Happy Birthday Clark Terry!

Aside by

A little late in the day, perhaps, but still in time to wish Clark Terry a very happy 91st birthday!

I had the tremendous honour, through my day job, of rebuilding Clark’s website, a few months ago. It’s so gratifying to see the communication from friends and fans, which is now possible due to the Guestbook and commenting features I intoduced. Clark has been such an inspiration to me for many years, and it’s wonderful that the thousands of others who share that artistic debt can now have a simple way to express it to him.

Mr Ho’s Orchestrotica – Aug 27 in Bethlehem, PA

Aside by

A quick reminder that I’m playing this coming Saturday, 27th August in Bethlehem, PA with the fabulous “Mr Ho’s Orchestrotica”. This 22 piece big band is dedicated to reviving the remarkable music of Juan Garcia Esquivel; considered by many to be Mexico’s answer to Duke Ellington! It’s a great band with a great book and I always have tremendous fun trying to play the ludicrous things written in the Lead Trumpet charts!

Details are as follows:
Musikfest Cafe @ ArtsQuest Center
101 Founders Way.
Bethlehem, PA
United States
7:30pm show.

Tickets are $42 & $32 and are available from the ArtsQuest Center website.

Hope to see you there!

Update: This event has been cancelled due to Hurricane Irene. The plan is to reschedule – details will be posted when we have them.

July ’11

Aside by

During the month of July, I’m home in New York; firmly ensconced in the usual routine of practising, teaching and playing rehearsals and gigs in and around the city. One exception, that takes me a little further afield, is a gig on July 10th up in Springfield, MA. On this occasion, I’ll be playing Lead Trumpet with Kendrick Oliver’s New Life Jazz Orchestra for their performance at the Hoop City Jazz and Art Festival. If you’re in the area, I hope to see you there – details are on my Schedule page.

Looking back to June, I had a great trip back to the UK, visiting family and friends and doing some playing and teaching. One highlight while I was there was resurrecting the “Quarter To Four” band at Grimsby Jazz. We had a great time playing and it was so nice to see so many old friends, both on and off the bandstand. I made a reference recording of the evening and have posted a couple of samples in my Soundcloud account – they are linked elsewhere on the site.

Just before I left for the UK, I spent a chop-bursting evening at the Tea Lounge in Brooklyn, attempting to play the lead book with The Chase Experiment. Bandleader Jackie Coleman has painstakingly transcribed much of the music of Chase; the iconic Trumpet-section-led Jazz/Rock group devised by former Woody Herman lead trumpet, Bill Chase. I’ve enjoyed that music for a long time and playing it gave me a new appreciation for what a monstrous player he was!

Upon my return to New York, I played with the Nathan Parker Smith Large Ensemble for the Jazz Vespers service at St Peter’s Church. Nathan has written some great, if slightly unconventional, music and it was tremendous fun to play something a bit different. I look forward to playing with them again soon.

Hope you’re having a great summer.

BD

Grimsby Jazz Audio Sample

Aside by

I had a great trip to the UK last week – it was long overdue to get back and visit family and friends! While I was there, I played a very fun gig with the “Quarter To Four” band at Grimsby Jazz. Named for the time at which this last minute replacement group was finalised before our last gig almost three years ago, we were invited to play again when the organisers at Grimsby Jazz heard I was coming over. It’s a fun sextet comprising some good friends of mine who also happen to be tremendous players!

I recorded the gig, for my own reference, and thought you might enjoy hearing a song from it – either because you weren’t there or were and (hopefully) enjoyed it! Here’s “Alone Together” by Dietz & Schwartz.

The musicians are:

Pat McCarthy – guitar
Piero Tucci – piano
Ken Marley – double bass
John Perry – drums
Bryan Davis – trumpet

The sixth member of the group is Tony Burkill on tenor sax, who chose not to play on this tune. I’ll upload one that he is featured on another time!