Since Easter, Jazzbone has been a busy bunny, some great gigs were coming my way! I'll fill you in on what I've been up to since then.
The first thing I did when I got back was straight into rehearsals for lots of different things. Jazz collective was on the cards again, which I was very pleased about. We played 2 concerts with the jazz collective, one in college and one in the Art Theatre, New Mills. The concert in college consisted of the jazz collective with guest Jack Davies. It was at this concert we played Gil Evans' Concerto de Aranjuez with the extended jazz group. We had french horns, flutes, cor anglais, loads of crazy stuff going on! Again I was sitting top trombone for the gigs, and I absolutely loved it. We played some roastin' tunes like Home Basie, Manteca, One O'Clock Jump, Elektric City and some other great funky tunes. I played a solo this time as well, which I was very privilaged to do! I played the Tommy Dorsey standard Getting Sentimental Over You, which when placed in the 2nd half of a programme, can be quite a tiring piece to play.
Altogether, jazz at the RNCM is fantastic. I'm focusing more on my classical playing at the minute, but in a few months time once I've fixed a few things in my technique, I'm back on the jazz again! I have been getting some improvisation done since Easter as well, which is always terrifying. We had to perform improvisations in our musicianship exams, and we chose to play the Welsh folk tune O Waly, Waly. The group was slightly unorthodox, with 3 trombones and a piano. Trying to keep a piece exciting with improvisation going on and 3 other people not just sitting about was quite a challenge, but we nailed it! We reckon we got a pretty sweet mark for it anyway. I also got to do some improv solos in jazz collective, which I was forced to do, but I gave them a shot anyway. My Aebersold and Jiggs book are getting a bit dusty...
Since Easter I've played with 2 university symphony orchestras, which was really good experience for me. The first was Manchester University Choral and Orchestral Society playing in a church in Didsbury. The repertoire was fantastic, with pieces like Rhapsody in Blue, Pomp and Circumstance and other popular 'classics'. The soloist for the Gershwin was just amazing, no idea what he's doing at university, he should be at conservatoire!
The other orchestra was Newcastle University Symphony Orchestra and Student Orchestra. My brother Matt went to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne for university and became really involved in the music department there, and despite having graduated a few years ago, he's still conducting and playing percussion there. The Saturday night concert was fantastic; the concert's theme was Nationality, and we played pieces like Finlandia, Ma Vlast, Walton's Johannesburg Overtune and my favourite, Brahms' 2nd Symphony. The Brahms was nuts, I was on 1st trombone and reading alto clef is not quite natural yet. There are some beautiful trombone parts in the symphony, and the last movement just has a glorious ending, with an exposed trombone chord just a few bars before the end.
The Sunday night concert was my 2nd performance of Karl Jenkin's The Armed Man, this time on first trombone! It was an excellent concert.
I've done a few other bits and pieces since then, like today I played in the Manchester Day Parade with a samba band which was great fun! We played with them in the Preston Caribbean Festival a few weeks ago, and it's totally different to what we classical musicians are used to!
The last notable gig I did was at the Ulverston International Music Festival last week. In college at the minute there are recitals and various competitions going on, so some of the trombone players despite having finished their exams are still very busy, so this gave me a great opportunity. A 4th year trombone player was needed for an ensemble, so he asked me to dep for him in a big-band gig. This was a big-band called The Sky Project, which is a local big-band playing local music. The band was formed by some friends who wanted to promote local music by artists like Mike Walker, or artists who play with the band like Moss Freed, Alice Zawadzki or Joe McCallum. The gig was fantastic, great atmosphere, and the music was just so well written, hopefully I'll get to play with them again. The band is fronted by Alice Zawadzki, a former violin student at the RNCM, who is also a fantastic jazz singer.
I think that's a pretty in-depth analysis of my Summer term at the RNCM. I go home next Tuesday to Belfast, so when I get back I'll write up some of my awesome finds !
'til next time...
Thanks ~ The Jazzbone
