I’m in Austria right now, performing with the Lower Austria Concert Jazz Orchestra on the Spring Tour. I was hoping to have stopped by with some news about it already but, unfortunately, our accommodation doesn’t have internet access. Luckily, a couple of the other ‘foreign’ guys on the band with me have their cars here. Trumpeter Erik Veldkamp was kind enough to offer to drive ‘in search of civilisation’ – another way of saying that he wanted to check email too!

The tour got off to a heavy start on Sunday with a 7 hour rehearsal in the small town of Langenlois. We’re playing the same “Murdering The Classics” programme as we did back in September and it’s a heavy book! Included are the Stan Kenton versions of “West Side Story” as well as a couple of the things he did based on opera/classical music themes. For the tour we’ve added a few other things as well to make the gig up to 2 sets. The long rehearsal would have been taxing enough without the jetlag I was ‘enjoying’ at the time.

We’ve now played the first 3 concerts; at the Radiokulturhaus in Vienna, and Stadthalles in Mistelbach and Zwettl. Despite some sound problems it’s really starting to kick now and is proving a lot of fun. I’ve now also slept enough to feel a bit more like I’m in the same time zone as the rest of the band!

I’ll be back with more news from the tour and hopefully some photos before long. I’m also almost finished recording the first episode of my new podcast, which has been under consideration for some time. This episode, and possibly one or two more to follow, will be largely based on questions I’ve been asked, by audience and band members, in the last couple of days on tour. More on that when it’s done. If you have any trumpet/touring related questions you’d like me to speak or blog about, please email me via the Contact page and I’ll see if I can help out!

Bye for now…