Ian plays banjo and guitar. He actually started playing jazz at the age of 16 when he played clarinet, but changed to banjo two years later. Previous bands include Wigan’s Rainy City Jazz Band and The Vintage Syncopators while he has been associated with his most recent band for the last 35 years! Ian runs a jazz night every fortnight at the Devonshire Arms, near his home in Mellor, featuring local
musicians in a quartet format and sometimes his fellow musicians in Mart Rodger Manchester Jazz are invited to take part. Ian’s influence from early days is Eddie
Lang and later years Johnny Bastable the wonderful solid contributor to Ken Colyer’s rhythm section. Mart enjoys the overall sound of a “G” Banjo and he thinks the depth of tone of the instrument adds so much to a rhythm section.