Spring has sprung. The house martins are flitting around the house & nesting in the eaves. It’s a busy time for them and for me!
I’ve been busy working on several projects. First up, Eat to the Beat – the Pop Up Jazz Supper Club. The launch event at Auchenblae saw the hall transformed into a fantastic cosmopolitan jazz club for the night. Everyone had such a great time and all ended up on the dance floor by the end of the night, which is not something that happens at jazz gigs very often! I’m hoping for more of that at our events in Banchory and Birnam next month. The Banchory event is at the Banchory River Festival and takes place in the Guide Hut, another transformation to perform and no, it won’t be us transformed into girl guides, no matter how hilarious it would be to see the guys in the band dressed up like that!
Second project is my tribute to ‘Lady Day and The Pres’, which will be debuting at this year’s Edinburgh Jazz Festival. I have the wonderful saxophonist and 2013 Scottish Jazz Award winner Konrad Wiszniewski performing with me. Further dates are being worked for other festivals this year and next so keep an eye on the gig calendar! Check out Konrad here: http://konradwiszniewski.com
Third project was debuted at a special event at Aberdeen Art Gallery earlier this month to coincide with their exhibition on the First World War. This cataclysmic period devastated Europe and it’s people but led to so many huge social and cultural shifts, one of which was the jazz age. The American soldiers who fought, introduced jazz to Europe through their military bands attached to the all-black regiments. The most famous of these being James Reese Europe. Music from the period and from the years following are featured with, of course, some reference to styles of the time and of today. It’s been really interesting researching this period.
There are lots of other gigs happening too, so please make sure to check the gig listings and try and get along to something. If you can bring dancing shoes too, all the better!
Hope this finds you busy but not so busy that you’re not having fun. After all, what’s it all about if we’re not having fun?!
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