“Heturned out to be George Harrison’s gardener. He gave the CD toGeorge… Next thing I know George and Olivia call to ask if we’d play at their Christmas party”: Meet Robin Nolan, the Gypsy jazz guitarist who collaborated with a Beatle

Robin Nolan wears headphones and plays a Fireglo Red Rickenbacker .

On day in 1994, gypsy jazz guitarist Robin Nolan was busking in Leidseplein, a lively square in Amsterdam. A tourist bought one of his CDs. “And he turned out to be George Harrison’s gardener,” Nolan says. “He gave the CD to George, thinking he might like it. The next thing I know George and Olivia [his wife] call to ask if we’d play at their Christmas party.”

There began a friendship, with Nolan’s combo becoming what he calls “the house band” for parties at Friar Park, the Harrisons’ home (and home studio) in England’s Thames Valley.