Jazz at Trinity, Cygnus Flare, Caroline Scott Trio, MO Jazz Orchestra, Guru snare, BBC Elstree conce
The first month of my Masters jazz drums course at Trinity is done and there has been loads of music happening every day - it's been great! My band Cygnus Flare played last night at Oliver's jazz bar in Greenwich, which is a really nice basement jazz bar right by the college so there are a lot of Trinity based events happening regularly there. On Monday there was a Caroline Scott Trio gig featuring amazing local musicians John Turville on piano and Amy Baldwin on double bass where we played 10 tunes I've written recently for piano trio as well as some standards. Developing these compositions is the aim for my Masters project, and the band played them beautifully.
This Sunday I'm looking forward to playing with the MO Jazz Orchestra at the Vortex jazz club in Dalston, we're doing some roasty charts - including a couple of Tower of Power tunes and a couple of arrangements from Cowboy Bebop. Next Wednesday, 25th October, I'm looking forward to playing some tunes with the Trinity Composer's Jazz Orchestra featuring Steve Waterman on trumpet and Andrea Vicary on piano at Blackheath Halls - the band will play all original compositions, including one I wrote recently for big band.
I've been enjoying rehearsing at the BBC Maida Vale Studios with the BBC Elstree Concert Band, we have a concert in a couple of weeks (on Nov 8th) in Elstree.
Rehearsals are also underway with the Amati Orchestra - next month we're playing Bernstein's Symphonic Dances, West Side Story and Elgar's Symphony No 2, here are more details:
The swing band I play with, David McTea and the Swinging Magpies, have started a new residency swing dancing night at Moustache Bar in Dalston.. here's David in action!!
In other exciting news, I went to the Manchester drum show and picked up this brand new and amazing Guru snare drum, built in the UK from west African padauk wood. Many thanks to Andy Crosby at Guru for helping me with choosing the ideal snare!
I also really enjoyed meeting and playing with a new Tomorrow's Warriors based group, called the Female Frontline - loads of talented young jazz musicians here! And also really enjoyed a gig with singer Nicola Milan, playing her original jazz and hip hop tunes.
