Practically Married is the duo of bassist James Banner and pianist Declan Forde. They have worked together since 2015, as the rhythm section for many groups in Berlin and for their own music, and in 2016 they counted around 250 concerts together. They co-curate the Practically Married concert series, which ran at Donau115 from 2015 to 2024 and now continues every other month at Sowieso, with guests each time. Their recordings include Ao vivo no Café Dias with drummer João Lopes Pereira (Robalo, 2022) and Live in Berlin (2025) with Han Bennink and Tobias Delius.
Guests who have performed with Practically Married:
João Lopes Pereira, Tobias Delius, Max Andrzejewski, Dima Bondarev, Eldar Tsalikov, Greg Cohen, Ugo Alunni, Leo Forde, Will Howard, Jordan Dinsdale, Uli Kempendorff, Rudi Mahall, Julian Erdem, Fabiana Striffler, Matthew Herd, Fermín Merlo, Meschiya Lake, Pedro Spallati, Jeff Williams, Richard Koch, Igor Spallati, Liron Yariv, Sofia Borges, Nick Dunston, Evi Filippou, Mia Dyberg, Percy Pursglove, Sofía Salvo, Lukas Akintaya, Birgitta Flick, Leo Gerstner, Megan Jowett, Sophie Prins, Arne Braun, Andrea Parkins, Weston Olencki, Camilla Nebbia, Tony Malaby, and Han Bennink.
“I’ve had the great pleasure of playing with Greg since 2016 and I’m very happy we got a chance to record these songs with Jordan Dinsdale in 2020.” – Declan