Further to the amazing response that we had from the Big Ideas launch gig at Ronnie Scott’s a couple of weeks ago, here’s a video filmed on the night of our new mystery cover that was suggested by you guys! Serious are now offering you the chance to win a signed CD if you can guess what it is – all the details are here, closing date is tomorrow though (Tuesday 6th) so get cracking.
I also had a little chat with Serious before the gig which you can see below, talking about the genesis of the band, our relationship with Ronnie Scott’s, and the new album – see if you can spot the deliberate mistake in the interview…
Posted by on 05/03/2012 at 20:09 in misc and tagged competition, ronnie scott's, serious, youtube. Leave comments here.
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)
Posted by on 26/02/2012 at 10:14 in gigs, news and tagged bbc, guardian, helen mayhew, jazz fm, jazz on 3, jazzwise, jez nelson, rncm, ronnie scott's, serious, telegraph. 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.
In our customary belated style let us be one of the last people to wish you a Happy New Year! The 3rd of January seems as good a time as any (?) to reflect on the past 12 months, an amazing year for us as a band – things that happened in the first few months of 2011 seem such a long time ago now and maybe thats because so much else has happened as the year went on!
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!
Posted by on 03/01/2012 at 10:22 in misc and tagged 2011, band on the wall, burghausen, dvd, germany, kings place, london jazz festival, recording, ronnie scott's. 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.
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.
Our gig at Ronnie Scott’s tomorrow with the fabulous Kairos 4tet is now sold out! Hope you managed to get tickets in time if you were planning on coming down…
Also congratulations to Julian Siegel who received the London Jazz Award at the awards ceremony in London last week – very much deserved! We had a great night anyway, and once again thanks very much to you all for your sterling work on facebook and twitter to get us on the shortlist… We had the highest number of votes by a considerable margin all thanks to you, you’re all legends!
So hopefully see some of you at Ronnie’s tomorrow – if you missed out, get your tickets NOW for our next London gig at Kings Place during the London Jazz Festival in November so you won’t miss out again!
Posted by on 02/08/2011 at 13:04 in gigs, news and tagged julian siegel, kairos 4tet, kings place, london, london jazz awards, london jazz festival, ronnie scott's. Leave comments here.
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