Man Overboard brings together five like-minded musicians who play and listen to all sorts of music, but who share a love of hot swing. Thomas Gould is a classical violinist described as “staggeringly virtuosic” by The Guardian. He is also a dab hand at jazz, and his playing meets its match in the lyrical clarinet playing of Ewan Bleach, who has been making his mark on the music scenes of London and New Orleans. Thomas and Ewan work the tunes beautifully together, sometimes harmonising, sometimes challenging each other. At other times, they simply provide the setting for Louisa Jones’ distinctively husky but sweet voice. Underpinning the sound are Dave O’Brien (one of the brightest young musicians on the London swing scene) on the double bass and Jean-Marie Fagon, a good old-fashioned, no-nonsense rhythm guitarist from France. The five musicians first started playing together in January 2011 and were quickly performing in some of London’s favourite jazz venues. They have recorded music for television, being featured in BBC3’s “Being Human” series, and cut their first album – a collection of old jazz numbers played in Man Overboard’s infectious, melodic style – for Champs Hill Records.

Thomas Gould performs as soloist with orchestras worldwide including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, LA Phil New Music Group, Orchestre Symphonique de Bretagne and West Australian Symphony Orchestra, collaborating with conductors such as John Adams, Nicholas Collon, Paul Daniel and Robin Ticciati. Leader of Aurora Orchestra and associate leader of Britten Sinfonia, Gould appears as soloist and director with both groups and also collaborates regularly with Sinfonietta Riga. Thomas is a guest concertmaster of London Sinfonietta and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, also appearing in the Lucerne Festival Orchestra. The dedicatee of Nico Muhly’s concerto for six string electric violin Seeing is Believing, Thomas's recording of this work for Decca Classics received widespread critical acclaim. His other releases on Champs Hill Records include two albums with his swing band Man Overboard Quintet and one with the Artea Quartet. For Harmonia Mundi, Thomas has recorded Bach’s The Goldberg Variations (in Dmitry Sitkovetsky’s transcription) directing Britten Sinfonia. In 2014 he signed a four- album contract with Edition Classics. Thomas is an associate of the Royal Academy of Music where he studied with György Pauk, and a former Young Concert Artists Trust (YCAT) winner. He plays a 1782 J.B. Guadagnini violin.