Category Archives: gigging

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)

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

A lovely night at LUME!

Last Thursday (6th Feb) we started up LUME for 2014 at our new venue Long White Cloud. It promised to be quite a full-on night for me as not only were we trying out the venue for the first time, but I had also been invited to play with Corey Mwamba and Martin Pyne as part of the gig! In addition to this, we were a bit concerned about turnout due to the combination of relentless rain and a tube strike.

Happily, it all worked out. Dee and I turned up early with our elaborate collection of stuff including curtains, fixings, new LUME banner, etc. After a coffee-fuelled DIY session (with drill work by bassist Jeff Spencer, who had arrived as an audience member but ended up as crew), the stage was set and it looked pretty good….especially with Corey and Martin’s vibes/electronics setup ready to rock as well. (NB: To get to the gig Corey did end up walking across London with his vibraphone for the first time since 2005, apparently, for which we are eternally grateful…especially considering the weather.)

lume setupWe got a nice enthusiastic crowd down (who were loving the food and drink at LWC) and I really enjoyed the gig. It was so great to be asked to play with Corey and Martin: I was transported with my bari into another world of vibraphone soundscapes for two sets. Awesome. If you ever hear of them playing a duo set, make sure you catch it. The gig looked like this (although without my austere expression most of the time hopefully):

corey martin vibes trio lumeAll in all, a successful and enjoyable evening. Long White Cloud were fantastic hosts and everyone had a good time. We look forward to many more! We’re there every Thursday, so do drop in when you’re free and check out the gigs (listings on the LUME website). A door-eye view to finish off the post:

lume door

LUME starts up again for 2014 and Ripsaw Catfish Spring gigs

After a quiet January (playing-wise at least…I wasn’t short on admin), things are about to kick off in a flurry of Spring activity, so I thought it was time for an update.

LUME re-starts on February 6th, and will be running weekly at our new venue Long White Cloud in Hoxton. The full programme for Feb/March is over on our website for your perusal, but I will say here that the first gig is a real treat. We’ve got our good friends Corey Mwamba and Martin Pyne pitching up with their vibraphones, electronics and assorted bits and bobs for a duo gig. I’ll be joining them on bari sax in the second set, but don’t let that put you off. It should be a lovely evening of improvising and settling into our new home.

Next up is a bunch of gigs with Ripsaw Catfish, my new duo with the ace guitarist Anton Hunter. The music is mostly improvised, but with some elements that we’ve composed too, and we’ve been making our way around the rehearsal rooms of the London and Manchester areas working on it. Much tea has been consumed, the world set to rights, so now we’re going to embark upon what could be called a mini-tour. Hear the results at these places:

11th February: Fizzle, The Lamp Tavern, Birmingham (with Bruce Coates & Trevor Lines)

26th March: Freedom Principle, Manchester (with Trio Riot)

27th March: LUME, Long White Cloud, London (with Steve Beresford and Julie Kjaer)

6th April: One Note Sunday, ArtsmithLIVE, Derby (early gig: 6.30pm)

Hope to see you out there somewhere!

Things are happening in 2014

The last Quad gig of the year has happened, and the last LUME of the year is tonight, so now it’s *really* time to start sorting out what’s going on next year. Lots of things are up in the air, and some things are half-organised or very nearly organised, but I recently put the first actually-confirmed thing in my diary: Ripsaw Catfish will be playing at Corey Mwamba’s gig One Note Sunday in Derby, in April.

I really like One Note Sunday and I wrote about it before when we played there with the sax quartet. If you are in the Midlands and free on April 6th, come and check us out doing a bari sax/guitar duo thing. The night is also on FB and Twitter. How’s that for advance notice?

More on everything else soon once I have something to say!

 

Quad at The Salisbury

We had a very enjoyable evening at the Salisbury on Sunday. The jazz night there is always well attended so there was a nice crowd, and it was also the first Quadraceratops gig with an open fire. I might work on this as some kind of winter rider requirement: nothing like a fireside chat before going on stage. This gig was also probably our last one with Jason Simpson, who has been playing bass while Dave O’Brien is away travelling. Thanks Jason! And thanks to Jazz @ The Salisbury for having us.

I’m working on some new music for the band at the moment, and also getting into more gig promotion, of which there will be news soon…

Quadraceratops and The Button Band at the Hackney Cut

On February 8th I ventured into the world of gig promoting and put on a double bill at the Hackney Cut. Quadraceratops were joined by The Button Band for a really nice evening of music, pizza, cake eating and general hanging out at a venue that boasts the address ‘Fish Island’. Sadly not open for public gigs any more (nothing to do with us!) the Hackney Cut is a great space and was also home to Dee Byrne’s ‘Jazz at the Hackney Cut’ weekly night.

We recorded and filmed the gig, and I’ll post some videos on here soon subject to the usual video-editing delay. Audio and I have a much better relationship though, so there are some recordings up on my Soundcloud page:

A big thanks to all the musicians, and also to Gideon Conn for producing the button/dinosaur flyer artwork that got so many compliments as I pushed it into people’s faces to promote the gig. The process of putting on a gig was moderately stressful but is definitely something I’d like to do more of. Plans are being hatched as you read this…