Turned out the world didn’t end and we’re all still here and probably should have done the Christmas shopping earlier.
Following on from the previous post, I can report that the Duke Special gig at Shepherds Bush Empire was really rather excellent. We had some superb guests including Michele Stodart, Boo Hewerdine and Beth Rowley. It was so good to be playing on stage with all the regulars again after such a long time.
A few videos have already surfaced on YouTube from the show. Here’s the Duke and Michele performing John Prine’s In Spite of Ourselves. Loved this performance…
And here’s an old favourite, I Let You Down, featuring Chip, Ben and me at the start of the show. The Undertaker did indeed make an appearance. Frankly, I needed little excuse to don the tailcoat and top hat once again…
That’s all for now. Hope to see you all at a gig sometime in the new year. Have a lovely Christmas. I shall leave you for now with the latest offering Foreground Music, Vol. I from me, Jez and Mike. Do pop over to the Bandcamp page and grab yourself a copy (my solo records are all available on the same link). We’re all so proud of the record and we’ll be looking to do some more recording and live shows in the new year; watch this space! Until next time… See y’all in 2013 🙂 x
Hello folks, Well it’s been an awfully long time since I’ve posted anything on here and I’ve been cruelly struck down with some sort of hideous virus for the last few days so I thought now would be a good moment to fill you in on what’s been going down in bass town… It’s been an incredibly busy couple of weeks for me and I’ve been lucky enough to have played on some great gigs with some great people (and it was the London Jazz Festival! Hoorah!). This months ‘Wall To Wall’ with Lea Delaria at Pizza Express was a hoot. We were celebrating ‘Women In Jazz’ this time with a host of female jazz musicians (including Deirdre Cartwright, Michele Drees, Alison Neele and the mighty Polly Gibbons) playing tunes written by women. It was one of the most difficult shows so far in terms of logistics and material (anyone for 15/8? No thanks…) but the show as fantastic. We had jazz DJ Helen Mayhew (check out her show on digital station The Jazz) introduce the show and the place was packed out as usual. Really looking forward to our next show there on 19th February with Norma Winstone…. We did a live spot on “In Tune” (BBC Radio 3) on the 19th again which was great fun too playing a few of the tracks that Lea’s just recorded for her live album in New York Had two fab shows with Clare Teal down south at Salisbury Civic Hall and The Concorde Club in Eastleigh (love that place!). We’re preparing for next year’s shows now so watch this space… Did anyone spot me on the telly last week? I was on Children In Need in the middle of the night with ‘Songbirds’. Television Centre on Children In Need night is a real experience. The place was a total frenzy of people running back and forth with clipboards and radio mics but everything ran perfectly to schedule; it was an amazing night and a real experience. I’ve found a video of our performance on YouTube and posted it at the bottom of my page if you fancy a look… And last but by no means least, I had the great fortune to be asked to play with Beth Rowley for a show at the Festival Hall Ballroom as part of the Jazz Festival. If you haven’t heard her yet (and believe me you should…) go check out her page here on MySpace, she’s up there with my top friends. She’s a fantastic singer with some great original material and she’s got a wicked band behind her, including Mike Gorman, saxophone supremo Ben Castle and guitarist Paul Wilkinson (of Duke Special). I had a great time playing with her and we’ve got a couple more things this year so hopefully I’ll get to do some more stuff with her next year when her album comes out. Seriously keep an eye out for her, she’s gonna be huge people… Anyway, time to sign off for now. I don’t think many people read these bloody things anyway but it does amuse me to occasionally wop something up here just in case. Feel free to leave lots of comments, it gives me something to read in my sniffling state… Bye for now! Simon x
Here’s a picture from the BBC3 website from Lea’s radio session…
