By day he’s a guitar teacher by night he’s the leader of a contemporary jazz group.

Leo Appleyard - who helps youngsters get to grips with the guitar at Romsey’s Mountbatten School and the Toynbee School in Eastleigh - has just released his debut album, Pembroke Road.

Twenty-five year-old Leo who commutes to his teaching jobs from south London, fronts the Leo Appleyard Quartet who will be playing at Southampton’s Modern Jazz Club at the The Bent Brief in Lodge Road on Sunday (September 14) as part of a nation-wide tour to promote the record.

The band features Leo on guitar, Duncan Eagles on tenor sax, Max Luthert on bass, and Eric Ford on drums. Paul Jordanous guests on trumpet.

Leo says that although they fall under the jazz label he prefers to describe the band’s output as “modern improvised music” which draws inspiration from blues, rock and cinema music.

The album takes its title from the studio where it was recorded in Wales and features songs Leo has written over a five-year period.

Despite the commute and the pressures of touring Leo says he loves his teaching job. “I really enjoy it. It touché son all aspects of music and I find it quite inspiring.”

Away from the quartet Leo, who studied at the Royal Academy of Music, is also working on an as yet untitled project with an eight-piece band playing electronic dance music which he says should be surfacing on the internet in early 2015.

Pembroke Road is released by F-IRE. Listen to it at www.leoappleyard.com.