Monthly Archives: November 2014

Shoaling, Saxoctopus and trio gig

Right then. After a flurry of Quadraceratops activity for LJF, it’s time to put the alto sax back in its case and get the baritone out for the rest of the year! Here’s what the end of 2014 looks like for me…

Ripsaw Catfish: Shoaling tour

Anton and I kicked off our collaborative tour last week, in the form of a totally off-the-hook encounter with Corey Mwamba, Dave Kane and Joshua Blackmore at LUME. We had a great time playing with them and it was a combination of people I’d love to get together again. We have high hopes for the rest of the Shoaling tour now. The dates and the shoals are:

29th November – Open Circuit, Parish Rooms, Ulverston. With Shaun Blezard.

30th November – Blank Canvas, Liverpool. With Mark Hanslip and Johnny Hunter.

13th December – Cafe Bar Marzano’s, Norwich. With Chris Dowding’s brass ensemble ‘Brass Monkeys’.

17th December – The Scope, Brighton. With The Static Memories.

Saxoctopus returns…

In between Shoaling dates, the eight-saxophone monster Saxoctopus is rearing its head for two gigs. We’re playing at the last ‘LUME Presents’ gig of the year at the Vortex, on Sunday 7th December in a double bill with the excellent Alphabets (Hannah Marshall, Nick Malcolm and Lauren Kinsella). Then on Tuesday 9th December we head to Derby to play at Corey Mwamba’s new series ‘The Family Album’. This will be fun….

Trio with Olie Brice and Corey Mwamba

With the octopus safely back in its tank (?), I’ll head directly to Daniel Thompson’s Foley Street concert series for the second meeting of the trio with Corey and Olie. The first one was very enjoyable indeed, so it will be really nice to do it again!

Hope to see you out there somewhere…

The London Jazz Festival is upon us!

It’s that time of year again, and I’ve got a few things coming up in the London Jazz Festival. They are:

18th, 19th and 20th November: a three night LUME festival special! I’m playing on the 18th (with Ripsaw Catfish) and the 20th (with Quadraceratops) plus referee-ing the Deemer/duck-rabbit double bill on the 19th. More info on the LUME blog post, and there are advance tickets on sale for all three gigs too.

23rd November: Quadraceratops are playing at the BBC Jazz On 3 festival edition of ‘Jazz In The Round’, at the Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre. We’re kicking off the four-band bill at 2pm. This will be fun! It’s also being recorded for Radio 3, and will be broadcast at 11pm on Monday 8 December.

In between all that I’ll be trying to catch everyone else’s amazing gigs. See you out there!

NB: The Ripsaw Catfish gig is also the first night of our ‘Shoaling’ tour. We’re heading off around the UK in November and December, collaborating with lots of different improvisers. There’s some more info on the Sound And Music project page, and here’s a handy flyer.

shoaling flyer