big band gigs

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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!