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YouTube jazz pianist, 84, plays in market stall

Isabella Verona
BBC News, Northamptonshire
Reporting fromNorthampton Market Square
Isabella Verona/BBC Mike Kemp in a white shirt with a tie and hat smiling. He is standing next to Geoff Tooley with grey hair and a grey beard, who is also smiling while holding an instrument. The walls are covered in colourful paintings.Isabella Verona/BBC
Mike Kemp (left) and Geoff Tooley (right) have performed together for more than 20 years

An 84-year-old jazz pianist who made a name for himself on YouTube during the coronavirus lockdown has taken up residency at a tiny arts centre, based at a market stall, in order to meet other musicians.

Mike Kemp started an online channel to help with his mental health during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Speaking about his new audience online, he said: "If lockdown hadn't occurred, my career would have come to an end because of my health."

Mr Kemp's stint at the centre, alongside Northampton-based artist Musetta Seagrove, continues until the end of Saturday.

The Creative Place (TCP) arts centre, run by Northampton Film Festival, opened six months ago in Northampton's refurbished Market Square.

During lockdown, Mr Kemp said he collaborated online with other musicians virtually.

He said he wanted to do the residency to meet other YouTubers, musicians and filmmakers, to learn how to improve the technicality and reach of his videos.

The "intricacy" of constructing videos and experimenting with different editing software like GarageBand provided a distraction and "comfort" to him during that time, he added.

"People always ask me, 'Have you been playing all your life?' And I say, 'Not yet'," he said.

Isabella Verona/BBC A close up of the shop front that reads "The creative place". Below it it reads "for misfits and mavericks, creatives and changemakers"Isabella Verona/BBC
The arts centre is funded by the government and the local council

Mr Kemp, originally from Coventry, worked in electronics before playing piano with a jazz quartet.

He said he enjoyed his job in electronics but it "felt like [I] was wearing somebody else's shoes".

Mr Kemp said it felt like he had not worked "a day in his life" since 1960 when he began his music career.

Isabella Verona/BBC Becky Carrier smiling at the camera. She has blonde hair and blue eyeliner and is wearing an orange top. She has a black chain necklace on and is standing in a room with paintings on the shelves behind. Isabella Verona/BBC
Becky Carrier is the festival director at Northampton Film Festival

Becky Carrier, who runs the arts centre, said it promoted "connection, inspiration and creativity".

"Everybody has a story to tell and everybody has a unique voice," she said.

"It is for people that have a creative bone in their body, but also for people that just want to try something new.

"It is really nice for people to use their ears and their eyes to experience quite different things."

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