For anyone who’s local, I’ll be playing tonight (22nd Sept ’06) at The Wardrobe in Leeds with The Bugalu Foundation.
Bit of a last minute one this; I spotted a poster in town today and called up to get on the gig with 8 hours notice. Come down for a beer and a boogie….
I’m pleased to announce that from October 2006, I’ll be joining The Rat Pack – Live from The Sands US Tour! Along with the West End cast of The Rat Pack – Live from Las Vegas, I’ll be travelling to 15 US Cities over the next several months.
Unfortunately, this means that I’ll be leaving my friends on the European Tour at the end of September. I’ll still be playing the remaining shows in Preston, Manchester and Bournemouth and popping up on some UK dates at the end of October in Darlington and Sheffield. We’ve had a great time together over the last 2 and a half years and I’ll miss being around the guys. Hopefully I can sub in with them at some time in the future.
Please keep an eye on the Schedule to see where we’re playing and come and say hello if you’re at the show…
Back to work then… After a great 4 weeks off from the show, it feels good to be heading back out again today. It’ll be great to see the chaps again and hopefully we can rediscover the joy in the music again, at least for a couple of weeks.
Right, off to Southend (boo)…
A quick post to confirm that I am still around, despite the lack of news posts on here since June. It’s been a busy time, with a lot of travelling but a lot of fun too.
The Rat Pack Tour was busy over the summer with a couple of great weeks in Hamburg in July. It was just as hot there as it was 2 years ago. If you’ve never been to North Germany in the summer I certainly recommend it. We also spent a few days playing in the picturesque town of Klagenfurt in Southern Austria. Photos will be linked to in due course. The show is currently on a break until September when we play 4 weeks in the UK. After that the European Tour returns to Germany and Belgium but I may well not be. I’ll keep you posted.
Still no news about the Tony Faulkner Jazz Orchestra recording we made in June. Rumours are that it’s been heard, but not by me as yet. More news as I have it…
One recent fun gig was a date we played with the Allied Big Band backing a fine singer called Peter Dinsley. My thanks go to my friend Graham Russell, who fixed the band, for inviting me to come and play. It was a great pleasure to work, with Graham, under the fine Lead Trumpet of Tony Dixon; lead with the Syd Lawrence Orchestra. This was a relaxed gig with a great atmosphere and we await confirmation of several dates for next year.
Lastly, but by no means least(ly), I should mention that I’ve had the great pleasure of playing Lead Trumpet with the reformed Andy Prior Big Band on some recent dates. Andy is a fine singer and trombonist who’s been off the scene for a while with some health problems. It’s fantastic to see him swinging back into action and I’ve had a great time playing with his great band. It seems likely that we’ll have some more dates later this year and for much of the next. Keep watching the Schedule.
I spent the first 3 days of June in the studio with my friend Tony Faulkner. We were recording his newly reformed Jazz Orchestra. He had written a new suite, entitled “Thad Jones and the Ellington Effect” for a proposed tour a couple of years ago. Unfortunately, the tour didn’t go ahead so finally we’ve had the opportunity to play the music!
The sessions were great and the music is fantastic. Tony put together a great band and I had the great pleasure of playing Lead Trumpet. My thanks go to everyone involved but most particularly the guys in the Trumpet Section; Ryan Quigley, Robbie Robson, Graeme Hardy, Richard Iles and Henry Lowther. The CD should be available later in the Summer. More details as I have them.
I’m taking a break this week to get my chops back together following the problems I had with the split in my lip. Everything’s healed now and I’m slowly working to fix the problem that caused it. I’m certainly looking forward to getting back to the Rat Pack in Oxford next week.