I've been playing the piano for a fashion exhibition over the past two days and it has been really great fun. Dave Silk (the bass player from my trio) gave me the job and I am really grateful to him, not only for giving me the booking, but also for making sure that I had a nice piano to play.

The piano had been hired from Jaques Samuels and was a really nice Yamaha Grand. Most people (who don't play the piano) think that if its a grand and has 'Steinway and Sons' or Broadwood and Sons written on it - then it must be good. But, very often the opposite is true. I can't even start to tell you how many times I have been told that there is a lovely grand piano at a particular venue - only to find that it is merely a piece of furniture and cannot really be classed as a musical instrument. It's often very difficult (or more often impossible) to convince people that my digital piano would sound much better than their 'Steinway' - which can in certain circumstances be little more than a heap of rubbish in a grand piano shaped case. Most of the time I grit my teeth and play the instrument that the client wishes me to play. They just want to see me sat at a 'proper piano' and it's as simple as that.

Anyway, enough of me moaning. The gig was great; the piano was great; lots of people came to talk to me and the guys running the exhibition were very friendly and helpful. The exhibition was at Tobacco Dock, Pennington Street, London EC1 and was organised by TBC ( 'To Be Confirmed') and FAO ('For Attention Of').