Belated Happy New Year!
I know, it has been forever since my last post, but the wait will be worth it. I have some fantastic tracks for you listen to, as well and some good updates!
I'm currently in the midst of exam stress, as I have my technical exam in college on Monday. I despise this exam, purely because I hate scales. I can see how they can be used as an educational tool, and as a means to improvise, but I just hate being given a list of scales and told to learn them. Melodic minor scales in 3rds has been the bane of my life these past couple of weeks... Despite that, in the technical exam we do get to play 12 orchestral excerpts, which gives me an excellent opportunity to play some alto trombone! I'm doing 8 tenor trombone excerpts and 4 alto excerpts, so those make up for the hurrendousness of scales... nearly.
This past month I've had the huge privilage of playing in the RNCM Big-band for the first time, and it was incredible. I've been to nearly every college big-band concert since I start here in 2009, and I admired all of the players so much, but I'm now getting the chance to sit on stage and play to a packed audience.
The special guest for this concert was an electric bassist called Laurence Cottle, who is a great guy, as well as being an untouchable player. He's worked with everyone in his career, and he's one of the few people who had the privilage of working with the late great Jaco Pastorius, back in the 70s. Laurence has written some incredible tunes, and unforunately they aren't on Spotify, but two of his albums are free to download off of his website, as well as other free tracks of his. This stuff is definitely worth a listen, especially tracks like The Owl, Underhill Pavilion, El Viejo Paso, and I Got Ridov'em, if not for the superb electric bass playing, for the awesome tunes and screaming lead trumpet!
I'm getting the chance to play with the college big-band again, this time on lead trombone which is AWESOME, but even moreso because the guest is Gwilym Simcock. Before I knew about this concert we would be doing with him, I'd only heard his name mentioned in a couple of brochures and magazines, but I started listening to some of his stuff on Spotify, and it's incredible. It's a strange combination of the late-Romantic piano works of Satiz and Einaudi, and the improvised solo piano work of Herbie Hancock and Chick Corea. I do love listening to solo piano stuff, especially when it's as emotional and intense as this album is. The album is called Good Days At Schloss Elmau, and it's definitely worth a listen.
Last year, Mike Walker played with the college big-band, and he put on an incredible concert. I've listened to the recordings of that concerts countless times now, and I discovered that there was some Mike Walker stuff on Spotify. His album, Madhouse & The Whole Thing There, is a diverse, but incredible album. I particularly love the first track, A Real Embrace, and the last track, Dad Logic, but the whole album is definitely worth a listen. Good jazz guitar players that are easy to listen to, I find, are few and far between. Mike Walker is definitely up there Pat Metheny, especially since Mike's compositions are so fresh.
I found 2 real gems recently that were hiding under my nose, here in Manchester. The first is a group called Riot Jazz, a brass ensemble similar to Youngblood Brass Band, and just as funky! Their EP, Gives You the Horn!, is on Spotify. I'm not going to comment on it, just listen. You will enjoy it.
The other gem is a ska band based in Manchester, called Baked a la Ska, doing gigs around the north, but their repertoire is slightly different to standard ska bands on their self titled album; one of my favourite tracks has to be their cover of Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene 4, or the Beastie Boys' Intergalactic. Some of the covers aren't as awesome, but there's a lot of gems in there!
Another gem that I discovered was revealed at the college bar after a rehearsal; we were just sitting, doing what you do after a rehearsal, and this album comes on the speakers, and it's just this insane, awesome, big-band music. I asked one of the guys what it was, and I think 2 or 3 people at the table were shocked that I didn't know what it was! Turns out, it's the big-band of a guy called Michel Camilo, and all the charts are insane! This album, Caribe, is intense. My favourite track has to be Not Yet. But I'm saying no more. Listen.
I'm going to leave you with some awesome. I've had one track on loop quite a bit since coming back, and it's this: The Brecker Brothers' Skunk Funk. I love this tune. You will have almost definitely have heard it before, but it never loses it's energy. It really makes me wish I could play bebop/post-bop, just for the high-energy improvising and choruses. Enjoy!
‘til next time...
Thanks ~ The Jazzbone
