on a regular basis to small clubs and hear obscure rock n roll which caught my imagination.  After seeing someone playing the double bass, that was the ultimate challenge, an instrument bigger than me: that was it.

I found out that the school had a double bass from the defunct school band.  I managed to persuade the teacher to let me clean it up and borrow it at weekends.  Many hours and blisters later I was on the road of no return, destined to play music forever.  After I was given a cassette with Oscar Peterson and another with Django Reinhardt, I was definitely hooked on swinging jazz.  

At the age of sixteen I met guitarist Jim and teamed up with Jim's cousin to form the Rocking Trio.  A year later, with some live experience, we then became The Keytones, which ran for about nine years.  I then joined Ronnie Scott's Rejects, a jazzier outfit, for six years and the two groups sort of joined into Hullabaloo.

I have been lucky enough to play with various bands and recording projects such as a personally commissioned video for Sir Paul McCartney, have played double bass on Morcheeba's first album and for the TV show "They Think Its All Over".  More recent projects have included a commission to produce music for film director Ken Russell.  No matter what the gig is, small, large or ignored, I will always love to sing, play and entertain.  Kind Regards, Jarrod.