There are so many good reasons to want to arrive early for busy concerts at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Well-organized people, for example, make a point of ordering their interval drinks in advance. The rest of us, of course, spend the whole interval in the scrum failing to get served at the understaffed bar.

Next Tuesday’s Ian Carr gig is going to be busy. It’s virtually sold out. But there’s a better reason to be early, in the form of a free platform performance. Not the marching madness of Zach Condon’s Beirut (he’s Eddie Condon’s grandson-above), but the thoughtful pianism of Ian Carr pupil, the Berklee-trained, Carol Grimes-associated Dorian Ford

Try the gentle Snow (for Nancy) from the CD “Piano.” And a hat-tip to Ian Mann of the Jazzmann blog for thoughtful reviews