Beats & Pieces Big Band » gigs

jazz on 3 tomorrow & ronnie’s reviews

Ben — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 10:14:15 +0000

Just a reminder that we’ll be featured on BBC Jazz on 3 TOMORROW (Monday 27th) from 11pm – there’ll be tracks recorded live at our RNCM gig a couple of weeks ago as well as a quick delve into my iPod shuffle with Jez Nelson… Anything could come up, you’ll have to tune in to find out what did! If you miss the live broadcast it’ll be available on the iPlayer for 7 days.

There will also be a couple of tracks from Big Ideas played on Helen Mayhew‘s Jazz FM show later this afternoon from 1pm along with a short chat with me about the band and the new album – again this will be available on demand via the link above should you miss the live broadcast.

Finally we were all really pleased to read some really amazing reviews of the Big Ideas launch show at Ronnie Scott’s earlier in the week – thanks once again to everyone for selling out the place and making it such a special night! Check out the Serious blog for a full roundup of everything. Below is a picture of Nick who was already pretty excited about the evening’s gig even before our soundcheck! (picture taken by Owen Bryce)

album launch shows – thank you!

Ben — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 14:01:54 +0000

Wow – we’ve had an amazing time over the past few days with launch shows for Big Ideas in Manchester at the RNCM and in London at a sold-out Ronnie Scott’s, thanks very much to everyone who made them such special nights! The RNCM gig was recorded for BBC Jazz on 3, check out the broadcast this coming Monday (27th February) at 11pm which will also feature a look through the music on my iPod… Make sure you listen in to see what came up on shuffle!

Here’s some photos from the RNCM gig and soundcheck taken by Peter Fay – there’s plenty more on our photos page. I’ll put up some stuff from the Ronnie’s gig over the next few days when I’ve had chance to recover… But thanks once again for being so good to us!

RNCM album launch preview

Ben — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:42:05 +0000

Ahead of the first of the launch shows for Big Ideas in Manchester next week, I did a short interview with the guys from the RNCM about our influences and our beginnings in Manchester – check it out below. Should also say that I had a cold at the time hence the slightly snotty quality to my voice, sorry…

Southampton

Ben — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 22:35:47 +0000

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!

big ideas

Ben — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 16:37:16 +0000

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)

2012 gigs – part 1

Ben — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:35:47 +0000

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…

live EP available now!

Ben — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 10:03:05 +0000

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.

Live @ Band on the Wall by Beats & Pieces Big Band

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…

band on the wall EP release & launch party

Ben — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 12:57:24 +0000

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…

band on the wall pictures

Ben — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 10:59:52 +0000

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…!

Ronnie Scott’s – 3rd August

Ben — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 16:35:24 +0000

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…