‘[his] piano playing had admirable clarity and imagination, plus a sense of completeness’
The Herald
artwork © Jonathan Gibbs
NEWS_
27.01.10_ Things that have been going on:
Played a fun organ-type gig at The 78 with Brian Molley on tenor (with effects) and Stu Brown. We went under the name ‘3 Kinds Roast’ because the tunes we all brought were pretty hard. It was nice to get the chance to rehearse some material and perform it though. Once I can improve my ability to find sounds on organ I think we could have a lot of fun in this band.
Saw the John Escreet Project at the Jazz Bar. It was spectacular, and probably the best audience vibe I’ve seen in the venue. It was nice and humbling to be given a window into what is possible in improvised music.
Recorded on a couple of tracks for the new Future Pilot AKA record. It was nice to do something non-jazz and to get to plug into a real Leslie for the first time.
Saw my esteemed colleague Euan Burton play with Ari Hoenig and Gilad Hekselman. Great to see these guys and to hear them play again. Gilad is sounding especially good at the moment, I watched one of his broadcasts from Smalls with Marcus Gilmore, Mark Turner, and Joe Martin and found it hard to go to sleep after.
17.11.09_ Just had a nice and busy week. Highlights were two gigs with fantastic US sax player Jon Irabagon. Check him out as he is fantastic. Really burning alto, and his influences range from Sahid Shihab to Evan Parker. It would have been nice to have some more dates as i was just getting used to playing with these guys. Here’s a video of some nice circular breathing which he wheeled out on the gigs to great effect.
Also played at The Jazz Bar with my quartet. Another chance to run through my rather tricky tunes, some of them coming out a bit different this time. I wish I could write tunes that are less of a roast but thats just the way they seem to come out.
Saw Empirical at City Halls on saturday and it was an amazing gig. I’d heard all the guys before except Lewis Wright on vibes who was astounding. The group played so well together, and they really got the most out of a difficult room. Great tunes too, there success is most deserved.