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.

August/September ’09

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Bryan Davis is still UK-based during August and early September. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available. It seems likely now that Bryan will, finally, be making his move to New York in mid-September. That will be confirmed soon.

Following a quiet beginning to August, Bryan is having a busy time at the end of the month. Along with the usual wedding gigs and other private events, he will also be performing with the Real Macaws on a few of their summer dates; they are playing at an event in Springfield Park, Darlington on the 23rd, and are in Whitby, N.Yorkshire and just outside of Manchester on the 30th and 31st respectively. Following the event in Darlington, Bryan will making a mad dash to Rhyl to play with the Nick Ross Orchestra that evening. Full details of his movements are in the Calendar.

Looking ahead to September, Bryan will be playing for the last time at The Swan, in Liversedge, at their regular Wednesday night Jazz gig. He will be joining the Brian Jackson Trio and other guests on 2nd of September. Bryan had a tremendous gig there this month, as mentioned in a recent news item, with Stuart McDonald (saxes) and special guest Russell Van den Burgh sitting in on Tenor sax. Lots of fun!

Bryan Davis will be visiting Austria to perform and record with his good friend Thomas Gansch. “Gansch & Roses” will be performing in Frankelfels, in Lower Austria, on September 11th. Following 3 days in the studio, they will be playing at the fabulous Porgy & Bess club in Vienna on the 15th. Some lesson times will be available while Bryan is in Austria; he will most likely come over a couple of days early to visit friends in Vienna so there will be more opportunities than usual! Please contact Bryan if you are interested in scheduling a lesson and we’ll set it up.

Later in September, and during October, the Lower Austria Concert Jazz Orchestra are touring again, in Austria and China! On this occasion, Bryan will be unable to perform with them due to his emigration. Instead, Roger Ingram will playing Lead Trumpet with the band. Apologies to the LACJO musicians and audience. Bryan intends to resume playing with the band in 2010 – the provisional tour dates for September 2010 are already in his diary!

The live LACJO recording from the first gig in St Polten in September ‘08 is apparently mixed, mastered and ready to go! We hope to add details of that CD to Bryan’s discography very soon!

Other recent highlights included Stephen Triffitt‘s Frank Sinatra Tribute in Amsterdam, the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band’s concert closing the Wigan Jazz Festival 2009 and Ryan Quigley‘s Maynard Ferguson Tribute in Glasgow.

The Store page is now up and running on the website. There are prepayment links for lessons and .pdf files of Trumpet exercises. There are also links to various external retailers (Amazon, iTunes etc) to purchase CDs and DVDs featuring Bryan Davis. If you have any requests for merchandise you’d like to see added to the Store, please contact Bryan and let him know!

June ’09

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Bryan Davis is based in Leeds, UK during this period. He is available to teach lessons and workshops, as well as for gigs of any kind. If you are based elsewhere in the UK, or indeed the world, but are interested in taking a lesson with Bryan, please be aware that Online Lessons via Webcam are also available.

Returning visitors are most likely aware that Bryan has been planning for some time to move to the USA. We are pleased to announce that he recently received his Visa. He will be moving to New York soon; most likely in late July 2009. Following a short period upon arrival when his residence will be pending, Bryan Davis will be available for performance and teaching opportunities of all kinds in the USA.

Before leaving the UK, Bryan will be keeping busy with various activities, including a jazz recording project – more about that as the details are firmed up. He is slowly getting back into the freelance scene and, this month, will be playing dates with the Nick Ross Orchestra and will also be covering a couple of shows on the West Side Story UK National Tour. He will also be performing at the Glasgow Jazz Festival on the 27th of June with the Ryan Quigley Big Band. This promises to be a great concert with Bryan sharing his section duties with Roger Ingram, Noel Langley and the leader.

Looking ahead to July, Bryan will be travelling to Holland with Stephen Triffitt to play Lead Trumpet on his “Salute To Sinatra” showcase in Amsterdam. He will also be performing with the Wigan Jazz Club Big Band on July 18th on the last night of the Wigan Jazz Festival.

If you’re looking for further news about the Bryan Davis Podcast, we should have a new episode available soon. Bryan’s busy schedule and a brief bout of illness have prevented him from recording anything recently. He promises to rectify this soon!

April/May ’09

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During April, Bryan Davis will be playing the last 2 weeks on The Rat Pack – Live At The Sands US National Tour. The show visits the Keller Auditorium in Portland, Oregon from April 7th-12th, and then the Segerstrom Hall at the OCPAC in Costa Mesa, California from the 14th-19th. There are lesson/clinic spaces available in both these cities – please check the Teaching section of the site for more details. These are the last Rat Pack dates for a while – there are apparently plans for the show to start up again later in the year but we have no specific details about that at the moment.

Following the end of the US Tour, Bryan will be returning to the UK to finalise his emigration to the USA. He will be home in Leeds until early July – at which time he should be, finally, making the move. He will be available for any and all performance and teaching opportunities during this period. If you’d like to take a lesson with Bryan but have been putting it off, don’t delay!

A highlight during March was Bryan’s trip to Austria to play with the Lower Austrian Concert Jazz Orchestra on their Spring Tour. The band played six concerts in Lower Austria and the final performance, in Schloss Grafenegg, was filmed. Hopefully, there will be sufficient footage to produce a DVD. The inaugural concert last September was recorded and will be released on CD during the coming months. Early mixes sound great and we hope that the final product will capture a good amount of the excitement this fine band generates! There is another LACJO tour planned for the Autumn. Unfortunately, depending on the progress of Bryan’s emigration, he is unlikely to be able to leave the USA to perform on that occasion but he will be back for the tours in 2010.

Looking ahead to May, Bryan will be attending the TrumpetParty 2009 in Noordwijk, Holland on Sunday the 17th. The concert features a number of wonderful players including Roger Ingram, Eric Miyashiro and Lee Thornburg. Bryan is very much looking forward to having the opportunity to see these wonderful musicians perform live. He will also be attending Roger Ingram’s clinic at the event. If you are also there, please come and say hello!

Speaking of Roger Ingram, Bryan will performing alongside him at the Glasgow Jazz Festival on June 27th. They are both playing in the Ryan Quigley Big Band. Ryan is a tremendous trumpet player in his own right and one of the leading lights on the Scottish scene. He has put together a great band for the festival and it should be a great concert.

There has been some great feedback about the new Bryan Davis podcast – details of which can be found on the homepage of the site. Please take a listen and contact Bryan with any feedback or suggestions for topics he can speak about. New episodes will be added at least once a month and hopefully more regularly than that.

Bryan Davis is available to teach Private Lessons and Clinics, whether at home or on the road. Online Lessons via webcam are also now available. If you would like to organise a lesson, please check Bryan’s schedule to find out if he is visiting your city (or when he might have time to meet you online) and then contact him directly to set it up.

Finally, the video clips which have been a feature at the bottom of this page for the past few months can now be found in the Media section of the site, along with Bryan’s Discography and Photo Galleries. Enjoy!

September ’08

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This month sees Bryan returning to The Rat Pack – Live From Las Vegas, following the tour’s summer break. They kick off in Belfast, at the marvellous Grand Opera House, on Monday the 8th. The previous weekend Bryan will be performing with Mark Gillbanks and his fine orchestra for a couple of events. September also sees Rat Pack dates in Sunderland and Southport.

Perhaps more importantly, this month also marks the inaugural concert with the Lower Austria Concert Jazz Orchestra, to which Bryan was recently appointed as Lead Trumpet. Bryan will be visiting Austria twice in September, first to rehearse with the Orchestra and then to perform in the concert at the St. Pölten Jazz Festival on the 27th. The program is challenging but looks like a lot of fun; it’s entitled “Murdering The Classics” and features, amongst other works, the Stan Kenton version of Bernstein’s West Side Story.

Looking ahead to October, Bryan expects to be returning to the USA with the Rat Pack US National Tour. Visa permitting, he will be visiting Salt Lake City, Utah and Tempe, Arizona.

In any of the locales he visits, Bryan is always available to teach Trumpet Lessons; something he’s been doing a lot of lately! If you’re interested in organising a lesson, please check the Calendar to see when he’s nearby and get in touch to set it up.

Bryan had a fantastic trip to Austria at the end of May, playing with Thomas Gansch and his band; Gansch & Roses. The first concert they played, at the Schagerl Brass Festival, was broadcast live online by TheMusicPage.com. We’re promised that, at some stage, highlights from that concert will be made available on their site. In the meantime, please enjoy this video of the band playing Thomas’ Bill Chase tribute – “Der Rock Des Trompeters” – from the gig at Porgy & Bess in Vienna.