Behind the Music: Interview with Eddie Gripper and Elijah Jeffery

‘It’s been a joy to discover the middle-ground of both of our individual sounds.’ 

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Just ahead of them performing at Steamin’ Jazz Club earlier this week, I chatted to pianist Eddie Gripper and vocalist/lyricist Elijah Jeffery about their newest collaboration project, the truncated timescale of the accompanying album’s creation, and what else lies ahead for them in 2026.

Hi guys, thanks for taking the time to chat. Let’s jump straight into it by discovering how your approaches to jazz music differ?
Elijah: Funnily enough, I think our approaches are remarkably similar. The core of our focus as musicians is on telling great stories, which informs everything we do. I personally fell in love with jazz because of the malleable nature of the music. Being able to push and pull tunes around to convey different meaning is a great thrill for me, and something I always look for in other musicians’ approach to jazz. It’s a big part of the reason I enjoy working with Eddie so much.

What made now the right time to produce an album and tour together?
We’ve known each other and been working together for several years now, cutting our teeth playing covers gigs in the back of pubs. It was on the way to these gigs in the car that we discovered we have a very similar taste in music! We eventually decided that it would be an interesting experiment to put our heads together and come up with something new, and this finally happened in Spring 2024.

Were there any big surprises when you first started working together?
Elijah: Not really! When we began writing the album, Eddie and I had played together long enough that we had a very natural working relationship when it came to writing songs. 

The album – for both of you – appears to sonically contrast with your previous releases. What did this project teach you about your own musicality?
Eddie: This project for me has been an interesting experiment in creativity and limitations. The turnaround time for this record was very tight and it proved that creatively can flourish even under a strict schedule. One can have an image of the artist as a fuzzy-headed creative grabbing a pen and pencil when the moment strikes, but I’ve learnt in our case that the exact opposite can be true.

Elijah: Historically, I have found co-writing quite difficult, as I tend to be quite possessive about my own ideas in the writing room. Learning how to compromise in order to achieve a common goal was a big learning process for me as part of this album, and one that I’m very grateful for! It’s been a joy to discover the middle-ground of both of our individual sounds so naturally. 

‘I believe accompanying a vocalist requires an entirely different skill-set to accompanying other frontline instruments.’ – Elijah Jeffery

I’ve read that the album process was quite quick. How did this affect the compositional process of individual tracks and musical arc of the release as a whole?
We gave ourselves 8 weeks to write and record the album, meeting about twice a week – not long at all! On average, we had just a few hours to complete each song, so trusting our instincts was paramount. A key decision we made at the beginning of the process was to come up with a strong idea for each song before writing. Sometimes this was a lyrical theme, other times a decision about genre or texture.

We had a few scraps of ideas that were on the cutting room floor from other projects, but most of the album was written from scratch. The time restriction also meant we were often bolting multiple ideas together in order to come up with full songs as quickly as possible. Tracks like ‘Swan Song’ and ‘Love is a Game’ are key examples of this, displaying a stream-of-consciousness writing style which contrasts starkly to the more traditional song structures of ‘Shifting Seasons’ or ‘Close Your Eyes’.

To what extent did your experiences as solo musicians influence this collaboration?
Eddie: We both have experience in leading bands and writing for our own projects, so we came into this collaboration with a fairly equal level of experience and confidence in our own creative processes. This, as well as our mutual trust of each other’s instincts, meant we were able to move through the sessions without too much ‘writer’s block’!

Elijah: As a performer I’m always at my most comfortable when I’m able to directly connect with an audience in order to tell a story. This was always at the back of my mind during the writing process, and influenced a lot of the choices we made about lyrics and song form; I was always imagining how each story would be told live. 

So what key things do you look for in the musicians you collaborate with on your individual projects?
Eddie: In my trio I like to work with musicians who bring their own ideas to the music. Writing the song is only half the compositional process – the musicians I like to work with often have ideas about my music that are better than what I originally planned!

Elijah: For me, the most important characteristic of a great musician is an ability to listen deeply and respond to what’s happening around them. I’m also especially conscious of which musicians are able to play in a way that is empathetic to a vocalist, which I believe is an entirely different skill-set to accompanying other frontline instruments. 

Turning to performing, your Winter Tour is nearing its end. What have been some of the standout moments?
We’ve been so lucky to embark on two UK tours with this album, which have both been full of their own adventures. Some standout moments definitely include a raucous musical lock-in at the venue we played in Lyme Regis, jumping in the (surprisingly cold!) marina after our gig in Fishguard, and playing sold-out shows in each of our hometowns.

How do you think you will feel once the tour has ended?
Eddie: By the time we finish this tour, we will have been working on this project for almost two years. Mainly due to all of the work that goes on behind closed doors, I think my attention will turn to the future. We’ve definitely considered writing some more music or perhaps doing a full tour of the album with a band, but I think we’re both looking forward to some well-deserved R&R first!

Elijah: These two tours have been my first under my own name, so I feel immensely proud and very grateful for everyone who has supported us along the way. We’ve been made to feel so welcome wherever we’ve played.

While you are mostly a duo, is there anyone else involved in your live sound?
Most of our shows have been as a duo like the record, but there have been a few exceptions where we’ve played tour shows with a band. Our gig at Steamin’ in Cheltenham will be one of them, and we’re bringing the A-Team! We’ve been working with Nick Kacal (double bass) and Patrick Barrett-Donlon (drums) for a long time, and have loved developing a group understanding and shared vocabulary when we play together. The music is always at its most comfortable with these guys on the stage.

Are there any pre – performance rituals?
Elijah: It’s a familiar part of the touring experience to arrive at gigs with only a short amount of time to spare before we play, so there often isn’t chance for a full pre-show routine. Having said this, I definitely have some favourite vocal warm-ups which I’m sure would look and sound very strange to most people!

‘The musicians I like to work with often have ideas about my music that are better than what I originally planned!’ – Eddie Gripper

Who else in your local jazz scene do you feel people should know about?
Ursula Harrison and Sylvie Noble are a great double bass and voice duo, and good friends of ours. They have some really exciting stuff coming up this year, so keep an eye out!

What place do independent jazz venues have in the wider development of the genre?
Eddie: Independent venues are really the only place that we can play jazz regularly and promote new music and projects. Jazz is not a commercial music; we don’t play stadiums, we rarely play theatres, and festivals seem harder and harder to get into nowadays. Playing independent grassroots venues is our bread and butter, and the most direct way to connect with our audience.

Elijah: The presence of independent grassroots venues around the country is absolutely vital for the music industry. In our own personal case, our synergy and sound as a duo has only been developed because of the amount of shows that we have been able to play in independent venues across the UK. None of this would have been possible without them.

And finally, what do you both have in store for the rest of 2026?
Eddie: I’ve got a new trio album bubbling away. The first single was released last week and the album itself will be released on the 24th of April. The music from this new album was written during an 8000km hitchhiking trip I took across North America in 2022. Each piece is a snapshot in time; a portrait of a person or landscape. The trio and I will be touring the album across the UK in May, June and July, with 35 dates confirmed so far. Keep your eyes peeled!

Elijah: I’m looking forward to taking good time to think about what direction I’d like to go in as an artist after this project – something which can feel a little hard to admit in this fast-paced world.I definitely have some new solo material on the horizon, and some lovely band shows lined up for the rest of the year. I’m also looking forward to re-engaging in my work as an actor, which has taken a backseat recently while I’ve focussed on my music. Whatever I get up to, it’ll definitely be a good mix of all-sorts!

Thanks Eddie Gripper and Elijah Jeffery for chatting with Listen to Discover