Simon Purcell is currently Head of Jazz at Trinity-Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and member of the Pop and Jazz Steering Group for the Association of European Conservatoires. Since the mid 1980s, Simon has performed both as leader and sideman, but despite his experience as a performer, Simon is best known as an educator, taught and mentored several generations of Britain’s finest jazz musicians and in 2006 he received the award for Jazz Educationalist of the Year from the Parliamentary Jazz Committee.