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!

In January we played our first gig of 2011 and our first gig at Ronnie Scott’s in London, a gig that we all really enjoyed and that seemed to go down well too… Then in March we were off to Germany (kindly supported by the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund) to compete in the final of the European Young Artists’ Jazz Award in Burghausen – which we won! This meant that we got a giant novelty cheque (below) and the honour of opening the Burghausen Jazzwoche, performing a full set before Chick Corea & Gary Burton in a concert that was recorded for TV and radio. We all had an amazing time in when we were over in Germany, check out some of the best photos here (or if you’re really keen, here’s the complete gallery from days 1, 2, 3 & 4).

The next major thing on the horizon for us was in June when we played a really special gig at Band on the Wall in Manchester that was recorded and released as an extremely limited edition live DVD in October. We’ve still got a few left – head on over to our shop to get your hands on one! Here’s one of the tracks:

Over the summer we played in Norwich, in a field in Cheshire, and had a great day at Mostly Jazz in Birmingham, and then in August we were invited back to Ronnie Scott’s for their annual celebration of all things British in a double bill with the amazing Kairos 4tet - again this was another brilliant night, with some really nice reviews!

At the beginning of November we were busy recording our debut full length album, which was a hectic few days to say the least… Its all come together nicely though, and will be out in February – more information to follow shortly! Here’s us all at the end of the session at Livingston Studios in London with producer Tony Platt and engineer Simone Filiali – more photos from the weekend in our gallery here and on our tumblr blog here.

Finally, we ended our year at the London Jazz Festival with an amazing gig at Kings Place which was a fantastic way to round off 2011! As for 2012, we’ve already announced some gigs at some lovely venues and as I’ve mentioned above, our album will be released in February – its already shaping up to be an exciting year. Thanks for your support in 2011 and we hope you enjoy what we’ve got lined up for you in 2012!

Hope it gets you in the festive spirit!

Firstly you’ll be able to hear a track from our forthcoming live EP for the first time ever anywhere in the world on Mike Chadwick’s Cutting Edge show on Jazz FM from 10pm TONIGHT! (Sunday 9th). Mike is also in charge at Band on the Wall in Manchester, where we recorded the EP in June and where we’ll be launching it with another special gig on Thursday 20th October – get your tickets in NOW…

Secondly, very pleased to announce that we’re heading into the studio next month to record for a new full length album which will be released early next year – can’t wait to get in there and get started!

As many will know, we were in Burghausen to play in the final of the European Young Artists’ Jazz Award, which we were fortunate enough to win! Applications are now open for next year’s competition, and I can’t recommend it highly enough – its an amazing opportunity for any emerging acts. The deadline is November 1st, all the info is here. Good luck!

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…!

Also I have a few posters left over so if you’d like one, just make a donation of £3 or more to cover postage using the yellow ‘Donate’ button on the right (include your address) and I’ll send you one – first come first served!

This first one was taken by Robert Piffer, a photographer from Burghausen. Think its great how he’s managed to fit the entire band into one shot, and especially with me being mid air at the time!

This one I like for the posing going on – all very boy band…

I think this one captures how we were all feeling whilst watching the other bands in the competition after we’d played our set – pretty nervous to say the least

…whilst this one captures how we were feeling after it was announced that we’d won! (photo again by Robert Piffer)

And I like this one as you get a feel for how beautiful a place Burghausen is – sun was shining, by the river, castle at the top of the hill… Nick and Owen just look like they’re taking it all in!

Finally wanted to put up this video of us walking down the main street in Burghausen, which has plaques of all the jazz greats that have played at their festival over its 42 years – its incredible the names that are there. Playing over the video is some audio recorded when we played before Chick Corea and Gary Burton, recorded by Bayern2 radio.

Thanks again to everyone at B-Jazz for treating us so well, and thanks to everyone we met in and around Burghausen! Hopefully be back soon…