Monthly Archives: March 2014

Saxoctopus emerges at The Vortex

Last night saw the debut appearance of a new ensemble I’m involved in: the Saxoctopus! An all-saxophone octet, the band started life as a joke (hard to believe I know) when eight sax players turned up at a LUME gig. After some banter on social networks, one thing led to another, and before we knew what was happening we had been offered a gig. We’ll be putting together the full set ready to play later this year, but last night at the Vortex Jazz Club we got the chance to try things out by guesting with Trio Riot on the first night of their UK tour.

Needless to say, it was a total blast! Our cameo was at the end of the night, after two fantastic sets from Wolf Suit and our hosts Trio Riot.  The octopus comprises of Colin Webster, Rachel Musson, Tom Ward, Dee Byrne, Julie Kjaer, Sam Andreae, Mette Rasmussen and me. On drums was Trio Riot’s David Meier.

I look forward to doing more with this band! A couple of photos were salvaged from the sax onslaught by Tom…

saxoctorehearsalThe rehearsal: Sam goes through the music with us while Colin checks for urgent messages on his phone.

saxoctopusThe gig! (photo by @mike__sands)

Anton Hunter’s Article XI at Manchester Jazz Festival

Quick post to link to this preview of an exciting project I’m looking forward to playing for: Anton Hunter’s Article XI. Anton has been commissioned by Manchester Jazz Festival to write a new suite of music and perform it at the festival this July. He has put together an eleven-piece ensemble especially for it, and we’re also involved in the composition process. I will be playing baritone sax. It was great to be invited to play, and the whole thing promises to be a lot of fun…

Servant Jazz Quarters gig: April 22nd

On April 22nd I’ll be playing in a three duos gig at Servant Jazz Quarters, Dalston. There will be sets from Colin Webster (saxophones) and Graham Dunning (turntable, mixer and dubplates), Ti/om (Tom Ward on woodwinds and Tim Fairhall on bass), and then Anton and I will do one as Ripsaw Catfish. I’ve made a poster with a leafy kaleidoscope, in case you need a bit more persuasion to attend:

duos-sjq-poster