Simon Oslender: Joy on the Keys (and the Work Behind It)

In this episode, I’m joined by Simon Oslender, and I’m not exaggerating when I say his playing lit me up the first time I heard it: pure joy, but with real depth underneath. We talk about growing up in a deeply musical home, starting on drums, and the exact “big bang” moment when a John Mayall live DVD (and Tom Canning on Hammond B3) made Simon lock in on the organ for life.We get into Simon’s early recording experiments, how he writes (often away from the instrument, grabbing voice memos before ideas disappear), and his relationship with theory—especially his favorite framing: theory shouldn’t tell you what to do, it should explain what you’re hearing. And then we go deep on the dream-team reality of All That Matters: recording with Steve Gadd and Will Lee and how that session turned into a tour, and what it takes to keep your head straight when your heroes show up fully prepared to play your music.Music from the Episode:On a Roll (Simon Oslender)In Good Hands (Simon Oslender)Cruisin' (Simon Oslender)Quite Logical (Simon Oslender)Thank you for listening. If you have questions, feedback, or ideas for the show, please email me at [email protected].