The Rich Meehan Trio
JdP Music Room, St Hilda’s College, Oxford
Thursday 19 February 2026

Richard Meehan, Piano and Composition
Paul Glover, Drums and Percussion
Adam Cole,  Double Bass

Pianist composer Richard Meehan straddles several genres. Currently he’s doing a Masters in composition and his piece for clarinet and piano, ‘Echo’ had been performed during the JdP’s third annual New Music Weekend in January. Also he plays sackbut in The Bate Collective, the Music Faculty’s period instrument ensemble.

He’s released one E.P with his jazz trio, ‘Suite Antique’ (2022) that’s described on his website as a “five-movement work (that) fuses a classical sensibility with a modern jazz style and notes of contemporary electronica.“ This sentence turned out to be a useful description of this lunch-time concert, except that in some numbers electronica figured more prominently than just a few notes and also pre-recorded voice/ vocals were fed-in.

The trio played for 30 to 40 minutes which is the allotted time span of the JdP’s lunchtime series which showcases some of the most talented student musicians from across the university. They didn’t play any of the numbers from the E.P. Instead the set consisted of five of Meehan’ s other compositions plus two covers.

In the opener, ‘Pavane for a Dead Princess’, the lyricism of Ravel’s famous composition was successfully merged with underlying fuzz and hum of electronica which developed into a sort of quasi vocal chorus. The electronica then faded out leaving the space entirely to powerful ensemble playing and then came back in and the final sound was of a slowly whirling electronic pulse.

The next number, ‘Homage à = Kardos (After Ravel)’, featured the trio playing variations over a pre-recorded wordless vocal phrase, phonetically it was something like “Yup Up Bayeh”. This worked really well and wasn’t at all abstract. The number brimmed with visceral energy and an earworm of a tune, and ended with attractive piano glissandi that evoked peeling bells.

Meehan told us tongue firmly in cheek, that his expectation for ‘She Dreams of Learning to Fly’ was “world domination”. It was an attractive fusion of contemporary jazz and pop with a pre-recorded voice, and featured a lovely passage with Meehan’s piano accompanied only by a stripped down sound from the drums.

For their instrumental version of Radiohead’s song ‘15 Step’ the trio had received help with what Meehan called “the sound design” from drummer/percussionist Karl Vanden Bossche who has played for Stevie Winwood and Nigel Kennedy among many others. It was a feature for the impressive Paul Glover who used the full drum kit in contrast to the minimalism of the previous number, and also for the ability of the trio to play in a style which reflects the legacy of the much missed E.S.T.

‘Tracing the Streets of an Unknown Town’ was introspective yet remained very accessible. The final two numbers which were run together ‘Dark Lullaby of New Orleans’ and ‘Penny for a Guy’ included a pre- recorded poem by Mike Gary. This was most abstract music in what was a very accessible set, with etherial ghostly moments creating an air of mystery.

Throughout the set moments of out and out soloing were few and brief. High quality ensemble playing was the order of the day led by Meehan’s refined and powerful pianism. It would be misleading to describe the contributions of Paul Glover on drums and Adam Cole on double bass as just supporting. Both were excellent and as much at the heart of the trio’s collective dense and rich ensemble sound as Meehan. The 21 year old Adam Cole deserves an added round of applause as he was in as a substitute though if you hadn’t been told you wouldn’t have known it.

Meehan impressed not just with his pianism but as a composer-arranger whose use of electronica enhanced rather than jarred, and who can write a good melody. In Glover and Cole he had two colleagues who were right alongside him when it came to getting his music across in an accessible way.

I was left with a very positive impression of The Rich Meehan Trio from what had been an absorbing 35 minutes of inventive jazz and other influences that far exceeded my expectations. My understanding is that some or all of the numbers played will be on a forthcoming album (TBC).

For updates about this and to catch up with The Rich Meehan Trio’s E.P, Suite Antique’, please visit: https://www.richmeehantrio.co.uk/

Postscript.
Three days later the same musicians lead by drummer Paul Glover played as The Mulberry Earls at Wallingford’s Winter Blues and Jazz Festival where they performed a great set of jazz standards e.g. St Thomas (Sonny Rollins)

Rich Meehan Trio Set List;
Pavane for a Dead Infanta (Ravel)
Homage à = Kardos (After Ravel)
She Dreams of Learning to Fly
15 Step (Radiohead)
Tracing the Streets of an Unknown Town
Dark Lullaby of New Orleans
Penny fir a Guy or The Chaconne of Doom

COLIN MAY