Suggestions and that.

A long-awaited list of awesome music suggestions is here!

I understand my suggestions may not be your cup of tea, but I know that a lot of the music I listen to is a bit out-of-the-ordinary and often overlooked, and I absolutely adore it all! If I can make someone out there feel as good as this music makes me, then I know I'm doing a good job!

Finding your music taste and discovering new music is a journey, and I'll give you an example of how I found a lot of jazz.

When I was about 15 or 16, my school big-band played a tune called 'The Chicken', a school big-band classic, and I decided to look into this. I found a recording of this track on Limewire (those were the days...) by a guy called Jaco Pastorius. I had never heard of him before in my life. After listening to this recording countless times, and I can still do this, I knew every solo inside-out, including Jaco's on-the-fly bass accompaniment. One day I was in town with a few friends, and in HMV I saw this CD sitting there, simply entitled 'Jaco Pastorius'. I needed to have it. I didn't have the money for it then, so a friend bought it for himself, my main man Smokey Fingers, and I got a lend of it. This recording changed my perception of music. Every track was just incredible, and even now, many years on, I'm still blown away by it. Check it out.

Anyway, on this album, there was a collaberation with Herbie Hancock. Now I know that Herbie has been around since what we know as modern jazz was born. I got one album, 'Headhunters', which is the best selling jazz album of all time. This is also an absolutely mind-blowing crazy album. After that, I got a compilation album of his earlier, more acoustic recordings, called 'Canteloupe Island', and the title track was very simple, but also incredibly addictive. Remember that track.

At some point close to finding Herbie, I was playing with the Ulster Youth Jazz Orchestra, and we played a chart called 'Stolen Moments', another all-time favourite track of mine. I went and got the recording of this, on a beautifully named album, 'Blues and the Abstract Truth'. On this track, there was a trumpet solo by a guy called Freddie Hubbard, an incredible jazz musician. I loved this trumpet solo, so simple, yet so elegant. Now, I went to listen to some other Herbie stuff, and listened to the trumpet solo on Canteloupe Island. Is this the same guy? Checked out the band listing, it was indeed Freddie Hubbard, and from that I went and listened to load of Freddie's albums.

From Herbie I also discovered Chick Corea, from him I found Dave Weckl, and so on. That's the great thing about jazz; go to a great era of jazz, like the fusion era in the mid 70s, and you'll find that everyone has played with everyone else, and made some fantastic music.

Anyway, that's just something to think about.

My first track for this edition is a special one. If you read my last blog, you'll know that I attended the Ulster Youth Orchestra course, and we played the breathtaking 'Scheherazade' by Rimsky-Korsakov. I knew this piece well beforehand, but I knew this version almost as well: Maynard Ferguson's version. Or this one: Waynard's version. I would recommend listening to the original Rimsky-Korsakov piece first, then listening to the Maynard. It's just an absolutely fantastic opening to a track by Maynard, some of his best soaring! If you know the classical piece, and the gorgeous violin cadenzas, this will be a special listen!

Next up, is fairly new to me, but it's Bill Chase. If you've ever heard of the jazz trumpeter and legend Thomas Gansch, you're sure to have heard his big-band, Gansch & Roses. They do a fantastic tribute chart to Bill Chase, and you'll find out why by listening to my favourite track of theirs, Livin' in Heat. Despite having screaming trumpets and sick charts, Chase were quite a popular band, and made it into the charts with many of their tunes.

I discovered this next band only this week whilst on YouTube; this video shows the band talking about writing one of their pieces of music, and I was very interested in the rest of their music. They only have one album on Spotify, but it's definitely worth a listen! Here's Bop, by Brandt Brauer Frick. It won't quite be jazz, it's not quite classical, it's not quite contemporary ensemble, it's just everything.

Now, if you're involved in any youth big-band or jazz orchestra, you'll almost definitely know of Gordon Goodwin and his Big Phat Band. He's churned out some classics in the past few years, like Hunting Wabbits and Count Bubba, but they've just released a new album on Spotify! It's called That's How We Roll, and it's worth a full listen-through. Here's my favourite track on it, and you'll know why, but it's Hunting Wabbits 3.

My last suggestion for you is a bit more interesting. A few years ago, my brother and I decided to try and find the best version of 'Air on the G String', by Bach. We found a few very good versions, like the Modern Jazz Quartet version, but it took us a while to find this gem; if you've ever seen the film Collateral with Tom Cruise, you'll have heard this played. It's by the Klazz Brothers & Cuba Percussion, who are a fascinating group. Fusing jazz with classical with cuban and all sorts, this really is fantastic listening. If you want another suggestion for them, here is their version of the Overture to the Wagner opera Tannhauser.

I hope I've given you enough listening to keep you occupied for a while!

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone

I'm getting worse at this as time goes on... UPDATES!

So, it's been a while since I last posted on here. This may be a long update post...

I'll start from the latest event and work backwards. Just yesterday, I was playing in the Ulster Hall in Belfast to a near-capacity crowd with the Ulster Youth Orchestra. Despite being 21 and at a music college, I had never done a youth orchestra course in my life until this Summer. I'm hoping to do some work with a professional orchestra sometime in the next year or 2, so I thought it would be a good time to get some experience playing in an orchestral section. Happily, I auditioned and got 1st chair, and had a solid lower brass section.

The rep we were playing was pretty good, not the best, but pretty good. We put on a programme of 'Russian Masterpieces'; Shostakovich's "Festive Overture", Rachmaninov's "Piano Concerto #2" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade". The piano soloist for the piano concerto was Michael McHale, a brilliant Northern Irish concert pianist. We put on two fantastic concerts, one in Derry and one in Belfast, and both were just fantastic.

The best part for me was definitely our tutor, Paul Mayes. Every day we had brass sectionals with Paul, which for 2 days was going through the repertoire, but most of the time, he talked to us about playing a brass instrument, being a musician, and a whole host of related topics. I've taken so many notes on things that he has said, and I feel really motivated to play.

The biggest thing he said took me by surprise, but once I digested it, it made a lot of sense; Don't rely on your teacher to do everything for you. Work out what your weaknesses are, and fix them. There is always a reason why you're doing something wrong, and there is always a way to do it better.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Teachers and tutors are great for a lot of things, like learning repertoire, style, and buying you lunch, but they can't teach you how to play the instrument to it's full potential. It's up to you to master the instrument.

I'm feeling good about this next year, and I'm looking forward to proving myself again.

Just a week after I got home from Manchester for the Summer, I got a very exciting phone call; a trombone had pulled out of a gig, and I was first number that got called. The 'gig' was actually a two-week festival in St. Endellion in Cornwall, playing the Richard Wagner 4-hour masterpiece 'Valkyries'. I had never heard of the festival, but quickly found out that it was a pretty prestigious festival. The late Richard Hickox was the musical director there from 1972 to 2008, and made it into a festival to rival the BBC Proms. All of the musicians and choir members involved pay to be there, and all the international soloists do it for free.

It was a brilliant two weeks, not only because of the Wagner, or the other concerts, but the social aspect was fantastic. All of the musicians there were freelance musicians, mostly from London, and I got to meet some brilliant people. Every night was a great laugh, and I made a lot of good friends.

I got to play in two concerts aside from the Valkyries; the first was with orchestra and choir playing Berlioz' "Royal Hunt and Storm" and Stravinsky's "Symphony of Psalms", both fantastic pieces. The second concert was just the brass players, and featured the brilliant arrangement of Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition". It's hard to beat the sound of a brass choir, and playing with such great musicians just made it a special concert.

Before the Summer, I cannot really remember what I did. College was tough for the last term, but I managed to get a 2:1 out of 2nd year, and a fantastic recital mark.

Lastly, I found out recently that I shall be auditioning for the 2nd trombone job for the Ulster Orchestra in just a few weeks time! This will be my first professional orchestral audition, so I'm gonna keep the head down for the next couple of weeks, and do my best. I'm feeling really good about my playing at the minute, and I'm looking forward to showing these guys what I'm capable of.

I'll roll out some more of these blogs in the next couple of weeks with updates and some listening suggestions!

'til next time...

Thanks ~ The Jazzbone