Bus Chatter

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The bus is home today – much as it has been for the past few days, and will be for the next. For the next 7-8 hours, we will find various ways to entertain ourselves. Before movie time, much of that will involve sleeping or conversation.

It’s fascinating to hear the discussions going on around this mobile room at 8:30am. Music is one topic of conversation, of course, in one corner, but other subjects range from home improvement to classic literature to the basest of humour.

This kind of thoughtful diversity is one of the great things about being in the company of other musicians. It’s hard to know if an audience fully appreciates how communicative an experience it is to play in, and as, an ensemble. The discourse off the bandstand is an extension of that, and is something I always treasure.

Then, as the fervour of recent caffeination subsides, it quietens in here. Time to plug in the headphones, read or take a nap. Or perhaps all three. We have all day…

November/December ’09

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Bryan Davis has now, finally, moved to New York City! He finally made the move during October 2009. During November, he will be in New York, seeing gigs, meeting musicians and making connections. He was granted work permission upon entry to the USA so, if you need a trumpet player, he is available! Hopefully we will have more news about his upcoming performances in the New York area before too long.

In December, Bryan will be hitting the road once more for a brief excursion with the “Christmas with The Rat Pack – Live At The Sands” holiday show. He will be in Dallas, TX from December 1st – 12th and then in Hartford, CT from December 15th – 20th.

In addition to live performances, Bryan Davis is always available to teach trumpet lessons and clinics, whether at home or elsewhere. For prospective students outside of the USA, online lessons via webcam are also available. The online lessons, in particular, are proving quite popular. All you need is a computer, webcam setup and the free Skype software. Bryan was, himself, sceptical about the usefulness of this system in teaching but, we are pleased to report, that he’s very pleased with how it works out! In celebration of his recent emigration, Bryan is currently offering a discount price on lessons in both formats. See the Teaching pages for details.

During September and October, Bryan Davis paid a couple of visits to Austria. First, he played a couple of concerts, and spent 3 days in the studio with Thomas Gansch and his band. For the studio sessions and the concert at Porgy & Bess in Vienna, the trumpet section was augmented by Adam Rapa – a wonderful trumpet player and great guy. Thomas wrote a few tunes for this 3 trumpet line-up; dubbed the ‘Trumpet Porn Suite’. These included his tribute to Bill Chase – ‘Der Rock des Trompeters’. Fans of high note ‘big’ trumpet are not going to disappointed when they hear the resulting CD. We hope to have details of a release in Spring 2010 before long. In the meantime, you can enjoy a couple of videos from the Porgy & Bess concert including this one:-

Bryan returned to Austria at the end of September for the Autumn Tour with the LACJO – reprising their ‘Murdering The Classics’ programme. They played 6 concerts. Unfortunately the first couple were rather poorly attended but the band is really hitting it’s stride! The final concert at Porgy & Bess in Vienna was particularly special! There is a provisional plan for European Tour in September 2010 – more details as they become available. We also imminently expect details of an release for the live LACJO CD they recorded at the inaugural concert in 2008. It should be initially available from the ORF broadcast network in Austria – details of worldwide distribution will follow shortly after. We will make the requisite announcements as soon as the details are confirmed.

Christmas with the Rat Pack – US Dates (2009)

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Bryan has just had the US tour dates for this year’s “Christmas With The Rat Pack” confirmed. He will be playing the show at The Majestic Theater in Dallas, TX from December 1-12. From there, the show travels to Hartford, CT to play at The Bushnell Theater from December 15-20.

There will be a limited number of lesson times available in both these cities and Bryan is also available for Clinics and workshops. Please check the Teaching page of this site for details and Contact Bryan to set something up, or if you have any further questions.

Hitting the road again.

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A quick hello from Terminal 1 Departures at Manchester Airport! I’m heading out to Vienna this afternoon to meet up with Gansch and the gang. A day’s rehearsal, 2 gigs and 3 days in the studio to follow. Interspersed with a few Weißbiers, of course, and numerous opportunities to hang out with dear friends, and make new ones.

I shall attempt to document the trip with photos and report in again when I can. Bye for now….

Catching Up…

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It’s been a busy few weeks, during which I’ve had little time to write or record anything for the site. This post may be some small consolation for you blog readers out there; a new podcast episode will be recorded next week, which I hope will appease my listeners who, judging by the amount of feedback I’ve received about episode 1, are a surprisingly large number!

Since last I blogged, I’ve completed the LACJO Spring Tour and also the last leg of the Rat Pack US National Tour. Both were tremendous experiences. I’ll give a more thorough account of the last 3 weeks of the Rat Pack tour in my next post.

The tour with the LACJO was great fun. It was slightly marred by some technical issues but ultimately the band really gelled and made a great job of some challenging music. My thanks go to all involved for their tremendous musicianship and their patience with my lousy German. I don’t know how many of you reading have ever been in a situation where you speak the minority language but it can be incredibly frustrating; particularly when you can see the clearest route to the resolution of a problem but can’t successfully articulate it. Unfortunately there were moments where this frustration led to anger – not something I’m proud of. I hope, as it seemed, that the rest of the band considered my playing to be of a sufficient standard that they could forgive my mood swings. I’ll be learning more German before my next visit!

Unfortunately, due to my impending immigration to the USA, I will probably be unable to join the band for the next tour(s) in the Autumn. Once in the USA, I have to wait until my residence is finally processed before I can leave again. Since this is likely to take up to a year, and I’m planning to move in July, that means that a September/October tour is sadly out of the question. I just hope that whoever takes my place doesn’t do too good a job – I’d very much like to rejoin in 2010!

Meantime, we should have news about the LACJO CD which was recorded at the ‘Premiere’ concert in St. Poelten in September 2008. Early mixes sound very promising and I’m looking forward to an album of which we can be really proud. We also filmed the last concert of the Spring Tour at Schloss Grafenegg for a potential DVD release. Hopefully that will also come to fruition.

Right now, I’m back in the UK following the end of the Rat Pack tour. I’m looking forward to getting back into the swing of teaching and playing. I already have some of my previous students coming back for more punishment(!) and a few gigs in the book. We’ll get the details posted on the site as soon as they’re confirmed. One confirmed date that I’m very much looking forward to is at the Harrogate Jazz Club, this coming Tuesday, the 28th of April. I’ll be playing with my dear friend Jim Corry and his band “A Tribute To Atlantic Jazz“. It’s a great band, with whom I played a few hits last summer. Please come out and support if you’re local – details are in a news item we posted about it earlier. I shall be trying to record some of the gigs I play in the next few weeks, with a view to adding some live audio to the podcast. We’ll see how that pans out…

For now, have a great weekend and I’ll be back with more soon.