Drummer Miles Pillinger Launches Debut Album Belonging at Ronnie Scott's

Manchester-born drummer and composer Miles Pillinger will release his debut album Belonging on Friday, Oct. 23, 2026, on Miles Pillinger Music in association with ECN Music. He launches the record with a Late Late Show Upstairs set at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club in London on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 10:45 p.m., according to the club's listing and a press release carried by The Jazz Mann.

Jazzwise reported the announcement on Oct. 12. The album was recorded with Olivia Cuttill on trumpet, Tom Harris on piano, Benjy Sandler on tenor, alto and soprano saxophones and flute, and Josh Vadiveloo on double bass. Guests include vocalist Thandanani Gumede, percussionist Emma Marsh and Helen Pillinger, the leader's mother, on tenor saxophone. The Jazz Mann's copy of the release says the sessions took place on March 10 and 11, 2026, at The Nave, were produced and mixed by Ben Macdonald and mastered by Chris Sharkey, with support from Help Musicians through Pillinger's 2025 Peter Whittingham Award for Jazz.

According to that release, the title track draws inspiration from Pharoah Sanders, Joyce Moreno and Abel Selaocoe and features Gumede. "Olinda Meu Amor," written after Pillinger's time studying in Brazil in 2025, uses frevo rhythms associated with Olinda and Recife. "Beryl," dedicated to his grandmother, features Helen Pillinger. "Elvin's Beat" pays tribute to drummer Elvin Jones, and the album closes with the companion pieces "The Other Side" and "The Other Other Side."

"My whole life I've often felt like an outsider," Pillinger said in the release quoted by Jazzwise and The Jazz Mann. "Rather than focusing on that, I wanted to celebrate what makes each of us different and the people and experiences that make us who we are. This album is about belonging — not fitting in but finding joy in what makes you uniquely yourself."

Ronnie Scott's lists the Oct. 20 upstairs lineup as Pillinger on drums with Cuttill, Alex Wardill on saxophone and flute, Tom Harris on piano and Eliot Whitehouse on bass — a live cast that partly differs from the album personnel. The club says tickets are £12. Pillinger is a 2023 Leeds Conservatoire graduate; the release notes work with Cuttill, Tara Lily, Nikki Yeoh, Mica Millar, Chip Wickham and the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. Cuttill was named Jazz Newcomer of the Year at the 2026 Parliamentary Jazz Awards.