It’s little wonder Titus Earle and his jazz ensemble Cool’s the Rule are so popular – his musical credentials reach back to his earliest days.
“I started learning the piano from my mother when I was three and I went on to study the violin, organ, trumpet and flute. I formed my first school band at the age of 12, and I won musical scholarships to Eton College and Balliol College Oxford, and studied piano performance at the Royal College of Music in London.”
These days, Earle is a fixture around the capital, playing regular sets every week and corporate gigs on occasion, a far cry from the career that originally brought him here from London in 1993. “I came to Abu Dhabi with British Petroleum on a one-year contract and ended up staying.”
Once established in the city, it wasn’t long before Titus returned to his first love. “When the Jazz Bar at the Abu Dhabi Hilton opened in 1994, it reawakened my interest in jazz. In 1996 I started taking piano lessons and sitting in with the bands playing at the Jazz Bar on a regular basis.”
Cool’s the Rule was born in 1999 when Earle started jamming with a drummer and bassist on a blues progression. “The drummer was American and had a habit of winding up most conversations with the phrase ‘cool’s the rule’, so it stuck as the name of the band.”
We took a look at a regular Friday for this busy performer.
8.30am: Earle wakes up and works out at home, lifting weights and running on the treadmill. “When I first came to Abu Dhabi, I was more interested in competitive running than music.”
12 noon: Earle has lunch with his wife – “Xu Liya is from Shanghai, China and is a keen cook” – before spending the afternoon practicing and preparing for the gig. “I no longer write original music, but I enjoy rearranging jazz standards using twists such as unusual time beats, key changes and harmonic substitutions.”
7pm: There’s no better way to get in the mood to play than listening to music, so Earle cranks up some of his favourite tunes. “My main influences as a jazz pianist have been Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans and the many pianists they influenced in turn such as Benny Green and Herbie Hancock. I love classical music and fusion jazz as well as modern jazz.”
7.30pm: Earle arrives at Mood Indigo at the Novotel to get everything set up for the band’s regular weekly gig. “I usually arrive before the others in order to get the piano sounding just right. We continually rehearse so we can introduce new repertoire, keeping ourselves fresh and pleasing our audiences.”
8pm: The rest of the band arrives. “There is a core group of four – I play piano, then we have Dennis Mercado on bass, Douglas Caskie on drums and Vladimir Ossipenko on sax. Each of us has a substitute, so the total number of those with permission to play in the Mood Indigo Lounge is eight.”
8.30pm: The band kicks off the first of three sets. “We decide what tunes to play as we go along; with some requests, one or two band members know the tune and the others follow along. The room is usually quite busy between different hotel guests and a small but important following of music lovers who come to support us every week.”
10pm: The band is really swinging tonight. “Within reason, we’re free to play what we want and ‘stretch out’ as a band. We have a varied repertoire including jazz standards, jazz fusion, funk, reggae, soul and some pop tunes.”
The gig at the Novotel is quite different to the band’s other weekly venue, Jazz on the Shore at The British Club. “There are only two of us, myself playing two keyboards and a drum machine, and sax player Greg Jacobs who also doubles on vocals. We play every Tuesday from September to May – when the weather is nice it’s very busy.”
Midnight: The gig is over but Titus and the boys aren’t ready to call it a night. “Sometimes other musicians will appear and they might jam with us. I’ll usually leave around 1am or 1.30am.”
Final thoughts: “Combining music with another career is never easy but I have found it much easier in Abu Dhabi than I did back in London. Here, I have been able to achieve a better work/life balance, which is one reason why I have chosen to stay here so long.”
Catch up with Titus Earle and Cool’s the Rule every Friday night at Mood Indigo, Novotel, and Jazz on the Shore, The British Club. To book the band for a private function, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
