About us

Background

Having become a firmly established setup in the beautiful seaside setting of Poole in Dorset, SoundCellar began life in 2010 as the brainchild of musician and avid music lover Rob Palmer. After negotiating the use of an ideal ‘space’ in the form of an atmospheric cellar under an old traditional public house in Poole, Rob very quickly established the venue as a place where musicians and audiences were able to come together to enjoy a great live music experience on a regular basis.

As SoundCellar’s reputation continued to grow, Rob was joined by friends John Ferguson and Chris Jakob in forming a team that has established SoundCellar as one of the most in-demand places in the UK for top performers across the jazz and other contemporary music genres, to play in.

The SoundCellar ‘experience’ remains paramount and no matter where our events take place, we pride ourselves on presenting a concert-like experience in an informal setting, with great sound (both live and online), all presented with a welcoming friendly ‘vibe’ for artists and for audiences alike.

SoundCellar has set up as a Community Interest Company (C.I.C.) in order to provide our artistic community and our wider audience community with an even more diverse and wide-ranging musical experience. Trading as a C.I.C., opportunities to secure grants (and the occasional kind donation) is helping to bring even more high-profile artists to SoundCellar, to perform for our increasingly keen and knowledgeable audiences.

Who has performed at SoundCellar?

SoundCellar star performers have included LARRY GOLDINGS (James Taylor/John Scofield); BECCA STEVENS (David Crosby/Snarky Puppy); AARON PARKS (Joshua Redman/Kurt Rosenwinkel); BENNY RIETVELD (Santana/Miles Davis); JASON REBELLO (Sting/Jeff Beck); JO LAWRY (Sting); US based contemporary jazz giants PETER BERNSTEIN, DAVID BINNEY, MATTHEW STEVENS, WALTER SMITH III, ARI HOENIG, BEN WENDEL, WILL VINSON, ALLISON MILLER, COLIN STRANAHAN, GLENN ZALESKI, PATRICK CORNELIUS, ALICYN YAFFEE; Dutch jazz guitar icon JESSE VAN RULLER; Norwegian star ELLEN ANDREA WANG; Swedish master JON FÄLT ; Brooklyn based folk duo ROBINSON & ROHE; in addition to top UK based artists THEO TRAVIS (Dave Gilmour/Robert Fripp/Steven Wilson); PAUL STACEY (Oasis/Steven Wilson/The Black Crowes); GILAD ATZMON (Ian Dury/Pink Floyd); JEREMY STACEY (King Crimson/Sheryl Crow/Noel Gallagher); OLI ROCKBERGER (Laura Mvula/Randy Brecker); and a host of other top UK based artists: LAURA JURD, ALICE ZAWADZKI, EMMA RAWICZ, ROB LUFT, MARIA CHIARA ARGIRÒ, ROBERT MITCHELL, PHIL ROBSON, JIM MULLEN, IVO NEAME, JAMIE LEEMING, NICK WALTERS, ALAN BARNES, JULIAN SIEGEL, LIAM NOBLE, MARTIN SPEAKE, MARK LOCKHEART, KIT DOWNES, ROGER BEAUJOLAIS, NIGEL PRICE, DAVE NEWTON, PHIL DONKIN, PAUL BOOTH, MIKE OUTRAM, MICHAEL JANISCH, TRISH CLOWES, HENRY LOWTHER, JOHN LAW, DYLAN HOWE, NICOLAS MEIER, ASAF SIRKIS, DAVE O’HIGGINS, GARETH LOCKRANE, ORLANDO LE FLEMING and many more.

More SoundCellar initiatives

(i) Check out the SoundCellar Evolution page, describing our important project to extend SoundCellar’s reach and keep contemporary music at the forefront of what we do.

(ii) Sign up to our YouTube Soundcellarmusic channel, where we are regularly posting video performances from the SoundCellar archives (also posted on our ‘Videos’ page).