January ’09

Happy New Year!!

This month sees Bryan Davis performing the last few dates of the Christmas With The Rat Pack UK tour. This will definitely be the last UK/European stint with the Rat Pack for a while. The show is on hiatus, except in the USA, until sometime later in the year, by which time Bryan should have finally made the move to New York. You can catch Bryan playing Lead Trumpet with the Rat Pack Big Band at the St Georges Hall in Bradford on the 2nd, the Grimsby Auditorium on the 3rd and the Liverpool Philharmonic on the 5th. Please stop by the Stage Door and say hello if you make it to any of these shows.

The rest of January will be spent subbing a few shows on Cinderella; the pantomime at the Alhambra Theatre, Bradford. Bryan will also be playing with the Pasadena Roof Orchestra at their concert in Leeds on the 18th. Other than that, Bryan will be catching up on real life at home! Following 38 weeks away on the road in 2008, as well as numerous other gigs, that should make for a welcome change! However, don’t be afraid to get in touch if you need a Trumpet player for your band!

Bryan is available, as ever, to teach Trumpet lessons whether at home or on the road. He is also available as Clinician and/or Guest Artist to come and work with School/Youth/College Bands. He was pleased to perform with the Jazz Band I at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California back in October 2008. He is pencilled in to coach the GCDYO Swing Band in Grimsby, UK in January this year. There will be a ‘Teaching’ page added to the site shortly with details about Bryan’s Educational activities. For more information in the meantime, please use the Contact page to get in touch.

Looking ahead, there are already some interesting gigs in Bryan’s diary for 2009. The Rat Pack – Live at the Sands US Tour starts again in late February. The show will be visiting Louisville KY, Dallas TX, Schenectady NY, Tampa Bay FL, Portland OR and Costa Mesa CA before the end of April. There are also 3 tours planned with the LACJO during 2009. There are Spring and Autumn tours in Austria and then, in late October, the band should be travelling to China to perform at the 11th China Shanghai International Arts Festival. There is a News item with more details about all of that. There is also a date with Ryan Quigley’s Big Band at the Glasgow Jazz Festival in June. Ryan is a fine Trumpet player who is well known in the Scottish Jazz scene. His band is likely to include such luminaries as Nigel Hitchcock (alto), Mark Nightingale (tbn) and possibly even Wayne Bergeron and Roger Ingram (tpts). Should be a lot of fun! Between those confirmed dates and Bryan’s emigration to the USA, it promises to be a busy year for him, so please check back here often for more news!

A highlight of 2008 was Bryan’s trip to Austria in May with Thomas Gansch and his band. The first concert was at the Schagerl Brass Festival and part of that concert is featured on the Schagerl Brass Festival 2008 DVD. One of the tracks has found it’s way on to YouTube and we present it here for your enjoyment.

More Rat Pack US Tour Dates/End Of An Era

Now we’ve managed to get our work visas sorted, I guess it’s safe to announce that I’ll be out on the road with “The Rat Pack – Live At The Sands” US Tour from next week. We kick off in Salt Lake City, Utah on October 7th. The following week we visit Tempe, Arizona. Further dates follow in November with visits to Omaha NE, Oklahoma City and Tulsa (both in Oklahoma!).

Before that, I’ll be bidding a fond farewell to the Rat Pack European Tour on Saturday 4th October in Preston. Ahead of the US Tour and my subsequent emigration to the United States, I’ve handed my notice in. I’ll be back in the UK from late November, primarily to finalise my US Visa to move over. It’s possible that I’ll dep on a few Rat Pack dates on the Christmas Tour in December; we’ll have to wait and see. In any case, I hope to have left the UK by sometime in January 2009.

It’s odd to be leaving all my friends on the show after 4 and a half years. I’ll still get my Rat Pack fix, of course, with the US Tour with which I’ll continue for the time being. That’s a curious situation though, because I’m so used to playing with the same band in the UK whereas we meet new musicians in every venue in the States. I’ll really miss the guys and a huge vote of thanks goes out to all of them, particularly the Brass section: Kevin Ferris and Dave Ford (trumpets), and Keith Hutton, Andy Watson and Bruce Douglas (trombones). What else can I say? You guys are awesome to play and hang with and it’s been a huge honour to know you all! Thanks for putting up with me!

So where to next? The short answer is New York! My long suffering fiancee Cynthia and I are getting married (at last) and I’m joining her over there rather than vice versa. At least, that’s the plan – the Visa isn’t completely finalised yet, although it seems to be running smoothly at the moment. So, if you’re in the New York area, or indeed on tour anywhere in the US, and need a Trumpet player from mid-January on; please give me a call. I’d love to here from you.

More news about all of this will follow in due course….