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!
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….
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…
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…
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
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.
We’re rehearsing! It’s true. We had the first session with the full band last night, and I was really pleased with how the tunes sounded. I even managed to record it this time, so here are a few edited highlights…
‘I could make it myself for less’
‘Song for the worker bee’
‘Palindrome day’
‘Bumble bee collision’
‘Rabbit feet’
There’s a bit more writing to do, and we have some exciting gig news in the pipeline…more on this soon…
On Thursday I went to the first rehearsal of Tom Ward’s new sax quartet. We played a whole bunch of Tom’s original tunes, arrangements and also his transcriptions of other sax quartets. I had a great time! Here are some highlights (recorded with a phone)…
Tom Ward (alto)
Chris Williams (alto)
Andrew Woolf (tenor)
Cath Roberts (bari)
‘Chresmomancy’
‘Headmaster’s Daughter’
‘PIAP’
I was excited to find today that the Quadraceratops gig at the Forge, Camden town on May 24th has gone up on the venue’s website! Tickets are now on sale, for those who like to organise their diaries in advance….
I’ve finally given the septet a name: Cath Roberts’ Quadraceratops. I also just sent off the promo info for our first gig…more to follow on this soon. You can find the band on Facebook and ‘like’ it to hear about what we’re up to, and I’ll be posting on here too. Plus, if you’re on Twitter, you can follow me under my alias @robocath. It’s a huge relief to actually decide on a name, so now it’s back to the piano to get working on the tunes again!