Whilst exploring some other jazz blogs I thought it might be nice for me to try to blog about things other than shamelessly plugging Beats & Pieces related stuff all the time – on that note I thought I’d mention some of the things that I’ve been listening to recently, and this list features three big bands that you should definitely check out…
Some of you may know that my Efpi Records co-founder Sam Andreae is studying across Scandinavia at the moment, currently in Aarhus. He sent me back a CD of an amazing Danish band called the Blood, Sweat, Drum n Bass Big Band and I’ve been listening to it quite a lot… Check them out on myspace (Redrum/Asa Nisi Masa is particularly cool) or there’s a taster video of their live show below.
One of my biggest musical heroes is Django Bates, and I was really excited when I heard that he was releasing a live recording of Loose Tubes, the band that bred a whole generation of British jazz musicians including Julian Arguelles, Steve Berry, Mark Lockheart and Iain Ballamy, whose music up til now has only been available on second hand vinyl (I got mine on eBay…). That CD, called ‘Dancing on Frith Street‘ is now out (as of today in fact) and I’ve been playing it constantly since it arrived with me on Saturday due to the eagerness of HMV to deliver – cheers!
Also while browsing the London Jazz Festival programme it was a nice surprise to see that Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society are coming over from New York. I first heard about Darcy and his band about 18 months ago and their debut CD ‘Infernal Machines’ is great – you can also download full recordings of their live gigs from their website. Secret Society are playing at Cafe Oto on Thursday 18th November, see you there…
P.S. I couldn’t mention the London Jazz Festival without pointing out that we’ll also be playing… Sunday 21st November, 7pm, Spice of Life in Soho!
Posted by on 27/09/2010 at 23:28 in misc and tagged blood sweat drum n bass, darcy james argue, django bates, london jazz festival, loose tubes, secret society, youtube. Leave comments here.
I’m very excited to officially announce that we’ll be touring England in November 2010, playing in Leicester, Liverpool, Leeds, London, Sheffield and ending in Manchester. If you’ve been paying close attention to the gigs page on the website or myspace, you’ll know the details already but if not, the dates and venues are as follows:
Sunday 7th November – Y Theatre, Leicester
Monday 15th November – Studio 2, Parr St Studios, Liverpool
Tuesday 16th November – The Wardrobe, Leeds
Sunday 21st November – Spice of Life, Soho (London Jazz Festival)
Wednesday 24th November – Lescar, Sheffield
Saturday 27th November – Matt & Phreds, Manchester
For full details including venue addresses, ticket prices and times, check the gigs page. See you down the front!
Posted by on 22/09/2010 at 17:32 in gigs, news and tagged england, gigs, leeds, leicester, liverpool, london, london jazz festival, manchester, november, sheffield, tour. Leave comments here.
After hearing loads of good things (including lots from our friends at Concrete Moniker who’ve been using it for a while), I’ve moved the whole operation over to Bandcamp. Ultimately this will lead to the EP no longer being available for free download, although if you still haven’t grabbed it during the 9+ months that its been free you can still do so from Bandcamp – for a limited time only so be quick! – but even once we start charging to download, you’ll still be able to stream it in full for free. You have to give your email address to download, which will mean that you will be added to our mailing list, but of course you will always have the option to unsubscribe at any point. You’ll also notice the newly reissued EP is available to buy and there’s pictures of it in all its glory – exciting!
I’ve been a bit slack recently with recording live gigs for free download (sorry), but I’m planning to get right back on it for upcoming gigs – live recordings will always be there to download free of charge, although of course you’ll always be able to make a donation…
Check out our Bandcamp site here, and as always I’d be interested to hear any comments (good or bad) about the new system – get in touch by emailing info@beatsnpieces.net
Posted by on at 17:20 in news, site and tagged bandcamp, download, ep. Leave comments here.
Over the bank holiday weekend I finally managed to get some pictures uploaded from the tour over the summer – a couple of selected favourites are below but there’s loads more in the gallery. I also got bored and made a video of what we got up to in Wales between the gigs, I’ve been told its vaguely entertaining so check it out… Also who knew ‘sustenance’ was spelt like that?
groove on the green, liverpool 05/06/10
Graham in Wales
bridgewater hall, manchester, 01/07/10
I also made these little animations from the Bridgewater photos, mainly for my own entertainment. Each is a little disconcerting in its own unique way…
Posted by on 05/09/2010 at 13:26 in gigs, misc and tagged animation, anton hunter, graham south, owen bryce, paul strachan, pictures, sam healey, tim cox, video, youtube. Leave comments here.
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