Beats & Pieces Big Band » rncm

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!

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…

jazz on 3

Ben — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:46:52 +0000

I was lucky enough last night to attend the live broadcast of BBC Jazz on 3 from Band on the Wall in Manchester, featuring live sets from Arun Ghosh, Stuart McCallum and Simcock/Walker/Swallow/Nussbaum (pictured below). Jez also played a few tracks from artists performing at this year’s Manchester Jazz Festival including a track of ours which was really exciting! Listen again for the next 7 days here – the Simcock/Walker/Swallow/Nussbaum set in particular is awesome… I’m just heading into the RNCM now as I’m working for their gig there tonight, can’t wait!