Monthly Archives: May 2012

A lovely night at the Forge…

I don’t think I’ve ever booked a gig in so far in advance. It was actually August 2011 when the Forge gig was confirmed, at which point I was just starting to entertain the idea of getting a new set of tunes together and seeing if the band from my final Guildhall exam fancied reforming. When we played on Thursday night, it felt simultaneously like it had been a long time coming and like it had been booked only a few days ago!

Warning: this next paragraph will gush a bit. Essentially, I had a fantastic evening! After a long (self-inflicted) Winter of Writing that ended up extending into a Spring of Still-Haven’t-Finished-Writing, it was so good to actually play the music. On top of that, it felt brilliant to play the music to such a friendly and receptive audience. Plus, the evening itself was extremely smooth-running and I found I was able to relax and chat to friends who’d come along – a situation I don’t think I’ve been in for ages. In summary, here’s to many more gigs like it!

The recording is on its way, but in the mean time here’s an audience-eye-view photo by Darren McCarthy. We’re off to Manchester next week, and I’ve also just confirmed a date with The Jazz Meet, who are going to host us on July 29th at their lovely weekly event in East London. See you out there!

Getting a bit Mardi….and Quad minus two weeks(ish)!

Checking in with a bit of composition news today: I’ve been asked to write a piece for the brass quintet ‘Mardi Brass’. They are doing an album this year featuring compositions from a few different people. Exciting! The theme is ‘blue’, but a very broad blue, thankfully. I have a pretty wonky idea up my sleeve so I hope they like it…this will be my first time writing for that lineup. Mardi Brass has as its tuba player my good friend (and Magic collaborator) Jeff Miller.

In other news, the Magic Trio has started rehearsing for our June gig – I’ll try and grab some rehearsal recordings to put up on Soundcloud soon. Also, the Quadraceratops gig at the Forge is now only TWO WEEKS away tomorrow. Perhaps strangely for a band with a prehistoric name, we’ll be playing a set composed entirely of brand new music. And maybe *one* cheeky arrangement. 24th May. Come and listen. Info and tickets can be found over on the Forge website