JAZZ pianist and singer Joe Stilgoe will present his Songs On Film show at the unusually early time of 4pm on Sunday (July 2) at the National Centre for Early Music, York.

Why are you are starting so early, Joe? “I suppose it’s quite early, isn’t it, so maybe this ‘early music’ they’re going for is a new brand of ‘early’,” he says.

“We wanted to squeeze in a concert at Helmsley Arts Centre as well, so I’ll be there the night before, playing the same programme. This is a tour that I’ve been doing since last autumn, and I’ve played a lot in Yorkshire already: Selby Town Hall, Otley Courthouse and Leeds City Varieties….”

…Leeds City Varieties? A man with a piano always looks so at home there, don’t you think, Joe? “The rake of that stage means you really have to make sure the brake is working, otherwise man with a piano becomes man with a pile of wood in the audience,” he says.

He greatly enjoys his shows in God’s Own Country. “I love Yorkshire but also they seem to love me to play there, plus once all the counties of Yorkshire are squeezed together, it seems to take up a third of the country,” Joe says.

He last played Helmsley Arts Centre with his New Songs For Old Souls show. “That was my own works, whereas Songs On Film is my tribute to iconic film soundtracks. This is a show that was new for Edinburgh last summer and will be going out with a bang at Regent’s Park on August 20,” says Joe.

“I’ve tried to make this show feel like the best cinema trip there ever was, and for film geeks like me it’s a chance to spot every reference, while for normal people it will be a great ride through all the greatest musical moments put to film.

“For me, it’s a lovely indulgent trawl through my love of film music, but it’s also a chance to do pieces that people might not expect me to do, so it goes from Charlie Chaplin to Danny Boyle to Quentin Tarantino.

“In a previous life we did Born Slippy [the Underworld rave culture classic from Boyle’s film Trainspotting], which most of the audience had no idea what it was, so that’s the aim! I’m trying to sneak in some esoteric pieces through the medium of jazz.”

Stilgoe has performed at the National Centre for Early Music previously. “When I played there for the first time, I thought I would have to show my harpsichord chops,” he says.

The NCEM, however, presents all manner of music from early music to folk, world music to jazz, and Stilgoe’s Songs On Films will suit the church building just fine.

“Maybe I’ll play some Bernstein, who I believe is the very best film music composer: though it’s ‘popular’, it’s not easy listening; it’s ‘proper music’,” says Joe.

“When I was getting into jazz, I asked my teacher to teach me some jazz, he said, ‘I can’t teach you jazz, but let’s do some Debussy’, as if no music was written after 1920, but he could equally have said ‘Bernstein’, rather than ‘Debussy’.”

Stilgoe has done more than one version of his film music performances. “I did a live album three years ago, recorded at the London Jazz Festival, but then I thought, ‘actually, I could do a more interesting format’, so I started to do it with a lot more improvisation, where I pretend I’m a cinema organist/pianist in 1925 making up the score as I go along!” says Joe.

Songs On Film shows at such venues at Leeds City Varieties were performed by a jazz trio, led by Stilgoe, but he will be playing solo in Helmsley and York this weekend. He savours the chance to show his flexibility: “I think there’s a danger of falling into your comfy seat, or being lulled into a monotonous programme, and if I just played lovely songs from lovely films, it would be rather dull,” he says.

“I think you want to make it entertaining but also enlightening, like the way Tarantino subverts the violence in his films with his choice of music, and you can see a link between Pixar’s film music and Tarantino’s love of animation.”

Stilgoe wears two jazz hats, not only as an improvising pianist with a love of Count Basie but also as a singer: “But not a jazz scat singer, more like a Nat King Cole, who was as big as Sinatra for a long time,” he says.

One last question, Joe, what is your favourite film soundtrack? “I can remember that The Blues Brothers was my favourite at one time, but then I can go back to American Graffiti for the songs, and the film score would have to be Ennio Morricone’s Cinema Paradiso,” he decides. “Have I passed?!”

Yes, spot-on choices, Mr Stilgoe.

Joe Stilgoe, Songs On Film, Helmsley Arts Centre, Saturday, July 1, 7.30pm; National Centre for Early Music, York, Sunday, July 2, 4pm to 5.30pm. Box office: Helmsley, 01439 771700 or at helmsleyartscentre.co.uk; York, 01904 658338 or ncem.co.uk