Just a reminder that we’ve got our first gigs of 2013 coming up over the next couple of weeks – firstly we’re up in Lancaster on Thursday February 7th for our first gig in the North of England for ages, and then its over to Dublin to take part in the really exciting 12 Points festival! We’ll be playing on the festival’s last night (Saturday 16th) but if you’re in town you should really check out the whole week from Wednesday 13th – check out the video below for a sneak peek of what’s in store…
And get your tickets in now! For both Lancaster and 12 Points – see you there
Posted by on 30/01/2013 at 19:27 in gigs and tagged 12 points, dublin, february, gigs, ireland, lancaster, lica. Leave comments here.
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!
Posted by on 22/02/2012 at 14:01 in gigs, news and tagged album, big ideas, gigs, photos, rncm, ronnie scott's. Leave comments here.
I’ve put up details of our first few gigs in 2011, both of which are really exciting! Our first appearance of the year will be at the legendary Ronnie Scott’s club in London on Wednesday 19th January, in a double bill with the amazing Get The Blessing. Tickets are £10-£21.50 and can be obtained here. If you’re planning on coming, say hello on the facebook event and we’ll see you there…
I’m also really pleased to announce that we’ve been selected as one of five finalists in the European Young Artists’ Jazz Award, the final of which will be held in Burghausen in Germany at the end of March. The winner will perform at the B-jazz festival, which has a great lineup already including Chick Corea & Gary Burton, Joe Lovano and Helge Sunde. Although we’ve got some small financial support from the competition to get there, with 14 people to get across the continent its still going to cost us a fair bit so please consider downloading or buying our music or making a donation via the button on the right to support our travels!
Posted by on 13/01/2011 at 16:12 in gigs, news and tagged 2011, burghausen, europe, germany, gigs, london, ronnie scott's. 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.
In one of my pontificating moods the other day I came across this article (via A Blog Supreme) by an American saxophonist called Greg Osby, talking about suitable attire for jazz musicians on a gig. It got me thinking a little bit about what we wear for Beats & Pieces gigs – I normally just tell the band to wear something comfortable and similar to what they normally wear, which is exactly what Osby doesn’t like… Obviously I can only comment on myself, but some of the things he particularly doesn’t like to see are:
…all of which I have been known to exhibit. I take issue with the unwashed hair though – messy and unkempt it may be but its always washed!
All joking aside, I’d be genuinely interested in your comments regarding this issue and Beats & Pieces specifically. Does our less formal dress detract from our performance? Is the sight of my arse appearing over the top of my jeans personally offensive? Personally I’m of the impression that the music we play isn’t ‘just’ jazz influenced, and contains strong influences from rock and pop music where casual dress for gigs seems to be the norm. Osby says that people see you before they hear you and gain an impression from that, but I feel that if we were to arrive for a gig dressed in 1950s suits then the impression that would be given off wouldn’t be representative of the music we play and are influenced by. But like I say I do really want to know what you think, and maybe the next time you see us we’ll all put our glad rags on…
Below are some pictures for comparison of Greg Osby looking razor sharp (and quite pleased about it actually) and me looking arguably less so…
Posted by on 24/10/2009 at 12:47 in misc and tagged bums, clothes, dress, gigs, greg, jazz, osby. Leave comments here.
Copyright © 2010 Beats & Pieces Big Band
Enormous Wordpress theme by Upstart Blogger Ashley Morgan.
