I went down to Birmingham on Saturday for the Mostly Jazz festival, which was a really great event – highlights of the day were Led Bib, Polar Bear and headliners the Sun Ra Arkestra. Thought I’d put up some of the pictures and video I took of the Arkestra’s set, it was awesome…(video bit shaky in places as I was dancing, sorry!)
The Arkestra are at Cafe Oto in London tonight and tomorrow (5th and 6th) so if you’re in the big smoke make sure you’re there!
Posted by on 05/07/2010 at 18:47 in misc and tagged birmingham, festival, led bib, mostly jazz, polar bear, sun ra, sun ra arkestra, youtube. Leave comments here.
Excited about the Manchester Jazz Festival next month! Check out the youtube video above for a preview of what the festival is about, and keep an eye on the website at manchesterjazz.com in the next few days as the full lineup will be revealed very soon. Pleased to officially announce that we’ll be playing on the closing night of the festival on Saturday 31st July at the festival pavilion in Albert Square – this will be a bit of a party for us too as it will officially end our tour, back at the scene of our first ever gig at the festival only two years ago… See you there!
Posted by on 24/06/2010 at 09:51 in gigs, misc, news and tagged gig, jazz festival, manchester, mjf. Leave comments here.
Probably should have posted this a bit sooner (sorry…) but wanted to write to say what an amazing time we had in South Wales last Tuesday and Wednesday! Thanks to Alistair and the team at Dempseys in Cardiff and to Dave and everyone at Swansea Jazzland for having us, we really enjoyed ourselves and hope you and the audience did too – hopefully be back soon…
We spent the day in between the two gigs camping and hanging out in the countryside outside Carmarthen at Sam Andreae’s uncle’s amazing house (thanks again for hosting us Mike & Celia!), complete with ping-pong, pool, darts, bbq, campfire and lake – equipped with rowing boat and kayak. Hopefully more photos of our exploits to come, but these videos of Sam Healey (saxophone) and Paul Strachan (bass trombone) attempting to get to grips with the kayak should give you some idea of what we got up to!
Once again, cheers to everyone we met – can’t wait til we come back!
Posted by on 16/06/2010 at 20:16 in gigs, misc, news and tagged cardiff, carmarthen, dempseys, jazzland, kayak, paul strachan, sam healey, swansea, tour, wales, youtube. Leave comments here.
So we’ve now kicked off the tour with gigs in Manchester and Camden which were awesome, and are looking forward to the next leg of gigs beginning this weekend! We’ll be taking in the Groove on the Green festival in Liverpool (Saturday 5th June, onstage 2.15pm til 3pm), before setting off to Dempseys in Cardiff (Tuesday 8th) and Jazzland in Swansea (Wednesday 9th). It’d be great to see you at some of the gigs – if the last two were anything to go by they’ll be amazing nights!
Also we’ve now only got 12 copies left of the limited edition run of 100 handmade EPs so if you’ve still not got one make sure you order one asap or you’ll miss out! No more will be made once we’ve sold all 100, and the EP will also no longer be available for free download. Order now here.
ps note that good friends Go Go Penguin (formally known as the Chris Illingworth Trio) will be playing at Groove on the Green on Sunday 6th so check that out too!
Posted by on 02/06/2010 at 21:57 in gigs, news and tagged cardiff, dempseys, ep, gogo penguin, groove on the green, jazzland, liverpool, swansea. Leave comments here.
Sorry I’ve been a little slow to post this on the site but I’ve been a busy boy with the beginning of our tour last week, slipped my mind… Anyway, the 3rd edition of the Beats & Pieces newsletter was delivered to mailboxes across the internet last week, and if you STILL haven’t signed up to receive it in yours you can read it online here. Once you’ve read it, make sure you sign up here.
Posted by on 24/05/2010 at 13:11 in news and tagged mailing list, newsletter. Leave comments here.
You may have seen cryptic messages on myspace & facebook referring to a secret gig somewhere in Manchester on Thursday 20th May… Well its finally time to let the cat out of the bag!
We’ll be playing in a big band double bill with the wonderful Alice Zawadzki who’ll be showing off her brand new 18 piece Sky Project, a collaboration with the equally wonderful Jo McCallum. You’ll also get to hear the exciting Sam Rapley/Adam Chatterton quartet.
The evening will be held at the West Didsbury Conservative Club, Burton Road, M20 2LN (map) and will begin at 8pm. Entry will be free, but we will be accepting donations if you enjoy the music!
See you there…
Posted by on 14/05/2010 at 12:04 in b&p friends, gigs, news and tagged adam chatterton, alice zawadzki, gig, jo mccallum, sam rapley, sky project, west didsbury. Leave comments here.
If you’re a subscriber to the Beats & Pieces mailing list you’ll already have heard about this from the latest newsletter but if not, I hope you’ll be as excited as we are about our upcoming tour dates all over England and Wales! Dates as they stand are as follows:
Friday 21st May – The Forge, Camden (info & tickets)
Saturday 5th June – Groove on the Green, Liverpool (info)
Tuesday 8th June – Dempseys, Cardiff (info)
Wednesday 9th June – Jazzland, Swansea (info & tickets)
Thursday 1st July – Bridgewater Hall (bar), Manchester (free gig after RNCM Symphony Orchestra perform music by Jonny Greenwood & Stravinsky – info)
Saturday 10th July – Marlborough Jazz Festival (info & tickets)
For more information check out the individual venue websites as listed below or the gigs page. You can also join the facebook group for the tour here.
We’ll also be playing with the Jo McCallum & Alice Zawadski Orchestra at a secret venue in Manchester on Thursday 20th May… Location to be revealed a few days before on this site, twitter, myspace and facebook – keep those eyes peeled!
It’d be awesome to see you down the front at one (or more…) of the dates, do come and say hi! We’re all well excited and counting down the days, not long now…
p.s. thanks again to the amazing Angela Guyton for letting us use her artwork again for the poster!
Posted by on 30/04/2010 at 11:54 in gigs, news and tagged bridgewater, camden, cardiff, dempseys, forge, jazzland, liverpool. groove on the green, london, manchester, marlborough, swansea, tour, uk. Leave comments here.
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