ONE of the world’s best-known gypsy jazz acts is preparing to perform in Wharfedale.

The Robin Nolan Trio will take the stage at Otley Courthouse at 8pm on Friday, May 17.

Lauded by musical giants such as Willie Nelson, Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and the late, great Beatle George Harrison, Robin spent his formative years in Hong Kong.

His musician father started teaching him guitar at the tender age of six, cutting his musical teeth on the lonesome songs of Hank Williams and the hot rhythms of trad jazz.

Young Robin’s talent later propelled him to a place at the Guildhall School of Music in London where he became a stalwart of the capital’s jazz scene with his swing quartet.

Nolan found his musical true love on a trip to the annual Django Reinhardt Festival in Samois-Sur-Seine.

He recalled: “I was just blown away with the music and how everyone was playing guitars outside around camp fires - the whole romance of it got to me.

“As soon as I got back to London I started playing that music.”

Frustrated by limited opportunities and ‘busking bureaucracy’ in London, Nolan then packed his bags and headed to Amsterdam.

Embracing the gypsy state of mind and the Dutch city’s musical melting pot, he embraced the freedom to play wherever and whenever he got the urge.

It was during this freewheeling period that Robin established what was to become a longstanding friendship with George Harrison, via the gardener at The Beatles’ Henley-On-Thames mansion!

Robin’s current trio features top Dutch double bassist Arnoud Van Den Berg and British guitar virtuoso Chris Quinn. Together they form one of the tightest, and most admired, rhythm sections in the business.

Tickets for the trio’s Otley show cost £16 and can be purchased by visiting www.otleycourthouse.org.uk, calling (01943) 467466 or popping into the Courthouse, on Courthouse Street.

The following week, on Wednesday, May 22 will see Edgelarks - Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin - performing songs from their new album at the Courthouse.

The duo describe Feather, which they retreated to a remote Cumbrian cottage to write in 2018, as a collection of ‘bright songs for dark times’.

Edgelarks began their musical journey together living in a small caravan in the hills near Exmouth, Devon.

Spotted busking on the seafront at Sidmouth Folk Festival by champion of independent music Steve Knightley, they soon found themselves touring nationally, supporting the likes of Show of Hands and Seth Lakeman, and eventually winning the prestigious Best Duo award at the 2014 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.

From recording their first album, Singing the Bones, at home in their living room they have gone on to produce four more records.

Their Otley performance starts at 8pm and tickets cost £14.