Sol Grimshaw was born on the Isle of Wight and grew up into a musical family. From a young age he was exposed to a variety of musical styles from Gypsy Jazz, Hawaiian, Traditional Folk, Early Jazz, Classical and much more. He started playing ukulele at age 4, guitar at age 7 and piano at age 8. His mother taught him classical piano and his father taught him guitar and ukulele.

Through his father, Sol was introduced to the playing of Django Reinhardt early on. Sol became hooked on Django and the style of Gypsy jazz and from the age of around 12 has never looked back from making music his career and main life goal. Sol joined the Purcell School of music at age 14 on principle study jazz guitar and second study classical piano (working towards his grade 8). He also attended the Junior Royal Academy of Music on Saturdays, studying with Gareth Lockrane. Sol loved Purcell and after 4 years of study went straight into a 4 year degree course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama also studying jazz guitar. Before starting Guildhall, Sol was accepted onto the Siena summer Camp in Italy, for a 2 week intensive jazz course with many of the current jazz greats from America and Europe. During this course Sol was fortunate to learn from Ambrose Akinmusire, Miguel Zenón, Lage Lund, Charles Altura, Nir Felder, Aaron Parks and Kenny Werner.

Sol moved to London in September 2019 to start studying at the Guildhall and quickly started to embraced many of London’s rich music scenes. Folk sessions, swing dancing, gypsy jazz jams, free improvisation and classical concerts. Sol started meeting many musicians to collaborate and work with. Despite lockdown hindrances Sol was gigging full time by his 3rd year playing over 200 shows a year at some of London’s most renowned venues from Ronnie Scott’s, Barbican Centre, Pizza Express Dean Street, The Vortex, 606 Club, Milton Court, Green Note and the Savoy Hotel.

Sol graduated from Guildhall in the summer of 2023 with first class honours. Sol’s music has taken him to play on 4 continents, most recently performing at the Django Reinhardt Festival in Fontainebleau in June 2024 with the London Django Collective. Despite loving the buzz of London, Sol loves returning home to see his family on the Isle of Wight. On his mother’s side his family are dairy farmers which Sol is very proud of. Sol loves walking round the lanes and swimming in the sea, followed by a nice local ale!