Schedule Update

Aside by

I’ve just updated the Schedule page with the Rat Pack dates until July. We seem to have quite an extensive UK tour on the go! There may be some changes as the year goes on – I’m hoping to be back with the Andy Prior Big Band on some of their dates during the year and also with The Allied Big Band on their summer dates accompanying Peter Dinsley.

It’s been great to back with the UK band for our week in Belfast this week. It’s so much easier when you don’t have to worry whether people know what’s coming next or not!! We play Glasgow’s Theatre Royal next week before the return to the USA – we’ll see how the band is in Nashville!

Site Fixes Occuring!

Aside by

We’ve just updated to the newest version of WordPress, the management software on which this site is built, and it’s caused a couple of things to go wrong. So far, we’re aware that the Links page isn’t working and also that the Discography page seems to have fouled up. If you spot anything that’s wrong, please contact Bryan and let him know about it. We’ll be fixing all this stuff up over the next day or so. Full service will be resumed very soon!

Update: It’s now all fixed!! Enjoy…

TFJO CD Now Available

Aside by

The CD we recorded last June with the Tony Faulkner Jazz Orchestra; “Thad Jones and the Ellington Effect”, is now out in the wild!! Tony explains:

“Thad Jones and the Ellington Effect” is a seven part suite of pieces based on the chapters of a Masters dissertation completed some years ago and in which I attempted to show how Thad Jones had been influenced by Duke Ellington both in his writing and arranging, and in the way in which he used the jazz Orchestra he co-led with drummer Mel Lewis from 1966 to 1979.

The CD is available from Amazon in the UK and CD Baby in the US. The music will also be available for Digital Download from iTunes, Napster and all the other usual suspects before long. More info as I have it.

Buy “Thad Jones and the Ellington Effect” from Amazon.co.uk
Buy “Thad Jones and the Ellington Effect” from CD Baby.

You can also keep up with the latest news about the TFJO on MySpace.

Sir Stan Tracey??

Aside by

There’s a current petition doing the rounds to nominate Stan Tracey, the great British Jazz Pianist, for a Knighthood or similar honour, in recognition of his long and distinguished career.

If you’re interested you can sign up online, just visit the following link for more information.

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/StanTracey/

I think it’s great to have an opportunity to not only honour a fine musician, but to have another means of bringing the existence of a Jazz audience to the attention of the powers that be.

Yet More Rat Pack Dates!!

Aside by

The Rat Pack dates just keep on coming!! I discovered today that we have a veritable plethora of UK dates which fit very handily into the gaps in the US Tour! I’ve just updated the Schedule with those dates up to the end of April 2007. More to follow shortly…