Category Archives: News

The Jeff Chambers Variable n-tet

I had a lot of fun yesterday at a rehearsal of the Jeff Chambers Variable n-tet, a big band playing Jeff’s music. The band has been on hiatus for a few years, and I was happy to be invited to rehearse with this new 2012 incarnation. It features a lot of lovely musicians including friends I haven’t seen for a while – plus I met some new faces too. With sunlight streaming in through the Vortex windows, the rehearsal looked a bit like this (check Tom Ward’s handknit in the foreground – nice)…

The band put a record out in 2006, and you can investigate that further plus find out about Jeff and the group at his website. More activity to follow soon….

Quadraceratops at the London Jazz Festival…

In a flurry of Friday afternoon excitement, I’ve just managed to confirm that Quadraceratops will be doing a gig as part of the London Jazz Festival. We’ll be supporting Get The Blessing on November 17th at the Jazz Cafe in Camden. More information and links to follow as I get them…

Quadraceratops at SE Collective, Madwort Sax Quartet at the Salisbury..

In a sudden flurry of gig activity, both Quadraceratops and the Madwort Sax Quartet are playing in the next five days. SE Collective is hosting the Quad on Tuesday 4th September, and before that Tom’s quartet is making its debut appearance at Jazz @ The Salisbury on Sunday 2nd September.

See you out there!

Sax quartet goes into the studio…

I spent Monday and Tuesday this week recording with Tom Ward’s sax quartet (which might be called ‘The Madwort Saxophone Quartet’). The session was at House of Strange, a fantastical studio run by Ash Gardner, complete with extra-colourful wall art and a full costume department….although, sadly, the only two photos I took feature neither of these elements.

Tom had seven original tunes ready to record, so the two days was plenty of time to get stuck in. We even had time to record some group improvisations, which was a first for the band and something that will definitely be featuring in future activities. It was a heavy two days of playing for me on baritone sax, with several takes of each tune plus rehearsing, but I had a great time and felt like I could have gone for another day by the end.

Tom is currently listening through the many hours of music we produced, and will be putting it all together into some kind of record. Originally this was going to be a short EP, but with the amount we ended up getting done, who knows….

Getting a bit Mardi….and Quad minus two weeks(ish)!

Checking in with a bit of composition news today: I’ve been asked to write a piece for the brass quintet ‘Mardi Brass’. They are doing an album this year featuring compositions from a few different people. Exciting! The theme is ‘blue’, but a very broad blue, thankfully. I have a pretty wonky idea up my sleeve so I hope they like it…this will be my first time writing for that lineup. Mardi Brass has as its tuba player my good friend (and Magic collaborator) Jeff Miller.

In other news, the Magic Trio has started rehearsing for our June gig – I’ll try and grab some rehearsal recordings to put up on Soundcloud soon. Also, the Quadraceratops gig at the Forge is now only TWO WEEKS away tomorrow. Perhaps strangely for a band with a prehistoric name, we’ll be playing a set composed entirely of brand new music. And maybe *one* cheeky arrangement. 24th May. Come and listen. Info and tickets can be found over on the Forge website…

Some more sounds from the sax quartet, and a general update…

Tom’s sax quartet rehearsed again last week, so I thought I’d post up some more tracks. His tunes are sounding lovely I think! There’s more sax quartet happening later this week, and some recording and gigging coming up in the next few months.

In other band news, Quadraceratops have a bunch of rehearsals coming up too, and we’re looking forward to the Forge gig on 24th May. It would be great to see you there! Grab your slightly cheaper ticket by buying it on the Forge website.

The Magic Trio will be convening next week to get working on our set ready for our debut gig in June, start plotting more magical activity for later in the year, decide who should get chopped in half, etc.

While all this is going on, I’m also working on some library music and enjoying meeting up each month with a new composition collective made up of some college friends. Busy busy…

The Magic Trio

I have an unexpected gig with my (other) exciting new project The Magic Trio! We will be playing on June 21st at Edge Music, a new music night at the Wenlock and Essex, near Angel. Expect a set of new compositions from all three members…

Cath Roberts – Alto and baritone sax

Tom Ward – Clarinet, bass clarinet

Jeff Miller – Assorted low brass instruments

The Quad ventures North…

Latest news from Quadratowers is that we have a gig in Manchester! We’ll be heading up there on June 5th to play at Sandbar for the lovely Efpi Records at their night ‘Freedom Principle’. Should be lots of fun, and I’ve also heard that the beer there is particularly nice. If you’re around the area, come down and say hi…info here.