Following on from my descent into twitter (if you’re not following me already please do, I don’t really have many so far…) I’ve been keeping up with the 21st century by trying to get a decent mailing list system working and think I’ve finally cracked it! Sign up now for a periodic e-mail (not too often, promise!) about what we’ve been up to and what we will be up to in the near future. And if you do run into any problems with the form or anything else then let me know – one issue that I’ve found so far is that sometimes the confirmation e-mails get sorted into your junk folder, so maybe check there if it doesn’t arrive and add beatsnpieces.net to your list of allowed domains so it doesn’t happen again!
I’ll be sending the first mailing out in about a week so sign up now to make sure you don’t miss out…
We’ve been featured on the latest episode of the GetJazzical podcast, a series focusing on the very best contemporary classical and jazz music – check out their site here. They said about ‘bake’: “Straight from a 1950’s crime caper, seriously enjoyable bit of funky jazz. Love it.” Cheers guys!
We’re on from about 20.40 but check out the rest of the episode too, there’s some great music in there.
Posted by Ben on 29/01/2010 at 17:23 in news and tagged getjazzical. Leave comments here.
I decided resistance is futile and its about time that I started tweeting things… Obviously I have nobody to tweet to at the moment though, so follow me @beatsnpieces and I’ll try to make it vaguely interesting for you!
I’ve just put up a couple of gigs that have recently been confirmed for the coming months… There’s a few more in the pipeline too so keep checking the gigs page for the latest news!
4/02/10 The Spin Off, Bar Santiago, Leeds
21/05/10 The Forge Venue, Camden
We’ll also be playing at the Marlborough Jazz Festival over the weekend of the 9th July – exact day to be confirmed but should be a good one!
We’ve got another review of the EP, this time by Jazzwise contributor Chris Ackerley, writing on his blog, The Sound Of Now – cheers, Chris! You can read the post here, or the full text is posted below. You may also have read the review in the NWJazzworks newsletter, thats written by Chris. If you don’t already subscribe, its a great monthly roundup of all the jazz happenings in the region, so head over to NWJazzworks to sign-up!
Remember, the EP is still available to purchase (£5, handmade limited edition CD) or download for free/flexible price at the Efpi Records site, but if you’re after the limited edition CD then hurry as we’re fast running out!
From its explosive opening bars until its final lingering hum, the Beats & Pieces Big Band’s first EP is nothing less than a bombardment of the senses. The brainchild of Manchester based composer Ben Cottrell, this sizable affair unites the cream of Manchester’s emerging jazz talent, including Sam Andreae (t. sax), Fin Panter (dr), and Graham South (trp).
At its core the ensemble is traditional big band, but by cross-stitching a multitude of genres to its already rich tapestry of sound, something both unique and fresh has emerged. On tracks such as Yafw (part iii) there are reminisces of Quincy Jones’ more malevolent 1970s blaxploitation soundtracks; the underlying latino groove being almost chased along by the dangerously edgy horn section.
Elsewhere, the compositions also show a real elegant restraint, with classy arrangements that show the record’s maturity. This is most notable in the EP’s final track, Broken, which also manages to combine subtle electronic elements successfully. Bjork is evidently an influence, and here the highly lyrical playing is matched with an almost Nordic chill, which acts as calming digestif after some of the more frenzied earlier tracks.
This is a rich and colourful first CD that comfortably combines Hendrixesque guitar riffs, Herbie Hancock style funk, and even inflections of Eno’s ambient music. While for many groups this osmosis of ideas would produce a conflicting overall sound, Beats & Pieces Big Band have created something that’s both catchy and original.
Been seeing a few articles and mentions of Pat Metheny’s new project around, thought I’d share…
When I first saw this video I thought it was a bit underwhelming, it just seemed a bit pointless to me to have whats essentially a glorified MIDI controlled sound module and not use it to its full advantage… The player piano works of people like Conlon Nancarrow that Metheny talks about on his website were composed and developed because at the time humans weren’t considered physically and/or mentally capable of accurately realising their music due to the complex, often mathematical rhythms, or massive chords far beyond the capabilities of ten human fingers – at least in that preview video, there didn’t appear to be anything in that vein that humans couldn’t do? So I was a bit puzzled as to the musical point of the project, the technical point of the project obviously being the super geek coolness of programming and controlling hundreds of robotic arms.
But then I read this article in the Guardian that talks about Pat controlling everything in real time by sending MIDI messages through Ableton Live, and suddenly everything became a lot cooler… As far as I understand it, the plan is to be able to control the ensemble in such a way that he can improvise with himself each night – sounds like a technical nightmare and frankly a bit of a bitch for one man to control live on stage, but if he can pull it off its going to be amazing; musically, technically and visually. I’d love to go but at present the only tickets left for the Barbican gig are £65… Time to scour eBay I think.
(Incidentally, looking at the tour schedule on Metheny’s website, does anyone else find it disappointing that there’s loads of dates inside certain countries but still only one in the UK? Obviously this is not a fault of Metheny or his people but it seems quite common to me that people only play in London when they’re doing European tours and its a shame there isn’t enough of a demand amongst audiences and/or promoters to make gigs outside London commercially viable…)
Let me be the last person to wish you a happy new year! Hope Christmas and everything was good, its perhaps a bit late for that but its always nice to say it anyway… And whilst we’re being late check out the Efpi Christmas message here if you haven’t already, it’ll put you right in the mood all over again.
Thought now would be an excellent time to recap all the stuff from the end of 2009 that I’ve been meaning to post, just to close everything off nicely. First of all, I’ve just uploaded a load of photos from the EP launch night on 2nd December to the gallery; the pictures were all taken by Martin Wilson and they’re really good so check them out now… I think that this one is my favourite.
Also it was my birthday just before Christmas, and wanted to share with you this picture of my amazing birthday cake – remind you of anything?? Thanks Lucy!
am now a fully qualified rhodes technician! well, I can replace a tine... does that count? its almost in tune as well - 12 hours ago
also don't forget to subscribe to Beats & Pieces newsletter if u haven't already; it'll be sent out tomorrow so hurry! http://bit.ly/9oQ59u - 1 day ago
