Cylindrical Bore

New Jam with Joe and the Jazzaholics

2011-03-30T17:50:00.004+01:00

Tonight is the first night of a new jazz jam session taking place at Shaftesbury Tavern, 534 Hornsey Road, N19 3QN. The house band is Joe Bickerstaff and the other Jazzaholics, so it's sure to sound great as well as being very welcoming!

(Oh dear I let my blog slide into disuse again. Will try to keep it going in future...!)

Happy Everyday!

2010-06-02T17:35:00.004+01:00

I recently scored some music for Happy Everyday!, which is running at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre in Kentish Town until Saturday 12th June. It's a comedy by acclaimed Estonian playwright, Jaan Tätte. Come along! Tickets..

Here's a short sample of my music..

(Player doesn't appear above? Click here instead.)

more gigs

2009-05-30T11:21:00.003+01:00

Tomorrow, 31st May, I'll be MDing the John Ongom Big Band, playing at the White Hart, 1 Mile End Road. Featuring singers Gabrielle Ghray and Barry Vegas. Starts about 7:45pm, free entry!

Thursday, 4th June, I'll be sitting in with Eileen Hunter at the 606 Club.

Forthcoming gigs and things

2009-03-26T12:43:00.005Z

Sunday 29th March, John Ongom Big Band at the White Hart (isn't Google Street View marvellous?), 1 Mile End Road. Featuring singers Gabrielle Ghray and Barry Vegas. Starts 7:30pm, entrance free!

Monday 30th March, Dan Spanner's Big Band at the Cross Kings - starts 8:30pm. (Don't know much more about this one.)

Wednesday 1st April, Dance with The London Swingfonia at Jitterbugs - click for more details. Featuring singer Harry Martin.

Saturday 4th April, John Ongom Big Band at the Heathcote Arms, 344 Grove Green Road, Leytonstone. Featuring Mark Jennet on vocals, starts 8pm, free entrance!

Also, the new series of Primeval starts this Saturday on ITV - though the first episode which I contributed music to is the second one, to be shown (presumably) 4th April. Oh crap that means I won't be able to watch it cos of the JOBB gig (above) :(

trombone fun

2009-03-07T13:19:00.004Z

Went to the Chicken Shed last night to hear the inaugural gig The Bone Supremacy (what a great name!) It's a group made up of five trombones plus rhythm section. Great sound they had, like being wrapped in a warm blanket, but with a punch when required. Great improvising too - I particularly enjoyed Ian Bateman's solos.

So all this was very inspirational for my own efforts on trombone. Had my first practice this morning - actually feels pretty promising, embouchure-wise and sound-wise. Played my way through a few pages of Tune a Day - but without any great style! Just need to do it a lot to get used to the feel of the different notes. Funny how quickly you get used to a big mouthpiece so that when I went back to trumpet - the instrument I've been playing for decades - it feels strange!

yes i'm still alive

2009-03-06T10:34:00.005Z

Sorry for lack of posting (as if anyone cares). Been a bit busy for months and months on a big TV project. I understand that I will get an 'Additional Music' credit on this one which is very exciting for me! Though it will probably be on screen for about 0.2 of a second. Don't want to jump the gun in talking about the show so I'll remain enigmatic for now.

At the moment I'm keeping fairly busy (but not too much to be honest!) MDing the big band, teaching a bit, and just practicing quite a lot.

Also, my big plan is to learn trombone! Our big band is always short of bones, so often I play 1st or 2nd on trumpet - then it occurred to me that if I could sort out the embouchure (perhaps no small task) then I could play valve trombone! Only problem is that there's virtually no second hand market for valve trombones, and I'm reluctant to fork out lots of money on a new one and then perhaps find that I can't get to grips with it. So the current plan is to borrow a slide trombone from my lovely, talented and beautiful friend, hopefully develop a reasonable sound on it, then get a valve bone. Having said that, I'm told by another lovely, talented and beautiful friend that slides are much sexier, so perhaps I'll stick with that. Anyway I've gone out and bought Tune A Day for trombone and hopefully will have the instrument in my hands tomorrow! Oh my poor neighbours.

Today I'm off to First Class Brass in Luton to retrieve my lovely Eclipse trumpet which I asked Leigh to do a couple tweaks to. Also he's been sorting out my Yamaha flugel which had seized up due to lack of use - oops. Must play more in future!!

Wine, Women and Westminster

2008-09-19T23:23:00.006+01:00

Obviously I'm completely failing to update this regularly.. seems I'm either not at all busy and there's nothing much to write about, or I'm horribly horribly busy and I've got no time at all to write anything.

I'm glad to say that it's been a case of the latter recently, as I've been working hard on the next series of ITV's Primeval. I've got more of that work coming up soon, but right now I'm doing the music copying for a new Marple film. Add to that gigs here and there and it's a pretty busy time at the moment.

Anyway, just wanted to give a quick plug for my Dad's new book, Wine, Women and Westminster. It's a collection of funny stories from my Dad's 40 year career as a political journalist in Westminster, and travelling the globe with Thatcher and Major. He's going to be on Loose Ends with Clive Anderson on Radio 4 tomorrow evening at 6:15 talking about it.

MaxMSP Course

2008-07-18T19:25:00.005+01:00

Had a bit of a gloomy time recently as I cracked an arm and a rib playing footie and had to lay off playing for a while :( - however, I'm pretty much back to normal again now.

Last week I went on the Introduction to MaxMSP course at Goldsmiths College. Max is a graphical programming environment for music, audio and other media. I actually bought this software ages ago, worked through a few of the tutorials, but never really got any further than that.

The course was taught by Tim Ward. We spent two days looking at some of the real basics of Max: cabling objects together, getting audio in and out, getting midi in and out, etc. Then the following two days were spent looking at some more advanced ready-made patches and trying to figure out how they worked. There was also plenty of time for exploring and messing around with Max and building whatever we liked.

Tim also talked about ways to send/recieve audio and midi to and from other applications, such as Logic, Live etc, and quite a lot about creative ways that people have interfaced Max with the outside world. I particularly liked this scary piano soundboard thing.

Not exactly sure what I'm going to do with this knowledge... There are some really good free patches available online (e.g. www.maxobjects.com) so perhaps one or two of those will be useful to me. Hopefully I'll also find time to get better at programming Max myself and be able to create my own stuff..

Thing's Ain't What They Used to Be

2008-06-20T10:25:00.002+01:00

Ahhh... Clark Terry, one of my absolute favourite trumpet players! I love this clip - absolutely fantastic plunger technique, and so much joy in his playing and his singing.

Forthcoming gigs, E17 Jazz etc.

2008-05-21T19:09:00.004+01:00

A couple of interesting E17 Jazz events coming up: tomorrow evening Adam Bishop is playing with his quartet at the Rose and Crown, 55 Hoe Street, starts 8pm.

Then on Saturday evening, there's a Silent Film Night at the Victoria (186 Hoe Street, E17), where there will be live improvised music to a couple of films from the 1920s. Starts 8:30pm and is free entry.

Finally, on Sunday - though not under the E17 Jazz banner - I'll be MDing the John Ongom Big Band at the White Hart, 1 Mile End Road. Featuring Gabrielle Ghray and Barry Vegas on vocals. Free entry, starts 7:45.

Hello Dolly!

2008-05-12T14:28:00.005+01:00

I'll be playing in the pit for Hello Dolly! this week, put on by Geoids.

Performances at 7:30 from Wednesday to Saturday, plus 2:30 matinee on Sat, at the London Oratory Theatre, Seagrave Road, SW6 1RX. £13/£10 concs/£6 children.

New sampler

2008-05-07T16:37:00.010+01:00

At long last I've got some new music up on my website: a sampler of some of the music I've done in the last.. well, since the previous sampler, really. It includes some stuff I wrote for various film trailers, plus from some short films I scored. Anyway, here it is:

[edit: Player doesn't appear above? Click here instead.]

E17 Jazz - Rachel Musson

2008-04-14T18:01:00.005+01:00

This Thursday's E17 Jazz gig is Rachel Musson with her new band - a quintet with a two tenor front line, and features all original material. It's at the Rose and Crown pub on Hoe Street, starts 8:30, £4.

Unfortunately, I'm working that night so probably won't make it :( Sorry, Rachey.

big band gigs

2008-03-22T22:20:00.005Z

I'll be directing the John Ongom Big Band tomorrow night (Sunday March 23rd) at The White Hart, 1 Mile End Road. Featuring Gabrielle Ghray and vocal trio Toot Sweet. Starts about 7:45pm, entry free!

Then on Wednesday April 9th, I'll be directing the London Swingfonia at The Arts Depot, Finchley. Featuring Harry Martin on vocals. 7:30pm, £16/£14.

E17 Jazz

2008-03-13T18:32:00.005Z

E17 Jazz is a fairly recent initiative to get some more live jazz happening around Walthamstow. Unfortunately, Thursday nights are a bit busy for me, but I did manage to make it to The Plough the other week to see the Brigitte Beraha Trio, which was really nice - the same line up (vocal, piano, trumpet) as Azimuth, and often a similar mood.

Next gig is (according to the myspace site) Third I, at The Rose and Crown on the 20th (which is different from what it says on the flier), then there's Carlos Lopez-Real at The Plough on the 27th.

Equally important, there's now a jazz football game on Sunday mornings at 11am at Aveling Park, adjacent to Lloyd Park. All abilities welcome!

OMG it's a new post!

2008-02-28T15:18:00.006Z

Oh dear... there's been precious little blogging going on around here recently. Still, it's not like I have a regular readership (just about six random people every day looking for videos about making trumpets) so I don't suppose anyone gives a hoot.

But there has been quite a lot of blog-worthy material in the past couple of months - including buying trumpets, Primeval stuff, workflow things and so on - but it seems a bit crap to try to catch up with it now.

At the moment I'm busy writing a big band arrangement of Sunny Side of the Street, based on Dizzy's version on Sonny Side Up, and am also helping my Dad a little bit with a book he's written. It's full of funny stories from his decades as a political reporter. Maybe I'll post one or two here (but I'll have to ask first...)

I've also recently discovered StumbleUpon, which is definitely a bad thing if you want to do anything useful with your time. Here's today's find, and my other favourites.

How to Make a Trumpet - 3

2008-02-04T23:12:00.000Z

Hooray! Yet another trumpet making video! This one is a bit more detailed about the making of the bell in particular. I believe it's the Getzen factory.

Primeval starting tonight!

2008-01-12T16:51:00.000Z

The second series of Primeval starts tonight, at 7pm on ITV. As with the first series, I've worked with composer Dominik Scherrer on the score, orchestrating and programming for several episodes (although not tonight's one), and playing trumpet (on all episodes I think).

I must say, I'm a bit of a fan of Primeval, so have really enjoyed working on it!

Oh Come All Ye Tasteless

2007-12-21T23:02:00.002Z

To put you in the festive mood, here's a beautiful Christmas carol brutally murdered by an unidentified gang of trumpeters. Enjoy.

(Another clip purloined from here.)

Forthcoming Big Band gigs

2007-12-14T17:23:00.000Z

Tomorrow night, I'll be conducting the John Ongom Big Band at the Heathcote Arms pub, 344 Grove Green Road, E11 4EA. Featuring vocalists Gabrielle Ghray, Barry Vegas and the Toot Sweet trio. Starts 8pm, admission free.

Then on Sunday night, I'll be playing with the London Swingfonia at the Marie Lloyd bar of the Hackney Empire. 8:30pm start I think, also free!

Moncrieff's Bar Opened

2007-11-21T11:26:00.001Z

Last night was the official opening of the newly refurbished cafe bar at the Press Gallery in the Palace of Westminster, which is named Moncrieff's, in honour of my Dad, Chris Moncrieff, who has worked as a reporter there for 40+ years.

The proceedings were kicked of by the Chairman of the Press Gallery, Brian Shallcross, and then the Speaker, Michael Martin, said a few words. Then it was Dad's turn, who began by remarking: 'This bar must be unique in history in that is has been formally opened by a teetotaller, and named after a man who hasn't had strong drink for a quarter of a century. Despite that I have every confidence that this bar will live up to the disreputable reputation of its predecessors.'

He went on to recount some of the most famous feats of drinking and debauchery to have occurred in the previous incarnations of the Press Gallery bar. You can hear his full speech here.

Above the bar itself, there is an illuminated etching of my dad, in his customary attitude walking along with notebook in hand. It's quite clever, I think, how the designer has - with just a few well placed lines - managed to capture the rather unusual way that suits tend to hang on him.

There was an article about all this in the Independent a couple of weeks ago - here.

My other photos of this event are here. Sorry, they're pretty terrible.

18/12/2007 Edit: another article and better photo here.

Scenes - this Saturday on BBC1

2007-11-15T17:41:00.000Z

Scenes of a Sexual nature (which was my first big screen credit!) will air this Saturday, 17th November on BBC1 at 10:50pm.

It's a comedy set on Hampstead Heath one sunny afternoon, featuring various couples and their various issues with love and sex. Stars a whole bunch of British stars, including Ewan McGregor, Catherine Tate, Sophie Okonedo, Eileen Atkins and Andrew Lincoln.

I worked as orchestrator and trumpet player on this (plus I did a little conducting and music editing) with composer Dominik Scherrer.

How to Make a Trumpet - 2

2007-11-09T18:16:00.000Z

Quite a few people who come to this blog have googled "how to make a trumpet" and found my post of December 2006 which linked to a video of a visit to the Benge trumpet factory. Unfortunately, that video has now been taken down from YouTube, so in the interests of giving the people what they want, I've found this video of a visit to the Yamaha trumpet factory in Japan. It's all a bit cheesy, and obviously a huge advert for Yamaha, but anyway, it's pretty nice I s'pose. A bit different from the previous video - the Yamaha factory is all computers and robots.

If the above link doesn't work, try here and look for the Jens Lindemann podcast. I'll not embed it cos it's 71MB.

bloody buskers..

2007-11-09T00:07:00.000Z

..just kidding - these guys are great!

(Or click here.)

forthcoming gigs

2007-11-07T17:17:00.000Z

Just to plug a couple of mates: on Thursday 8th November, Steve Brookstein will be doing his Great American Soul Book show at the 606 Club, with Eileen Hunter supporting. The fantastic Liane Carroll will be guesting for a number. Alas I can't make it along this time :(

And on Sunday 11th Nov I'll be MDing (and playing a bit I think) the John Ongom Big Band at the White Hart pub on Mile End Road (map), featuring Gabrielle Ghray and Toot Sweet on vocals. Entry free!!

Today's listening

2007-10-18T17:20:00.001+01:00

Ahh... nothing like a beautiful rendition of the Hummel Trumpet Concerto. Enjoy.

Allegedly this turned up as a pre-audition tape for the Boston Symphony. More unusual stuff here.

Om.

2007-10-16T19:51:00.000+01:00

I recently purchased Walter White's Long Tones Accompaniment CD. It contains three 20-minute long tracks, each on a different key centre, so you can sit there and play a 20-minute long G (or C, or whatever). Duke Ellington's famous screaming trumpet player, Cat Anderson, advocated this excercise, and it still finds favour among many of today's top brass players.

It might seem unnecessary to have a CD to play along to but I think it greatly helps me keep focused on the exercise. The music's a bit 'new age' - I doubt I'd choose to listen to it for it's own sake - but it's really good for the long tones: very calming, and the ten bar chunks (play eight, rest two) keep you regular.

A couple of tips for an extra-zen experience:
- Turn off the lights
- Play through a nice reverb. I use Audioease's Altiverb, which means I can sit and play in a virtual Notre Dame Cathedral (or if you can practice in an actual cathedral, that's even better).
- Put on the iTunes visualizer, or kick off Soundstream - a screensaver (for OSX) which responds to sound input - psychedelic.

Oh, and btw, it helps your embouchure!

This season's website fashions

2007-09-17T15:53:00.000+01:00

Incredibly, I've actually finally got around to revamping my website. Take a look! What a PITA - bloody image rollovers!! Bloody safari!! GRRRRRR...!! Anwyay, hope it works and everything, but if you spot something that doesn't, or a typo, please let me know!

Many thanks to my mate Russell for helping out with the design-y stuff!! I owe you a beer.

Eclipse Trumpets Trip

2007-09-16T23:19:00.000+01:00

Went on a fun trip to the Eclipse Trumpet Factory the other day with my chum, Jake Painter. Both of us are thinking about buying new trumpets and we thought we'd check these instruments out, which seem to be very popular at the moment.

So we drove up the M1 to an industrial estate in Luton where we were greeted by Leigh McKinney, the owner of the company. We were shown in to the testing room (pictured) where freshly made trumpets featuring the various bell options available were laid out on a long bench. These instruments were unfinished (i.e. uncoated) and slightly rough around the edges - they get completed to your specific requirements when you decide to buy one. After a short introduction by Leigh, we were left to our own devices.

They certainly are beautiful instruments! They blew very easily, and had a beautiful sound. Jake and I both liked the Medium Yellow brass bell best (which I think is their 'standard' instrument, and best seller). However they are a little expensive for rush decisions, and I think I'd like to try out some other brands before I buy anything.

One thing I really appreciated was the large room we had for playing in - so often when you go to try an instrument in a shop, you are shown in to a tiny room, often full of stock, with very little acoustic life in it, but that was not the case here at all. I also liked Leigh's very straightforward and helpful manner - strangely not always the case in all music shops.

So I didn't come away with a lovely new trumpet this time, but did get a free Eclipse towel and T-shirt.

Forthcoming gigs and things

2007-09-05T18:31:00.000+01:00

I'm going to try using .mac and iCal for my forthcoming gigs - I'm much more likely to keep that up to date than that thing on Myspace... So, here they are (if it works).

Next one is with the Broken Bass Dance Band at Jitterbugs - Stern Hall, 33 Seymour Place, London W1H 5AU - on Wednesday 12th September at 7pm. £10 I think, which includes a Lindy Hop lesson.

Edit: Unfortunately, this gig on the 12th is now cancelled.

Trip to Puglia, Italy

2007-08-28T17:04:00.000+01:00

Just returned from a week's holiday in Puglia in Italy. Not quite sure what to do with all my photos because flickr is not letting me upload any more unless I pay :(. Anyway, here are a few of my better ones..

We stayed in a village called Giugianello - this is a view from our roof.

Some of the ceilings in our building were beautifully painted.

Here's our room, as seen from a horizontal position in bed.

Etc.....

One day we rented a boat from Castro and went up and down the coast a bit. Here's a little phone-movie I took when Rachel was driving - the occasional outbursts are when we suddenly got soaked by a wave..

Eileen Hunter at the 606

2007-08-03T18:46:00.000+01:00

Had a really nice evening at the 606 Club last night, where Eileen Hunter and her hubby Steve Brookstein were playing. As you can see from the pic, Eileen is the cover girl for this month's 606 flier!

Eileen did two great sets, a mixture of standards and originals from her album. She kindly invited me to play on a few tunes, including the couple that I arranged for her: Black Coffee and My Baby Just Cares for Me. Also sitting in for one was singer Linley Weir, who sang a really lovely up tempo latin song she'd written.

I also very much enjoyed Steve's set in the middle of Eileen's two. He did some soul classics as well as some originals with a small mainly acoustic band. It all had a wonderful off-the-cuff feel which made the whole thing feel very intimate.

Looking forward to their forthcoming gig at the Pizza Express on 28th August..

(Btw if you happen to make a trip to the 606, I do highly recommend the prawns starter.)

how do you like them apples?

2007-07-17T17:31:00.000+01:00

I took this picture at the Brent Respect Festival, where I was playing with the Spanner Jazz Punks. I believe this piece was called 'Before Newton'. The festival also featured the world's largest finger painting, and a bunch of people dancing round a maypole.

Also been busy participating in no less than four events at the Leytonstone Festival: playing with the London Swingfonia, Aneesa Chaudhry, the John Ongom Big Band, and at the Loaded Dog jam, which featured the marvellous Dick Pearce on trumpet as special guest.

The gig with Aneesa was with her new group: a kind of mini-big band with rhythm section and four horns. As well as playing trumpet I did the arranging - mostly downsized versions of existing big band arrangements. We also recently played at Pizza on the Park (which was sold out!)

Also been busy writing and producing music for the trailer for Lady Godiva - Back in the Saddle, a forthcoming British comedy. Not sure where or when the trailer will be in the cinemas..

Riamba at the NPG

2007-06-20T11:17:00.000+01:00

As it says: Riamba playing at the National Portrait Gallery from 6:30pm on Friday. Please come along!

forthcoming gigs and stuff

2007-06-05T16:18:00.001+01:00

Oh dear haven't blogged for ages.. I've been busy playing quite a bit, doing gigs with two different big bands: the London Swingfonia and the Spanner Jazz Punks. Also been doing quite a bit of transcribing/arranging work for a couple of forthcoming projects.

OK, plug #1: Anjali Perin is playing at the 606 tomorrow night, with my wonderful girlfriend, Rachel Musson sitting in on tenor.

plug #2: This Sunday at 7:30pm, the John Ongom Big Band will be playing at the White Hart pub on Mile End Road (map), featuring Mark Jennett and the Toot Sweet trio on vocals (I'll be MDing).

plug #3: Hmmm.. it's a bit weird to plug two different simultaneous events, but also on Sunday evening, my chum Eileen Hunter will be playing at the 606. She'll be there again on 2nd August.

plug #4: 22nd June, I'll be playing with Riamba at the National Portrait Gallery. In the afternoon I think.

Oh blimey that'll do for now.

The Fox Hunt - Maynard Ferguson

2007-05-09T13:36:00.000+01:00

Wow what a clip! Seems like these guys have drunk way too much coffee.

edit: oh wait a minute - they're all Maynard aren't they? In that case it's just him who's had way way way way too much coffee.

Maynard Ferguson
Uploaded by Itsme

More arm-waving

2007-05-02T14:16:00.000+01:00

Been pretty busy with the John Ongom Big Band recently. Last Sunday we played a charity gig for Breast Cancer at Jongleurs in Bow Wharf, and I'll be waving my arms around in front of them once again this coming Sunday at the White Hart Pub (map), starting from 7:30. This time our singers will be Gabrielle Ghray and Barry Vegas. Entrance is free so please come along!

Life Line - this Tuesday BBC1

2007-04-22T14:50:00.000+01:00

Look out for Life Line, on BBC1 this Tuesday 24th and Thursday 26th evenings. It's a two-part (well, obviously) supernatural love story starring Joanne Whalley and Ray Stevenson. I assisted Dominik Scherrer with the score, doing the notation, plus editing and a spot of orchestration.

Big band gig this Sunday!

2007-04-11T00:49:00.000+01:00

I'll be conducting the John Ongom Big Band this Sunday evening at the White Hart Pub (map). Entry is free, so please come along!

Groovy video

2007-03-30T16:19:00.000+01:00

Here's a nice little film made by the University of Salford all about the physics of brass and reed instruments. Includes slowed down footage of someone playing trumpet with a glass mouthpiece, so you can see the individual vibrations, plus the Professor squeezing out a tune on a whoopee cushion harmonica.

http://www.acoustics.salford.ac.uk/schools/whoopee.htm

DVDs on amazon

2007-03-27T15:56:00.000+01:00

Gosh! How terrible, I haven't blogged for a whole month! I've been really busy working on a couple of TV things, doing the music copying, audio editing and a bit of orchestration and playing.

Anyhoo, thought I'd mention that a couple of things I worked on previously have recently become available on DVD.

First there's Scenes of a Sexual Nature, starring Ewan McGregor, Sophie Okonedo, Catherine Tate et al. It's a romantic comedy set on Hampstead Heath. I had to sign a release because apparently there might be a picture of me in the recording studio somewhere in the DVD extras - so if anybody buys this I'd be interested to know if they can see me!

Also there's Primeval Series 1, starring Douglas Henshall. Gotta say I'm a bit fan of this series, so perhaps I'll add it to my amazon wishlist!

John Ongom big band

2007-02-26T23:42:00.000Z

I've recently taken over as musical director of the John Ongom big band, and we've got a gig coming up at the White Hart, 1 Mile End Road, London, E1 4TP (map). It's on Sunday 4th March, probably starting around 7:30. I'm not looking forward to doing the talking bits, but there we are. If anyone sees this and comes along, please don't heckle me.

I'd also like to give a plug for my chum, jazz singer Eileen Hunter, who is playing at the 606 Club on this Thursday, 1st March. Alas, I won't be able to make it myself. :(

Primeval coming this Saturday

2007-02-05T22:17:00.000Z

Look out for Primeval, which will be broadcast this coming Saturday, 10th February at 7:45pm on ITV1.

Quite excited about this, as I worked with composer Dominik Scherrer on this series last Summer, doing orchestration, programming and playing trumpet.

ITV have also got their Primeval micro-site up and running here (it's pretty heavy on bandwidth though).

Trip to Rome

2007-02-02T15:54:00.000Z

Just got back from a short visit to Rome with my Roman friend, Pierluca.

I was only there for three nights, so Luca suggested we make an early start on the sightseeing. So as soon as we got chucked out of the bar on the first night, he and his cousins took me on an early-hours tour, during which we saw the Forum, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. I'm afraid the photos I took during this tour are particularly fuzzy - I think because of the low level of light (and I only have my phone camera). Or perhaps it's got something to do with all the beer I drank earlier.

Unfortunately, I think perhaps I peaked too soon as the next day I didn't get out sightseeing again till about 4 in the afternoon. I decided to go on one of those tourist bus tours. The first half was fine, but then darkness fell and it got pretty freezing, but I doggedly persevered with it for the full two hours.

On Wednesday, Luca and I managed to get out and about incredibly early but alas, found that our intended destination, the Sistine Chapel, had closed at midday. But we looked around St Peter's, and went to the very top (the highest point in Rome, I think).

During the rest of the afternoon we visited Trastevere, the Pantheon again, and saw Area Sacra Argentina and admired some of the 350 feral cats who live amongst the Roman ruins there (if you click on the photo on the left, you'll see a couple of them). We went on to the Tridente, the Spanish Steps and Piazza del Popolo.

I've uploaded all my photos here (please excuse my crappy photography).

Ooh I'm all excited!

2007-01-22T20:07:00.000Z

Just saw a trailer for ITV's new sci-fi drama, Primeval, right after tonight's first instalment of Coronation Street (OK, I admit it, I'm a fan). I worked on the music for Primeval last year, doing most of the orchestration and programming, and also playing trumpet on it.

They're not saying yet when it's on, just that it's coming soon..

OK, better get back to the TV for the next instalment of Corrie (hope Chesney and Schmeichel turn up...)

Mark Levine's The Jazz Piano Book

2007-01-19T21:55:00.000Z

My piano playing is certainly not all it should be, so I put The Jazz Piano Book by Mark Levine on my Christmas Amazon wish list. (This is how we do present buying in my family these days - perhaps some of the excitement is lost, but people do actually receive presents which they want, and no-one has to traipse around the shops on Christmas Eve.) And sure enough, one of my lovely sisters generously clicked on it.

Flicking through, I came across this bit, which I really liked:

Sitting at the piano for eight hours every day may not make you a better musician if you're not practicing the right things. As an example, I once discovered a method book of strange intervalic exercises. It was rumored that 'Coltrane practiced out of this book,' much as it was rumored that 'Bird practiced out of Nicolas Slonimsky's Thesaurus of Scales' in the 1940s and 50s. It took me about six hours to go through the book the first day, but after a week I was going through the book about six times a day, driving my neighbors bananas I'm sure. Finally, someone walking past my door shouted 'For Pete's sake, play a bossa nova!'

Bored (and sleepy)

2007-01-15T04:06:00.000Z

This week I've been busy doing the notation for the recording of the score for a popular ITV drama.. Now I'm sitting here at 4:14 am waiting for the score and parts to print off...

78 more pages to go

..ho hum...

77 more pages to go

...What to do... what to do...?

76 more pages to go

..it's about time I invested in a laser printer..

75 more pages to go

..I suppose I could browse Amazon for laser printers..

74 more pages to go

..but that sounds terribly boring too.

73 more pages to go

...hrummphhhh

Page to Performance on Radio 4

2006-12-31T00:29:00.000Z

Quite a nice show talking about George and Ira Gershwin's iconic song I Got Rhythm, from it's birth as a song from the musical Girl Crazy, through to Gershwin's orchestral variations, and it's continued significance as a vehicle for improvisation in jazz. Love John Etheridge's impromptu self-accompanying breakneck performance, and Lorna Luft's bit about singing whilst being heavily pregnant (apparently you can get higher notes!).

You can listen again, but not sure how long the show will be available...

Dracula on BBC1 tonight

2006-12-28T16:25:00.000Z

Look out for Dracula tonight on BBC1 at 9pm. The music was written by Dominik Scherrer and I did some of the orchestration and music editing.

How to Make a Trumpet

2006-12-26T17:01:00.000Z

Here's a groovy video all about making trumpets in a trumpet factory. Although it's from the American kids' show Mr Rogers' Neighborhood, it takes me back to looking through the Square/Round/Arched window in Play School.

[edit: I'm afraid this video has been taken down from YouTube now - but check out my post of Nov 9th 2007.]

Funny how lots of people like watching stuff being made - the guy who uploaded this video has lots of similar films.

P.S. Merry Christmas!

Morley Big Band

2006-12-16T16:02:00.000Z

This morning, I went along to the Morley Big Band run by Gordon Rose. It's a rehearsal band, playing very interesting and challenging music including pieces by Bill Russo and Bill Holman. There are some excellent players, but sadly a distinct lack of trombones. Amazingly, Gordon has been leading this band now for 46 years!!

I went along because I heard there was a possibility they would play a chart of mine, but they were a trumpet down so I got to play too. My chart was a jazz ballad which I wrote a few years ago in college. It was really nice to have something played by a big band again - and it's really inspired me to write something new.

A couple of other composers also arrived with charts for us to play, including Pete Moore, the gentleman who wrote the famous Pearl and Dean theme (you know: 'Ba-baa, ba-baa, ba-baa, ba-baa, ba-ba-baa, Ba-baa, ba-baa, ba-baa, ba-baaaa-BAP!')

Dracula

2006-11-29T18:34:00.000Z

My latest project with Dominik was for the BBC's new adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula. The cast includes Marc Warren as Dracula, Sophia Myles and David Suchet. Think it will be on some time over the Christmas period.

Once again I was orchestrating, and also editing the recorded audio (which involved another all-night working session - yuk. And I wasn't cheered up much by the occasional check on how the test match was going either. Still, the Traditional Breakfast at Wetherspoons in the morning was very tasty, and only £1.99.)

Primeval

2006-11-29T09:48:00.000Z

Hmm... I don't think I ever actually blogged about this project which kept me busy over the summer and into autumn - apart from one mysterious entry I made about having been up all night working on it..

Anyway, Primeval is ITV's new £6m six-part sci-fi series, and I assisted Dominik Scherrer with his score for it, by doing orchestration, programming, and playing trumpet. The series was made by Impossible Pictures - the people who made Walking With Dinosaurs - and stars Douglas Henshall, Hannah Spearritt (formerly of S Club 7 - hurrah!) and Ben Miller. Think the series will be out in early 2007.

Gig this Sunday..

2006-11-14T00:15:00.000Z

This Sunday evening I'll be playing at the Park Tavern, 212 Merton Road SW18 (on corner of West Hill Road; Southfields tube 5ish mins away), with Nick Tomalin on piano and Paul Whelpton on bass. Starts 7pm.

Cinema trip

2006-11-05T23:51:00.000Z

Last night, I went to see Scenes of a Sexual Nature (my first big screen credit) with my family and some friends.

I knew that my father wasn't exactly an ardent movie-goer - in fact, he reckoned that this was the first time he'd been to the cinema since about 1941 (when he saw Dumbo). I was sitting next to my sister, and gave her a prod every time I heard a bit where I was playing, and she in turn prodded my father who prodded mum, and so on along the line. Of course we stayed through the credits so that we could see my name, at which point a small ripple of applause came from our row (which was the only row still occupied by then).

Many thanks to everyone for coming along! Hope they enjoyed it (they said they did, but not sure they'd say if they didn't!)

SoaSN on Film 2006 and on the tube

2006-10-31T00:00:00.000Z

Just seen Jonathan Ross reviewing Scenes of a Sexual Nature on his Film 2006 show on BBC1 - a very positive review, I'm happy to say. Also seeing posters for it around town and on the tube - all very exciting!

The film will be out on Friday at these cinemas, so please go along and see it!! (Btw I'm plugging this cos I orchestrated and played trumpet on it.)

Manual

2006-10-17T23:29:00.000+01:00

A little while ago I wrote some music for Garth Donovan's forthcoming feature film, Manual. The blah on IMDB says:

Manual follows a brother and sister who come from a family of gifted hockey players. Once they began playing for serious high school programs they grew tired and quit. They feel like failures, thinking they disappointed their parents, and both wind up spinning out of control in vicious cycles of rebellion and self-destruction.

Btw this is an American film so when they say 'hockey', they mean 'ice-hockey'.. And they say 'vicious cycles', we say 'vicious circles'. Tomayto-tomahto etc etc. Anyway, I think it's a really nice film.

Here's one of my cues which accompanies a scene where the main character is lost in thought.. kind of day-dreaming, reflecting... in a brown study (what a great expression that is!) It's kind of ambient I suppose.

(Or if you can't see a player just above this, try clicking here.)

SoaSN trailer released

2006-10-07T00:34:00.000+01:00

The trailer for Scenes of a Sexual Nature has now been released, and features my music, which I'm quite excited about! Haven't seen it at the cinema yet - I think it might be playing at the Vue in Leicester Square amongst other places. (Mind you, I wouldn't expect anyone - apart from me - to go to the cinema just to see a trailer). Looking forward to the UK-wide release of the film (it's my first big screen credit!) which will happen on November 3rd.

You can see the trailer here or here.

Cylindrical Bore is one year old today

2006-09-28T17:10:00.000+01:00

Eileen Hunter's UK tour

2006-09-25T15:18:00.000+01:00

My chum Eileen and her new hubby Steve Brookstein are off on their UK tour soon, so look out for them! Think Eileen's album, Now and Then, is also coming very soon - I'll keep you informed..

Lots of News about SoaSN!

2006-09-15T23:51:00.000+01:00

Scenes of a Sexual Nature (which will be my first feature film credit!) will be released nationwide in the UK from Friday 3rd November 2006, playing in about 40 cinemas across the country. It has also been nominated for Best UK Feature Film at the Raindance Film Festival!

I wrote the music for the trailer, which should be appearing soon, so look out for it!

They've set it up on MySpace, so you can be the film's friend, if you are so inclined.

Phew! Too many exclamation marks in this post!!!! I'm off for a lie down in a darkened room!!!!!!

Two Families

2006-09-12T17:03:00.000+01:00

I've recently finished orchestrating another film project for composer Dominik Scherrer. This one was a mafia film entitled Two Families, and was directed by Romano Scavolini. This was the first feature film project where I was the sole orchestrator, so it was all quite exciting (and a little bit nerve-wracking at times!) (Oh - and hard work too!!)

The score features the wonderful cellist Philip Sheppard. As well as playing 'straight' beautifully, he also gets some incredible sounds and special effects from his cello. It's really exciting to be working with great musicians like Philip.

Not sure when or where this film will come out - watch this space..

My Dad's 75th

2006-09-10T10:24:00.000+01:00

Yesterday was my Dad's 75th birthday party, and he held a birthday lunch for family and friends at The Albert on Victoria Street in London. We had a very fine lunch, with either roast beef, turkey or pork to choose from, plus all the trimmings. As you can see from the pictures, Dad received not one but two very chocolatey cakes.

I was starting to panic that I might have to do a toast, and was frantically asking my family near me for good jokes for such an occasion - all I got was one about poor Steve Irwin from my nephew, Chris, which didn't quite seem to fit the bill. Happily for me, one of Dad's colleagues took it upon himself to do the toast so I was off the hook.

I'd just like to take this opportunity to apologise to Aunt Ruth, who was arriving at Paddington where I was supposed to meet her, but unfortunately I was late. After much wandering around the station, and phone calls to my Dad, I eventually got the message that she'd decided to make her own way to the pub. So I did the same - and then by chance met her on the bus! This seemed like not a bad result, only then we failed to get off at the appropriate stop, and ended up having to get another one back. Navigation has never been my strong point. Sorry Auntie. (I might add that she was very forgiving and wasn't in the least bit cross with me.)

Steve and Eileen's wedding

2006-08-30T00:14:00.000+01:00

Congratulations to Steve and Eileen who got married on Saturday! The weather was very good, and the location was beautiful: King's College Chapel, and then Elphinstone Hall in Aberdeen.

There was a wide variety of music played by the bride and groom's many musical friends and family. There was a piece by Eileen's late grandfather, Charlie Hunter, played during the service and later the Aurora Brass Quintet entertained us as we sipped champagne on the lawn. There was also a piper, and at the end of the evening a great ceilidh band. (Dancing at a ceilidh is just about my favourite thing - but I do need to have a very understanding partner as I haven't got a clue about any of the moves.)

I used to live in Aberdeen (in my previous life as a software engineer), so I know the city very well. Unfortunately, this had to be a very short visit for me as I am very busy at the moment and had a gig in London the next day. So sadly there was no time to catch up with old friends who are up there - except those who attended the wedding, of course.

Here are some terrible photos I took with my (shiny new) phone. At the top is the best (sorry) I have of the happy couple, then there's a young loun running about in a kilt. Then there's Elphinstone Hall looking a bit like Hogwarts, and King's College Chapel at night. The last picture shows how everything looked to me towards the end of the evening..

Righteous Rage..

2006-08-11T13:54:00.000+01:00

Todays' Telegraph contains an article by my dad entitled 'Righteous Rage at the Parish Pump', about the trials of editing the local church magazine. It's also available online.

My mum's not going to be at all happy, I fear..

SoaSN in today's Evening Standard

2006-08-07T16:41:00.000+01:00

Just seen that today's Evening Standard contains quite a large article about Scenes of a Sexual Nature, which I orchestrated for and played trumpet on. The article mainly focuses on Ewan McGregor's appearance in the film, and has a few nice pictures from it. According to the Standard, it'll be released in late October or early November.

A Pint of Brains

2006-08-02T00:16:00.000+01:00

Oh dear, I haven't blogged for ages... I've been really busy with a TV project (which I'm not allowed to talk about I think), and have been playing a bit here and there with Riamba, the Rugs and the John Ongom Big Band.

For the first time in my life I went to Wales at the weekend. I was visiting a friend who's teaching on the Jazz Summer School at the University of Glamorgan. The course is run by Simon Purcell and Dave Wickins, and this year the tutors include Bobby Wellins, Liane Carroll, Martin Speake and Chris Batchelor.

I didn't get to sit in on any of the classes, but I went to the jazz club which they run in the student union every evening and I must say, it was a really great atmosphere. I met several of the tutors, who were really friendly, and several students, who all seemed to be having a whale of a time. Felt slightly strange asking for a pint of Brains (the local brew). It was very nice - and a lot more malty than actual brains.

Went down to Porthcawl to stay with my friend's parents for a night. Went swimming in the Bristol Channel in a pair of swimming shorts borrowed from her dad (it could have been worse: I was initially offered a pair of speedos). All very invigorating (I mean the sea and the air).

I was sorry to have to return to London on Monday - I was really envious of everybody who would get to hang out there on the course all week and just play music. Oh well...

In case it had gone to sudden death..

2006-07-02T19:02:00.000+01:00

So once again, England crash out of a major tournament on penalties.

But how about this for the lifelong England supporter (who doesn't want to stop there): an attractive white coffin sporting the Cross of St. George and the Three Lions of England. I spotted it at an undertaker's in Walthamstow.

By the way, did you know that Death is a fine football player? That's why he's known as the Great Equaliser ha ha. (Hmm.. needs work, that one, I think..)

Tonight on Newsnight: My Dad

2006-06-28T19:46:00.000+01:00

Apparently my Dad might be on Newsnight tonight (BBC2 10:30), being interviewed by Jeremy Paxman about the way that the House of Commons is becoming more tame. I'm going to miss it unfortunately..

Kyudo

2006-06-27T13:22:00.000+01:00

I had to prepare a little speech about Kyudo for my Japanese class the other week. It was something which I knew nothing about, so I did a little research on the net. I found it really interesting.

Kyudo means 'Way of the Bow' in English. The bow is made of bamboo, is 2 metres long and asymmetrical. There are eight steps in the shooting process: place the feet, position the body, ready the bow, etc., and all should be performed in one graceful movement.

This photo shows archers at some of the stages of the shooting process: readying the bow (2nd archer from left), drawing the bow (4th from left), the full draw (left-most), and just after the release (3rd from left). (Many thanks to Vernon Fowler for the use of his excellent photo.)

I'm sure this is not easy, but perhaps it seems that there is not too much to learn, just from a technical point of view. However, in fact kyudo is all about developing the spirit: the goal is to give oneself over completely to the shot. I think this is a great lesson: many people have such busy lives these days, and there are so many distractions. If we can really focus on the current task then we can achieve so much more.

Of course, this is really relevant to playing trumpet - or indeed any instrument. (As I recall, this is the central idea from the book, The Inner Game of Music.) When we play, we should aim to give ourselves totally to the current performance, and try not to be distracted by, for instance, an earlier mistake, or the difficult passage coming up, or the girl jiggling at the front of the audience. (Having said that, I really don't want to discourage any girls from jiggling at the front - but it would be OK if they wouldn't mind continuing to jiggle in between the songs).

I really liked the words of Hideharu Onuma sensei - a kyudo master who I was reading about at www.kyudo.com. He said: "When shooting, sometimes we will hit the target but miss the self. At other times we will miss the target but hit the self. Our purpose, though, is to hit the target as the self and hope that the sharp sound of arrow penetrating paper will awaken us from the so-called 'dream of life' and give us real insight into the ultimate state of being."

good morning

2006-06-21T07:41:00.000+01:00

Eughhh.. just finished an all-nighter preparing music for a recording session tomorrow. Oh I mean today. My brain is starting to malfronction... And it's still going to be pretty intense over the next couple of days I think, so I've got the fridge well stocked up with Red Bull. I must say, though, this project has been really fun!! I'll blog more about it when I get the nod from the Important People..

This Monday: Eileen at the 606

2006-06-17T23:58:00.000+01:00

Just a quick plug for my chum Eileen Hunter, who is once again playing at the 606 Club in Chelsea on Monday! Hopefully I'll be sitting in for a couple of tunes too.

X-Factor: Battle of the Stars

2006-06-05T23:30:00.000+01:00

What better counterpoint to the tragic beauty of Puccini's Butterfly than being in the studio audience at ITV's X-Factor? Yea, broad indeed is the cultural firmament, and festooned with a myriad shimmering stars.

Anyhoo, my mate worked on the show and got us a couple of tickets for it on Saturday. As I'm a big Corrie fan, I was rather disappointed that the ex-Corrie actress, Nikki Sanderson had been voted off the night before. But as it happened, she was sitting one row behind us and just about two seats away (result!) However, I was much too shy to ask for her autograph.

I'm sure it won't surprise anyone who has seen the show to learn that we are told when to clap and cheer etc. - and that is basically for the entire 90 minutes, apart from when the judges are speaking. It was really quite exhausting. But despite this, I did enter into the spirit of it. Well mostly - not so much when those Chefs were.. er.. singing. My god they were crap. And somehow kind of scary. I really hate that attitude of 'ha ha, yes we know we're bad, but we're fun!' As Louis put it: 'You're like four drunks at a wedding.'

I haven't been following it through the week, but if these Chefs made it through to the final four, I dread to think how bad some of the previously eliminated acts must have been. The good news was that they were finally voted off this time. The bad news, however, was that this entitled them to one last farewell performance, so we had to endure once more.

Well, I'm moaning, but the show is actually a lot of fun, I must say. I just could have done without those four guys leaping about and yelling at us.

It seems I made it on to air - apparently they skimmed past me at the beginning of the show. Hope they got my best side.

Incidentally, does anyone else find it odd that there are entries in wikipedia for people like Ms Sanderson and Mr Walsh?

Madam Butterfly at the E.N.O.

2006-06-05T00:56:00.000+01:00

A few years ago, I was sitting in a music history class in college, and the teacher was talking about Puccini, and in particular, Madam Butterfly. He briefly told us the story, and then showed us a clip from a film of the opera: when it's three years since Pinkerton left, and Cho Cho San is chastising her maid for not having faith that he will return. And so, she sings Un bel di vedremo - 'One fine day we shall see'. It was so moving: even just seeing that moment from the middle of the film - it really affected me. And since then, whenever I even just think of the story, I get all choked up!

So at last I went to see it last week. It must sound strange, but I was almost dreading it - I don't know how I imagined I might react, but I thought that it might be somehow unbearably moving to see it in the flesh. In fact, I think it could have been, but as the tragic ending approached, I'm afraid I couldn't help detaching myself from it a little; it just would have been too much.

This E.N.O. production is really beautiful. The opening is particularly striking: there is compete silence as Cho Cho San emerges at the back of the sloping stage and floats gracefully towards us. Cho Cho San's child is realised using bunraku, which is a style of Japanese puppet theatre. Although the puppeteers are completely visible, they achieve such a level of expression that it's very easy to forget them and just to regard the puppet as a character in the same world as the characters played by the human performers.

That's only the second opera I've ever been to - the first one was so long ago that I'm ashamed to admit that I can't even remember what it was! I think that what put me off for a long time was that it seemed like you had to know the story very well before you went, because it's quite hard to pick up every word sung - even when it's sung in English. But these days there are surtitles (at least, at the E.N.O. there were) so this really shouldn't put anyone off anymore.

Only Child

2006-05-29T12:29:00.000+01:00

I recently finished doing the music for another short animated film by Jason Ruddy. Only Child is a poem about a lonely little girl, Petunia, who longs for a little brother, and Jason has animated the story. Jason has Paul Kaye reading the poem. (Mr Kaye also appeared in the Miss Marple episode I worked on recently - small world and all that.)

As this was a poetry reading, I decided to use solo piano. The story is set in a family home, so again I thought piano was appropriate. I used a great piano patch from Post Musical Instruments which they call 'The Old Lady' - it's a 1923 Steinway, and has a great deal of character. Using Kontakt 2's scripting facilities, it implements sympathetic resonance, so that non-struck keys sound if their string is currently undamped and they are harmonically related to a struck key. Or something.. anyhoo, it sounds good.

I understand that Jason is still polishing the film - watch this space for further developments..

Scenes of a Sexual Nature in Cannes

2006-05-19T13:46:00.000+01:00

This film, which I orchestrated for and played trumpet on, was shown in Cannes the other day. I don't know at present when it will be on general release - watch this space! (Or better yet, watch this space!)

Piano found on Ben Nevis

2006-05-17T22:34:00.000+01:00

How odd. Judging by this picture, I'm not sure how they could tell that this object had indeed once been a piano. The full story is well worth a read.

My sister recently bought a piano and is having terrible difficulty finding someone to take it up the stairs. Pity the people who delivered this one didn't leave their card. (Mind you, her stairs are a bit narrower than Ben Nevis.)

update 18/05/2006: Success! Kate's piano is now safely installed in it's new home upstairs.

This Sunday on ITV: Miss Marple

2006-04-25T12:50:00.000+01:00

The Miss Marple episode which I worked on will be showing this Sunday (April 30th) at 9pm on ITV. Here's the blah about it from the ITV listings. (Just in case I have any visitors from the US, I think it shows there on PBS on July 23rd.)

The episode has a very creepy feel to it, which Dominik's music enhances greatly, so definitely a nice way to spend your Sunday evening.

I'd also like to apologise to all my regular readers for not blogging much recently: sorry Stu. There, that's done.

This Tuesday: Eileen at the 606

2006-04-17T01:00:00.000+01:00

Just a quick plug for my good chum Eileen Hunter, who is playing at the 606 Club in Chelsea on Tuesday April 18th.

Request for friends

2006-04-11T13:03:00.000+01:00

Just set up a new MySpace account, but every time I look at my profile there it says 'Angus has no friends', which is a little hurtful (and quite uncalled for).

So if anyone out there is on MySpace, please add me as a friend so I can feel better about myself.

Big Band Gig this Saturday!

2006-04-07T01:09:00.000+01:00

I'll be playing with the John Ongom Big Band at the Heathcote Arms in Leytonstone (map) this Saturday (8th April), from 8pm.

It will be mostly tunes from the swing era - Count Basie, Frank Sinatra.. that kind of stuff.

Entrance is free, so please come along!

Miss Marple: The Sittaford Mystery

2006-04-07T00:21:00.000+01:00

I've been doing a couple more night shifts working for composer Dominik Scherrer. Dominik has scored the music for the recent Miss Marple films starring Geraldine McEwan, which have been showing on ITV. The latest one that he has been working on is called The Sittaford Mystery, and he asked me to help out by doing editing and mix preparation at his studio on Brick Lane. There was alot to do: around 46 cues amounting to an hour of music, but there are not many distractions when you work through the night, so I just kept on ploughing though it.

At the risk of sounding like a brown-noser, I think Dominik did a great job with the music for this, and I really recommend looking out for it when it airs.

I'm also pleased to report that I discovered a great place for full English breakfast in the morning (I decided my usual place, Ponti's, was a bit drafty). There's a huge Wetherspoons pub at Liverpool Street station called Hamilton Hall, and their breakfasts are very fine and also excellent value for money.

Saturday Nights at the Bohemia Café

2006-04-02T18:50:00.000+01:00

Another great jam I often attend is run by Pierluca Taranta at the Bohemia Café in Hackney (map) on Saturday nights. The house band is Luca on guitar, plus bass and drums - last night it was Lance and Vladimiro. The music starts at around 9pm and goes on till after midnight.

Last night was a quite special night for me, as most of my family came along to eat and to enjoy the music. Luca's trio started the night with several standards. They sounded so good that I must admit it was a little daunting to be the first to go up and join them. But I wasn't sure if my folks would want to stay right to the end of the evening so I thought I should play something before the band took a break. As it turned out, there was no hurry, as once my sisters and mother got into the red wine there was no stopping them.

A few other musicians played a tune or two after the break. I particularly enjoyed the contributions from violinist Maria Bruccheri, and from the singer and oud player from Turkey (oops I seem to have mislaid his name) who rounded off the evening with some wonderful middle eastern music.

So I really recommend coming along on a Saturday night, whether to join in, or just to listen - the music is great, the food is great (and very reasonable), and the atmosphere is very friendly.

Jazz Jam at the Am

2006-03-29T13:16:00.000+01:00

I'm an occasional participant in the jazz jam sessions at the Amersham Arms in New Cross (map) on Thursday nights. The night is run by tenor player, Colin Humphries (pictured), and the vibe is always very friendly, and the music very good!

Now this jam has its very own blog, run by Rob Kenyon. Rob is a great photographer, so the blog is mainly a scrapbook of photos of the many musicians who attend.

The jam runs from around 9:45pm till 1am. Free entry before 10pm and £3 after that (I think - but don't quote me).

It Fell from the Sky wins!

2006-03-25T01:12:00.000Z

I'm pleased to report that one of the films I wrote the music for, It Fell from the Sky, has won the Best Animation Award at the Screentest Festival. So congratulations to the animator, Jason Ruddy. I understand that as a result, the film will now be shown at the Raindance Film Festival later this year.

Here's the film if you'd like to see it:

Cat Incident #2

2006-03-22T00:12:00.000Z

So, continuing my series of cat incidents, here's a cutting from the Boston Herald, when there was a fire in my apartment building and I grabbed my flatmate's cat on my way out.

You can't tell from the photo, but it was snowing a bit, so one of the firefighters gave me and Milké (that's the cat) a blanket. I suppose that 'worried-looking guy holding cute kitten wrapped in blanket' was an obvious target for the photographer. Click on the image for a larger, readable version.

I haven't had any dramatic cat incidents since, but I'll let you know as soon as the next one happens. (This one was almost 3.5 years ago, so I am probably due for one any day now...)

A New Toy

2006-03-12T18:52:00.000Z

I bought myself a didgeridoo yesterday. Last year I was messing around on one lent to me by my lovely neighbour. (In fact, she lent it to me at her Christmas soirée of 2004, and I finally returned it at her Christmas soirée of 2005. Sorry about that, Linda.)

I was in Camden anyway and had some time to kill, so I went to Ray Man Ethnic Musical Instruments on Chalk Farm Road. Such an interesting shop! I could have happily spent hours and hours there, shaking, hitting, plucking and blowing things. But I didn't have hours, so I just blew on a few didges, picked one, and went on my way. Happily, I managed to get it home through the Camden crowds without poking anybody in the groin with it.

At the moment, I think I can get a reasonable sound out of it (at least to my ears - probably not to a real didge afficionado), but of course the whole thing of playing the didgeridoo is the circular breathing, which I can't do yet. Maybe I'll post an mp3 when I get the hang of it, but it seems it is going to take me a lot of practice. So don't hold your breath.

Phew! Exciting Film Project Completed

2006-03-05T21:17:00.000Z

The score for the Exciting Film Project was delivered on Friday, so finally I have a little time to blog more about it.

It's really been a crazy couple of weeks. First of all working on the orchestrations for Dominik's music (along with the other orchestrator, Richard Hammarton). Then we had to record everything. I already blogged a little bit about recording the strings, and on the same day we recorded woodwinds (all played by Andy Findon), and the trumpet (me), all at Dominik's Crimson Noise studio. To get a nice big trumpet section sound, we often layered three or even six of me on top of each other. Further recordings of vocals and rhythm section took place over the next two or three days.

I've been working nights for the final week, editing the recordings and generally preparing the cues for Dominik to mix the next day. I would get to the studio at 9pm, and work through till around 7am the next morning. Then I was off to Ponti's in Liverpool Street station for a big fry-up (which was very good, apart from that the restaurant was freezing). Incidentally, I found working nights to be a pretty unusual experience: usually, life seems to be clearly divided into days, but while I was on this schedule, this delineation disappeared; I appreciated how time was just a constant flow. Hmmmmm.. Sad to say, I was so busy contemplating this coming home one morning, that I managed to leave my glasses on the train. (So if you happen to find a pair of black-rimmed Specsavers' glasses between Liverpool Street and Chingford, please let me know.)

A final flurry of activity on the last night/day: Dominik asked me to write and play one or two final trumpet bits for the credits music - and then I was done.

So it's been pretty hard work, and I had to put my regular life on hold for a while, but of course I am very happy to have been involved in such a project (sorry - I'm still not supposed to go into details about it - as soon as I can, I will!)

Latest on the Exciting Film Project

2006-02-28T20:15:00.000Z

I've been really busy over the past couple of weeks working on the exciting film project.

A few days ago we recorded the violins at Angel Studios. Dominik, the composer, asked me to conduct one of the cues - it was a really big thrill for me to conduct such wonderful players, and in such a posh studio! To be honest, I was a little nervous, but the players were so professional, it went quite smoothly I think.

I have to rush off again now, so I'll catch up with other stuff soon!

Rachel Jenkins Duo

2006-02-10T16:24:00.000Z

(Blimey, I've gone blog-mad today, me.)

So having rocked the joint in my Japanese class (see below), I zipped across town to Greenwich to sit in with jazz singer Rachel Jenkins.

Oliver's (or perhaps it was Olivier's - hmmm..) is a really nice little basement bar in Nevada Street in Greenwich. The toilets were reminiscent of Frodo's house in Hobbiton (in a good way). The beer was expensive, but the atmosphere was really cosy and intimate - perfect for Rachel's tender vocals and Pierluca Taranta's sensitive comping on guitar.

The duo performed some of the classic jazz songs such as Cheek to Cheek and Them There Eyes, as well as some songs from other genres, such as (Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay and Natural Woman. I joined them on stage shortly before the end of the first set, and really enjoyed to play with them. We were also accompanied for a couple of songs by Tonya (sp?) on djembe, and also by a gentleman on piano whose name I missed, I'm afraid, for a vigorous rendition of Moondance.

It was a really nice evening, and quite well-attended, I'm happy to say. Everyone seemed to have a great time. Hopefully I will get the chance to play with Rachel and Luca again soon..

Toranpetto ga Fukemasu

2006-02-10T15:52:00.001Z

For some reason, I've been learning Japanese for a few years now (well.. I remember why I started, but we split up months ago.)

Our homework for yesterday's class was to prepare a speech about something we could do - because we've been studying potential forms - so I spoke about playing the trumpet. My teacher looked slightly alarmed because I had to ask before I started what the Japanese for 'vibrate' is. (In case you're wondering, it's furuemasu.)

So during my speech I gave a little demonstration.. For some reason I was really nervous - something about it being so out of place to be playing in that environment I suppose. I don't think it was quite my greatest ever performance, but nobody booed, thank goodness.

By the way, the title of this post means 'I can play the trumpet.' The Japanese for trumpet really is toranpetto. And the Japanese for ice cream is aisukuriimu, and beer is biiru. But be sure to say biiru, and not biru, or you will be asking for a building.

Trumpet lesson with Noel Langley

2006-02-10T15:37:00.000Z

Noel is one of London's top session trumpeters, and is also professor of trumpet at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I believe he is currently playing lead trumpet in The Producers in the West End.

This was the first time I have met with Noel for a one-on-one lesson. We focused on the fundamentals, particularly a good warm-up, including mouthpiece buzzing and long tones. He also talked about being disciplined with one's practice routine - sitting down to practice at the same time every day, also trying to keep the environment in one's practice room as conducive as possible, e.g. keep the clutter down to a minimum!

Something that is curious to me is that Noel's philosophy of how we physically play the trumpet seems to differ somewhat from that of my previous teacher, Charles Lewis Jr., at Berklee. I.e. specifically, what you do (or don't do) with your airstream, tongue and lips in order to change pitch, and what you do (or don't do) to change volume. Both Noel and Charlie are such accomplished players, it would seem strange for me to start debating with them. Maybe they actually do play in quite distinct ways, or maybe they just have different ways of expressing the same thing. Or maybe (probably) I totally misunderstood one or other or both! Oh well, without perfecting the Vulcan mind-meld technique, perhaps I'll never know.

One thing both these guys certainly have in common is their encouragement and care for the student. I really appreciated Noel giving me some extra time as it was our first meeting to get to know what I've done and what I'm up to these days, and what I hope to achieve. Looking forward to hopefully meeting with him again next month.

Trombone Joke

2006-02-01T12:01:00.000Z

Just heard Harry Connick Junior and Branford Marsalis exchanging trombone jokes on Radio 4:

What's the difference between a trombone and a trampoline?
- People take their shoes off to jump on a trampoline.

ha ha!

Friday Night at the Azteca

2006-01-28T13:32:00.000Z

Another groovy night at the Azteca last night. Mauro and Pierluca doing their thing, with me and Fred joining them later on as the horn section. The music is mostly kind of funky electronica, I suppose, but recently has been going more and more ska, especially when Fred and I go up to play.

The Azteca is at 315 King's Road, SW3. Mauro and Luca play on Friday evenings from around 9. Come down and say hi!

Pierluca struts his stuff.

Wow, Mauro's arm looks hairy! (I'm sure it's just the angle.)

..And here's me and Fred: the Entente Cordiale Horns. (Hmm.. I just made that up (Fred is French), hopefully somebody will think of a better name for us.)

Exciting-yet-mysterious film project

2006-01-11T16:19:00.000Z

I'm currently working with composer Dominik Scherrer, who is writing the score for a forth-coming feature film. It's very exciting to be involved with this project, as there are some very well known actors appearing in it - but I'm afraid I can't say too much more about it at the moment..

Officially, I am supposed to be the orchestrator, but so far I've been helping out in any way I can: e.g. being an extra pair of ears at recording sessions, carrying heavy stuff, keeping track of takes, making tea, editing takes, and generally shoving my oar in. I've also been playing trumpet on a couple of cues.

I'll have more to post about this project as it progresses (and hopefully it won't all be about who I made cups of tea for).

Cat Incident #1

2006-01-05T23:26:00.000Z

I saw a story on MSN yesterday, where a cat dials 911, and is declared a hero. Funnily enough, a similar thing happened to me several years ago, when my cat, Mooca, dialled 999 from my flat. The difference being that Mooca wasn't so much a hero, as some other four-letter word. Anyway, I had a special request from my friend to blog the newspaper clipping, so here it is.

This clipping is from the Daily Mail (click for larger version). The Sun included a photo of me in their article, but I look like a complete dork, so I think I'll let Mooca take all the limelight.

I had another emergency services/cat related incident about three years ago, but I think I'll save that for another day..

The Rugs Christmas Hangover

2005-12-23T14:12:00.000Z

Had a great time playing with the funky Rugs in Tufnell Park last night. Apart from the festive tinsel display collapsing on the horn section during one number, it went very well I think.

Here's Mr Johnny White, taking a break from singing and retelling the story of the Nativity in his inimitable funky fashion.

The Rugs Christmas Party

2005-12-20T15:54:00.000Z

..Like it says on the flier. (The Rugs are a funky band, Joey Fingas is a funky DJ. The Progress Bar is a bar, Tufnell Park Road is a road, etc. etc.)

Come along and say hi.

Eileen Hunter at The Bedford

2005-11-23T23:42:00.000Z

I played with great jazz singer Eileen Hunter at The Bedford in Balham last night. Eileen's been busy recording her album over the past few weeks, and this was the first time we tried out some of the material with a full band.

The set was a mixture of jazz standards and originals. I heard someone remark that some of these originals sounded like the classic jazz songs which you hadn't heard before, which I thought was right on the money. Hopefully they will become well known when the album is released (early next year?) My favourites were The Letter and Coming Round to You - on which Eileen not only sang beautifully and played piano, but also did a great flute solo! (Don't you just hate talented people?!)

Eileen's man, Steve Brookstein also performed a great set, including songs from his number 1 album Heart & Soul as well as several original songs which will be appearing on his forthcoming album.

All in all, it was a really lovely night in a really nice venue - and a real thrill for me to play with such great musicians. Apparently, the whole thing was transmitted on a live webcast - if only I'd known before, I'd have told my mum. Sorry Mum.

Desire

2005-11-20T18:55:00.000Z

Here's another animated film which I recently did the music for. It's called Desire, and is by Sanghee Park.

(This movie is 11MB and is in Quicktime format.)