Calum Gourlay

The son of a music teacher, Gourlay grew up in Glasgow.[1] At the age of ten he began learning the cello, then four years later started playing double bass.[1] He heard Scottish jazz musicians at workshops taught by his father on Saturday mornings.[1] He moved from Glasgow to Dunfermline, participating in the Fife Youth Jazz Orchestra and the Strathclyde Youth Jazz Orchestra.[1] He played in a youth band led by Tommy Smith until 2004 when he traveled to London to attend the Royal Academy of Music.[1] At the school he met three people who would become bandmates: Trish Clowes, Kit Downes, and Freddie Gavita.[1] Gourlay has taught at the Royal Academy and Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance[2]