Apr 14 2009

Back On The Road With Clare Teal!

Hello folks,

Well it’s been a pretty busy period out there on the road with Clare Teal. We’ve done twelve shows over the last few weeks and we’ve all clocked up over two thousand miles as we travelled up and down the country. I was intending on posting a mid-tour blog to let you all know how it was going, but there proved to be insufficient time once I actually got home! It’s amazing how your one day off at home suddenly erodes away amongst a big pile of washing and unanswered emails when you’ve been out touring… I figured that my constant updates on Twitter would have to suffice for the time being. And once again, a little apology is probably in order for those of you who sent me @replies via Twitter whilst I was away; I still have yet to figure out a method of replying to your messages once I’m out on the road. I’m still waiting for Vodafone to sort me out with a new sparkly phone with which I can fully engage with the online world once I step out the front door!
The Teal Tour started out with four nights at Ronnie Scotts. This was a pretty tall order as we were trying out a brand new show at one of the country’s most prestigious jazz venues. Less than ideal (nobody wants to peak too early now, do they?!), but after a couple of days rehearsal we were pretty confident that the new show was going to be a hit. And it was.
We were out promoting our new album Clare Teal Live At Ebenezer Chapel. Unfortunately the album was so new that it wasn’t actually ready for the shows at Ronnies (artwork, artwork, artwork… the bane of all album production!). When we did finally get the CD’s for the Falmouth show, we were all over the moon with the results. The music sounds great and the artwork is beautiful. We recorded the album in front of a small audience in January. There’s a fantastic atmosphere to the live recording; you can really feel the energy in the room. The new album is now available on Clare’s website. During the tour they were only available at the live shows so needless to say, they were selling like the proverbial hotcakes. We’re all very proud.
The Ronnie’s shows were a big hit. We had a full house for three out of the four nights and the audience loved the new material. Our new MD Grant Windsor has produced some stunning new arrangements (he also did a lot of the arrangements for the live album), and the band is sounding better than ever. Colin and AD have become an integral part of the live sound with a far greater emphasis on close harmony backings and the addition of guitar, trumpet and percussion. We’ve even got Chris Dagley playing bongos for one number. O yes…. A personal favourite number in the new set. I shan’t give too much away, you’ll just have to come along and see the show for yourselves. Let’s just say that it has to be seen to be believed…
I even managed to survive what can only be described as an act of sabotage on our opening night at the hands of the bassist playing with the support band. After I rather stupidly agreed to lend him my bass for the first set, he took it upon himself to completely change the action on my bass; handing it back to me just before our first set, remarking nonchalantly “You might want to check the tuning..”. I was not impressed. Especially as I’d just had the bass professionally set up and it was sounding better than ever.
Anyway… I’m over it now.
Our first out of town gig was in Falmouth. Possibly the longest drive of them all at five hours (eerghh..), we played the Princess Pavilion. It’s a lovely little theatre down by the sea (Or is it a river? Not sure..). The audience were a little quiet, but the show was good. By this point we’d already started rearranging the set and adding in a couple of old favourites. You can’t have a Clare Teal show without Messin’ With Fire, after all!
The following day we moved on to one of Clare’s favourite venues, the Brewhouse Theatre in the ‘Big Apple’ (Taunton). This really is a lovely venue and a great little town. It’s always good to have a little time during the day to have a walk around when your on the road. Grant and I went out for some lunch and coffee before the show. We’ve played the Brewhouse a number of times in the past; we’re always met with a great reception and the staff really looked after us yet again. A really good day.
On the 24th, we moved on to play St. Georges in Bristol, another regular venue for Clare. I’ve played there at least three times before with Clare and once with Lea Delaria. It’s a wonderful space for performing and has a great atmosphere… as long as you can get the acoustic under control. It’s pretty cavernous and getting the balance right on stage can be a bit of a challenge.
We had the local BBC come down in the afternoon to interview Clare and film her, Grant and I performing our blisteringly fast version of Tea For Two (Which incidentally features on the live album.. come on now folks!). Great fun… Really hoping that one turns up on YouTube at some point. It’s funny how you never really get to see these things back…
I did another one of those classic moves whilst in Bristol. The old ‘forgetting to call your mates when playing in their town’ trick. It never fails to come back and bite you on the arse. I have one good friend in Bristol, a girl I went to college with and haven’t seen for a while. Although I had it in the back of my mind to call her the next time I was in town, I totally forgot. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem but, rather typically, I ran into her in the street during the afternoon. This always happens! It happened the last time I was in Dublin recording with TDC with the one person I know there too. Mortifyingly embarrassing. Felt awful. But it was nice to see her, if incredibly briefly!
After Bristol we had a well-deserved day off at home. When I intended on writing this blog. Obviously I didn’t get around to it… sorry folks.
On the 26th we all schlepped up to South Shields. Yet another five hour slog in the car. We arrived in the freezing cold and wind at the venue which is situated right on the Tyne. I really thought the weather was starting to get warmer by now, rather wishfully discarding both hat and scarf by this stage; but this happy thought was soon put to bed as I attempted to move my gear into the venue and virtually took off like a windsurfer as soon as I put my bass on my back…
After a great show we excitedly set off for our hotel like a bunch of school kids off to Summer camp. We were staying in the gorgeous Lumley Castle Hotel about thirty miles down the road. If you’re ever up in that area I’d seriously recommend this place. Dating back to the 1300s, it is truly breath-taking. Very rarely do we get to stay in such luxury whilst on the road. Clare and Muddy did well to find this little gem! Here’s a little photo so you can get the general idea…
Mmm.. lovely stuff! The following morning we travelled 150 miles down the road to play the Albert Halls in Bolton. Due to the nature of the high stage we were unable to use their piano, so Grant was stuck playing a keyboard again. It’s amazing how this can affect the gig and the sound on stage. It really was a bit of a struggle to hear exactly what was going on and the overly long soundcheck meant that we also missed dinner; not a great start to the evening but the show itself went really well.
We moved on to Huddersfield on the Saturday to play the fabulous Lawrence Batley Theatre. Once again, Grant and I got there early to have a wander round the town and check out the venue. Grant was instantly taken with the piano (in fact at one stage I thought I might be lunching alone…) and the technical crew were really great. This was the closest we got to a hometown gig for Clare on this tour and the show was sold out with around 500 people coming. In many ways it was a shame that this show (and the previous two shows on the Northern run) featured just the trio, but it did allow us to vary the set across the tour a little more and try out some different material. In fact we are working on creating a completely different show for the trio in the near future for these occasions… watch this space.

The Huddersfield show was definitely a highlight for me. We had such a great time at the Lawrence Batley Theatre. The audience were brilliant and it really is a very special venue. I’m definitely looking forward to going back there to play again soon.
The tour finished with two additional one-off shows the following week. The first was up at the Pacific Road Arts Centre in Birkenhead (over seven hours there and back!). This is a really interesting venue which I’d played a couple of years ago with Lea Delaria’s Dirty Martinis. It’s situated in a converted railway depot and puts on a wide range of music from jazz to full-on rock gigs. Acoustically it’s a bit of a cavern, plus there’s no piano, but this is one of my favourite venues to play up North. It has such a great atmosphere and the staff are brilliant. Really worth checking out.
The last venue of the tour was The Stables in Wavendon (and thankfully, not too far from home this time!). We always have a fantastic time there. I’ve played there with Clare at least three times before and we have a fabulous time on every visit. Founded by John Dankworth and Cleo Lane, it really is one of the best jazz venues in the country and well worth a visit if you’re in the area. We were back with the full band this time and had a fantastic show to round off the tour.
But of course the fun doesn’t stop here folks! We’ve still got a load of forthcoming shows for you if you haven’t managed to catch us thus far. We’ll be at the Hull Truck Theatre on the 26th, Pizza Express Maidstone on the 2nd May and the Bath Pavilion on the 3rd. You can find all Clare’s dates (as well as all the other dates I’m playing with other artists) on my MySpace page, as well as on Clare’s official website. And don’t forget to order your copy of Clare Teal Live at Ebenezer Chapel from the Online Shop, where you can also get hold of our last album Get Happy. Enjoy!
ps. Those of you waiting with bated breath for news of my forthcoming solo album (or should that be ‘both of you’?!), fear not. Work is very much in progress, but that is another post entirely. This one is already far too long… until next time!

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Nov 7 2008

Nina Ferro’s Album Launch at the 606


Hello folks,

Now I don’t normally do this on the blog, but I’ve got a very exciting show coming up on Monday which I wanted to tell you about. We will be officially launching my good friend Nina Ferro’s excellent new album Waiting For The Sunset on Monday 10th at the wonderful 606 Club in Chelsea (90 Lots Road, SW10).
I’ve been playing with Nina for a few years now and she is one of the most fantastic singers you’ll ever hear. Her new album features some great new original material and some choice covers all arranged by Grant Windsor.
The show will feature a 10 piece band (yes, a 10 piece band at the 606.. how we’ll all fit on the little stage at once is frankly beyond me, but we’ll certainly have a go). This is the lineup:
Nina Ferro- Vocals (obviously!)
Grant Windsor – Piano, keyboards & backing vocals
Simon Little- Electric & upright basses, backing vocals
Femi Temowo- Guitar
Darryn Farrugia- Drums
Jono McNeil- Backing vocals
Jamie Lee Wilson- Backing vocals
Brandon Allen- Sax
Quentin Collins- Trumpet
Trevor Myles- Trombone
This is a real all-star lineup and promises to be a fantastic show. I’d seriously recommend you all get on the case and book your tickets now; I think the show is fast selling out. Personally, I can’t wait! 
You can hear some of the tracks from Waiting For The Sunset on Nina’s MySpace page.
If you were planning on coming to one of my shows in London this year, come to this one. It’s gonna be a stonker. See you all there.

no comments   |  tags: , , , , | posted in Jazz, Music, Recording

Nov 3 2008

The Road Less Travelled.. On Tour With Clare Teal, Part II

Hello folks,
Thought I’d fill you in on what’s been going on recently…

At the end of last week the Clare Teal band embarked on a three day northern excursion, starting off in Scunthorpe and finishing off in Durham via Leeds. And what fun we had!

This time all three shows were just with the trio of myself, Chris Dagley on drums and Mike Gorman on piano. We began on Wednesday with the big(ish) drive up to Scunthorpe. Almost the minute I reached the M25 I received a phone call from Clare informing me that the M1 was closed. Marvelous start. It took me almost an hour and a half to reach the A1 because of the traffic stuffing up the road onto the M1. Terribly dull. Now, I always make a point of working out exactly how long any of these epic journeys are likely to take, and generally add an extra 30 minutes on top for the purposes of ‘getting lost’. This cunning ruse (which usually works out a treat) fell flat on it’s face and I found myself running horrifically behind schedule in a losing game of Beat The SatNav.
As was everyone else it seemed. Luckily Muddy and Clare were already halfway there as Clare was recording at the BBC in Birmingham.  So I arrived at the Plowright Theatre a full hour late. But still managed to beat the others. Poor Chris didn’t arrive until just before they opened the doors for the punters to come in. He missed dinner..
We had a great show in Scunthorpe, with a lovely crowd. This was Clare’s Scunthorpe debut and I’m hoping we’ll be back there soon. We stayed at the Forest Pines Hotel down the road (narrowly missing the Chelsea football team it seems, who’d just checked out). Great hotel, although I regretted the decision to carry my bass to my room, which literally couldn’t have been further away from the foyer.
By the following day it became apparent that there was some horrendous cold-related lurgy gradually making it’s way around the band. It started with Mike and by this stage Chris was feeling ropey too. Luckily Leeds wasn’t too far away. We were playing at the Music College. I met Clare and Muddy at the Hotel (‘Hotel Posh no.2’, this time The Met on King Street) so we could go grab some lunch in town. The promise of Clare’s local knowledge proved a little sketchy (“I keep forgetting I used to live here…”), and we wandered the streets in the rain until we decided that it was frankly too cold and wet to continue and dived into the first place we came to. ‘Cafe Italia’ looked good from the outside…
What followed was one of the most ridiculous restaurant scenes I’ve encountered on my travels. We sat there at our table for what seemed an eternity. Eventually our eastern european waitress deigned to come over and take our order. Clare wanted a pizza. “We don’t have pizza” Really? But this is an Italian restaurant, and this page in the menu is the pizzas? “Yes. We don’t have pizza today”. Right… Clare then went for her second choice, bruschetta and a main course from the set menu. “The set menu doesn’t start until 3.30” says our waitress. Really? Doesn’t say that on the menu. All I wanted was some tomato soup and some garlic bread. Apparently there was no garlic bread because it was somehow pizza-related, so just the soup for me then. After jousting over the menu for a few more minutes, gradually ascertaining how little of what was offered was actually available, we managed to finally order some food.
Shock horror… It wasn’t very good. Never mind.
Clare dropped in at the BBC opposite the music college for a quick interview on the local radio and Mike and I joined her to play a quick tune live on air. Then we dashed back over the road to get ready for the show. The hall was fairly new it seemed. It reminded me of a larger version of the Lecture Recital Room back at my old college. It had a lovely 9′ piano, but a rather strange acoustic. It’s funny how drummers and bass players rarely agree on what makes a good acoustic. Chris loved it. His drums rang out through the whole space with no amplification, as did the piano and Clare’s vocal. But that same acoustic sucked all the life out of my bass and I spent the whole night bashing away at it just trying to get a sound. O well, the gig was good nonetheless. We were joined by Russ Henderson, a final year student at the college who came to play sax with us on a few tunes in the first set. It was great having Russ come to sit in; really lifted the show.
By this stage in the run Clare had also caught the cold. I was now the last remaining band member in perfect health. When we returned to Hotel Posh No. 2, it became clear that virtually the whole place had been hired out for some big corporate function. There was loud music playing throughout, the bar was stuffed, and there were various drunken folk falling about all over the place. We managed to find a little cosy spot by an open fire in the foyer and proceeded to order copious amounts of food. Marvelous stuff!
On Friday we played the Gala Theatre in Durham. I really love Durham, it’s such a beautiful town. I fully intended getting up at a decent hour and heading over there to have a look around. Typically I woke up in Leeds far too late (12.15 to be exact… I know, I know..) and completely buggered up my plan. I arrived in Durham mid-afternoon in the pouring rain, got pretty lost in my car trying to find the venue, then got pretty lost on foot trying to find Muddy and Clare. We had a great show that night to a sold-out house. By this point the others were really feeling the effects of i) all the driving and ii) the cold they seemed to have given each other. So you can imagine how we were all relishing the thought of the 4 1/2 hour drive home…
I’m pleased to say that somehow I managed to avoid catching any illnesses on the northern run. Back in London now and concentrating on getting ready for Nina Ferro‘s album launch at the 606 next Monday, and of course the tour with Duke Special. Nina’s new album is fantastic and the band are sounding awesome, so if you’re going to be in town on the 10th, make sure you’re at the 606 in Chelsea. And let me know you’re coming too so I can say hello!
Until then…

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