Thanks to everyone who came down to our gig at Turner Sims in Southampton over the weekend, it was a great way to kick off our tour! It was also the first time that copies of ‘Big Ideas‘ were available for sale, so a pretty exciting moment for us…
Thought I’d share this photo of Anthony and Simon in our ‘tour bus’ on our journey down – we’ll be trying to post as many pictures, videos and other interesting things as we can. Keep an eye on our tumblr page which is where we’ll upload most stuff, or follow @beatspiecesband on twitter where all the tumblr posts will be automatically tweeted – for a more personal touch follow me (Ben) @beatsnpieces
See you at the next gig in Manchester on Feb 16th!
Posted by on 30/01/2012 at 22:35 in gigs, misc and tagged manchester, rncm, southampton, tour, tumblr, turner sims. Leave comments here.
Delighted and very excited to finally be able to reveal full details of our brand new album! Here’s the low down: its called Big Ideas and will be released on 12th March 2012 on Efpi Records. It features 8 tracks, recorded with producer Tony Platt in London late last year – some of the tracks you may recognise from our live shows, some you won’t!
It’ll be available for pre-order on the Efpi shop and other retailers very soon (join our mailing list to be alerted when its available), but until then we’ve put up a track that you can listen to and download for free – just click here… Its called jazzwalk and is a new track named after the Street of Fame in Burghausen, where we won the European Young Artists’ Jazz Award last year, and features storming solos from Sam Healey on alto saxophone and Anton Hunter on guitar.
If the track whets your appetite to hear more, we’re kicking off a UK tour produced by Serious in a couple of weeks in Southampton, followed by album launch gigs in Manchester and London in February – its our first album, we’re allowed to have two launch parties! In the unlikely event you needed any extra encouragement to come along to any of those dates, the album will be on sale at those gigs in advance of the official March release date. Full details below…
28th January – Turner Sims, Southampton (details/tickets)
16th February – RNCM, Manchester (details/tickets)
20th February – Ronnie Scott’s, London (details/tickets)
24th March – The Sage, Gateshead (Gateshead International Jazz Festival) (details/tickets)
28th March – Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple (details/tickets)
Posted by on 13/01/2012 at 16:37 in gigs, news and tagged album, big ideas, tour. Leave comments here.
Really excited to announce our first set of dates in the UK in 2012 – in these first 5 dates we’ll be travelling the length of England from Southampton to Gateshead, with stops in Barnstaple, London and Manchester along the way. The Manchester and London gigs will also be launch events for our debut album (released in the same week as the gigs), both held at venues very close to our hearts…
Full list of 2012 dates (so far…) as follows:
28th January – Turner Sims, Southampton (details/tickets)
16th February – RNCM, Manchester (details/tickets)
20th February – Ronnie Scott’s, London (details/tickets)
24th March – The Sage, Gateshead (Gateshead International Jazz Festival) (details/tickets)
28th March – Queen’s Theatre, Barnstaple (details/tickets)
More dates to be announced so keep an eye on our gigs page, and full details on the album release to follow very very soon…
Posted by on 13/12/2011 at 13:35 in gigs, news and tagged 2012, barnstaple, gateshead, gateshead international jazz festival, london, manchester, queen's theatre, rncm, ronnie scott's, sage, southampton, turner sims. Leave comments here.
Our new live EP recorded at the legendary Band on the Wall venue in Manchester is available to download NOW! Head on over to our shop to take a listen or check it out below… You also get a pdf photo album included with the download with 10 great shots by Martin Wilson of us during the soundcheck and the gig back in June.
Don’t forget that the EP launch is Thursday 20th October back at Band on the Wall (where else!) and it’ll be an amazing night – get your tickets in now, they’re cheaper in advance. Also if you’re coming down, say hello on our facebook event!
You’ll also have seen that we’re releasing an extremely limited edition DVD alongside the download which will initially be available exclusively at gigs – you’ve seen pictures of the box, now its time for a preview of the video! Check out queen spark below…
See you on Thursday! We start at 8pm sharp, don’t be late…
Posted by on 17/10/2011 at 11:03 in gigs, news and tagged band on the wall, dvd, live ep, party, youtube. Leave comments here.
Very excited to announce details of the release of a live EP next month, which was recorded in June at Band on the Wall in Manchester. You’ll be able to download it from our online shop on Monday 17th October, and there will be an extremely limited edition physical release available alongside the download – more details to follow soon!
We’ll be launching this EP with a big old knees up back at Band on the Wall on Thursday 20th October – tickets available NOW… If you were there in June for the recording, you’ll know that it was a really special night and this promises to be another amazing evening. This will also be our last Manchester date of 2011 which has been an incredible year for us (European Young Artists’ Jazz Award, Ronnie Scott’s twice, live recording etc etc!) so there’ll definitely be a party atmosphere!
See you there…
Posted by on 21/09/2011 at 13:57 in gigs, news and tagged band on the wall, ep, manchester, party. Leave comments here.
I’ve just uploaded a load of pictures from our gig at Band on the Wall in June – there’s few below but check out the rest in our photo gallery. As well as photos from the gig, we also had a quick photoshoot in the morning while microphones were being set up for the recording, and I’ve also uploaded the pick of the bunch from that! All photos are by the rather excellent Martin Wilson.
Also keep an ear to the ground for news about the recording from the night, which you’ll be able to hear very very soon…!
Posted by on 14/09/2011 at 11:59 in gigs, misc and tagged band on the wall, martin wilson, photos. Leave comments here.
I know its been a couple of weeks since the gig so this is a massively delayed post (I’ve been moving house, its been a nightmare…) but still wanted to write something because it was such a great night! We had loads of fun playing, the Kairos 4tet were awesome too, and everyone we met was lovely – except the trigger happy Soho traffic wardens, but thats another story…
Picture above by Sam Healey
There were a few really nice reviews that I thought I’d share too – I’ve taken out some quotes below and there’s a link to the full article as well:
Beats & Pieces reminded us that jazz can be pleasingly vulgar… few bands play work of this complexity with such passionate conviction. Movers and shakers such as [Colin] Towns, Matthew Herbert, Darcy James Argue and [Ben] Cottrell demonstrate that large ensembles remain a vital force in contemporary jazz.
John L Walters, The Guardian
Beats & Pieces dazzled with a glorious, full-bloodied set demonstrating all that’s good about big band jazz. The big band tradition is alive and well and living in Manchester.
Selwyn Harris, Jazzwise
Anton Hunter’s overdrive-guitar gave the rhythm section grunge and the soloists, notably altoist Sam Healey, trumpeter Nick Walters and adventurous pianist Patrick Hurley, brimmed with the fearlessness of youth
Jack Massarik, London Evening Standard
Thanks again to everyone at Ronnie’s for having us and to everyone in the audience (many travelling a fair few miles!) for being amazing… If you missed out this time, we’re back in town in November at Kings Place during the London Jazz Festival, tickets available NOW! See you then…
Posted by on 19/08/2011 at 17:35 in gigs, news and tagged brit jazz fest, evening standard, guardian, jack massarik, jazzwise, john l walters, kairos 4tet, london, ronnie scott's, selwyn harris. Leave comments here.
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