Autumn calling

Just back from a much-needed break in the sun...phew. That should see me through the winter! It's now time to get my thinking cap on and crack on with the album - will post more on that soon. In the meantime, I need some sleep...

The Troubadour and other gigs

So, the Troubadour gig went well on Tuesday - lots of positive feedback from the audience, and on the whole, the band were sounding pretty good - even if I do say so myself! Thank you to everyone who came and supported, for making it such a great night. Among the many friends and supporters that were there, it was good to see a few fellow musos in the crowd - Steve Lawson, Kate and Jo from punk band the Rude Mechanicals and Chris Rodgers of Combustible Alarms (mentioned here last post). I also ran into pianist Mike Gorman, who played on one of very first gigs ever in East London, many moons ago. Funny how things come around again, isn't it?

I also did a solo slot last night at a mixed poetry and music night at the Cross Kings in, believe it or not, Kings Cross. Nice bit of wordplay for you there, appropriately for a poetry night. It was an interesting night - I forgot that poets like to talk about sex, in fairly graphic terms. Not that I'm a prude - it's just that you don't really hear that sort of language in every day life, and it comes as a sort of surprise when you do. Reminded me of the various English teachers and professors I've had, who always seemed to want to focus on the sexy bits of a novel or book! Of course, not everyone was talking about sex...in fact, Scottish writer Angela Cleland did a very stylish set, showing how good performance poetry can be when you give it a bit of thought and let your personality shine through.

Today saw me doing a bit of session work for an advert pitch, which was fun. Although it's not what you might call "artistic" in the stereotypical sense of the word, it's interesting to get into the discipline of using my voice in quite a specific way. Whereas with my own stuff, I sing it however I like, and how I think will suit the song, singing for an advert is completely different - it's all about what the client wants and trying to get your voice to fit into that mold. I guess if I was doing it all the time, it could get tiring, but for now, I can think of a lot worse ways to earn a crust!

Combustible sounds

Saw a fab gig the other night, courtesy of Chris Rodgers' big band, the Combustible Alarms, in Stoke Newington, north London. So many musical textures and harmonies to get your ears around, and all done so tastefully, as well. There were arrangements of songs by Frank Zappa, Jimi Hendrix and Paco de Lucia, as well as originals by Chris himself. These days you hardly ever see a big band in the UK, unless it's the BBC big band, or similar outfit playing the swinging songs you'd probably expect to hear, which is all well and good. But if you want to hear how amazing and fresh a contemporary big band can sound, check out their next gig.

In other news, Steve Lawson and I did our first New Standard-type set in a long while at a Freedom of Expression night. It was good fun to get those songs together again and remember - hey! We made some nice arrangements. It also keeps me on my toes, just having a bass as accompaniment - not much room for fluffing your notes when there's no piano / guitar to hide behind! Also, when you've got multiple echoes of your voice coming back at you because of the looping, it's a whole other experience.

I also saw a cool little gig at Ray's Jazz, Soho, this weekend - Jon Regen playing a solo set promoting his new album (Let It Go). I really like Jon's piano playing - he's got a great pedigree, having accompanied Jimmy Scott for years, but now he's performing in his own right, playing and singing his own songs. I guess you could say his songs are in the crossover between jazz and pop, which is the kind of territory I'm into. So it was great to see a top-class, New York pianist doing his thing in that genre.

The Troubadour, Freedom of Expression and The Space

Been doing quite a few solo gigs lately with just me on the piano. It's been interesting. You hear the songs in a different light. Sometimes, I'm not so sure I like that different light (it's always more exposing to play on your own with no band to hide behind!), but it's definitely more intimate, and that's always a good thing.

In fact, my last gig at the Beatroot Rendezvous night at the Space went down really well. It helped that there was a beautiful grand piano there. And an appreciative audience. One guy told me he thought my set was very "uplifting", which is exactly the sort of effect I want to have!

Of the other acts, I particularly enjoyed Pete Roe, a guitarist-pianist-singer from Bristol with a fantastic voice. Also, Jules Levy did a very warm - in fact, uplifting! - set at the end, playing some bluegrass-type songs, with a banjo and guitar set-up.

I'm now gearing up for my gig at the Troubadour next week with the band. Hooray! Should be good - I've never played the Troubadour before, but I went there last week to see a friend play, so now I'm all psyched up!

In the meantime, though, I'm slotting in a set at Freedom of Expression tomorrow, playing some other material entirely. Steve Lawson is also on the gig doing his own set, so it seemed a good opportunity to revisit some of those New Standard tunes we did last year in Edinburgh, in my set. I'm just trying to decide which tunes to do - Slipknot, Green Day, The Cure...? The choice is endless!