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Updated Website

17/12/2012

Welcome to a much needed update of my website! I now have this handy blog to replace my old news page (but you can still read the old news below if you like).

It's been a great couple of months. My main band, The Allsorts are excited for some upcoming gigs, and I recently made this showreel below to give people a better idea of the band. I've you've got a spare 3 minutes, I would love you to check it out. Grab the popcorn!

In other news, I've been busy doing various function gigs, and workshops with Doncaster Community Arts. I had a great time delivering a drumming workshop at Leeds College of Music. I'm looking forward to some work coming up with Live Music Now and now have a profile page for MJP Music Tuition in Leeds. I had a lovely trio gig with Jamil Sheriff and Sam Vicary at one of Leeds' favorite venues, Cafe Lento.

Now it's time for a bit of Christmas hibernation (composing) and cooking for the rest of the month, along with the odd gig. Seasons greetings!

Old News

17/12/2012

30 September 2012 - Another month has flown by. I started working as a supply teacher with Artforms, and am looking forward to more of that in the future. Next month I'll be doing some work with Doncaster Community Arts - a fantastic organization. The Allsorts have had a great month and are sounding better than ever, we even sold 3 aprons on our last gig @ Wakefield Jazz! The Steely Dan Big Band has another gig in the diary - 14 Oct @ FullCircle from 2-5pm. It's only a fiver entry, please come and support us!
6 September 2012 - Started rehearsing my 18 piece Steely Dan Big Band for our gig at Seven Arts on 7th October. It's sounding amazing and I'll be looking for more gigs for us soon. The Allsorts started recording for our upcoming EP, which is being mixed by Donnie Chapman at DC Productions in Nova Scotia, Canada. We are gigging this month at Pave in Hull on Sunday 9th 2pm to 5pm, Caroline Social Club in Saltaire on Sunday 16th at 9:30pm and then at Wakefield Jazz on Friday 28th at 8pm. The band now has some fantastic aprons we will be selling at gigs - check them out here! In other news, I spent a week in London playing at the Camden Fringe Fest - a show about the life of 1960's UK Golden Girl of Pop - Kathy Kirby. We had some excellent reviews (with band mention! See my 'Press' page) and I'm looking forward to what lies in store for the show. I'm teaching some great new students and also have been busy gigging around the north of England.
8 August 2012 - What an experience spending last week at the South Asian Arts UK Summer School studying Indian music with some of the best musicians the UK has to offer. Life changing! Now I'm woodshedding looking forward to The Allsorts recording session on Monday.
27 July 2012 - Spent the past few days in London seeing Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band and had a drum lesson with Troy Miller, talking about groove playing, what a thrill! Now I'm off to North Yorkshire gigging for the weekend with the Young Guns.
17 July 2012 - I am very happy to announce that I've been nominated for the Take Five scheme, which is such a fantastic honour - WOW!!!! Also very happy that The Allsorts have a real domain name and we are playing tomorrow @ Scarborough Jazz. Come see us!
4 July 2012 - Looking forward to The Allsorts gig on Sunday @ The Grove Inn, Leeds from 8pm. It's £4 and features special guest, Russ Henderson on tenor sax. He nailed it in rehearsal today!
2 July 2012 - I've been enjoying working with the folks from Musical Arc the past couple weeks and today our workshop at Hunslet Carr Primary School was so much fun! Looking forward to another school next week.
20 June 2012 - Recently performed at Ponds Forge in Sheffield as part of the cultural olympiad. Balbir Singh Dance Company - Synchronised - a live performance with full band, synchronised swimmers and dancers. What a show, it was incredible! Very happy to be a part of it.
5 June 2012 - Had a great time playing with Kate Peters last night at The Phoenix in York. She's a fantastic singer and I'm really hoping we get to play together again in the future.
20 May 2012 - Had some fun (and my first hog roast!) last night playing in Stoke on Trent. I'm heading to Manchester this evening to see JP Cooper's EP Release, it's going to be great!
7 May 2012 - Had a great time playing with the Ian Chalk Quartet last night in York. I'm heading to the south on Thursday to play Dolly Parton's '9 to 5 - The Musical'. Really enjoyed a 3 day stint @FullCircle in the 'Modal Nodes' playing scifi jazz as part of 'Star Wars - May the 4th be with you'. See the new photo added!
18 April 2012 - I'm very happy to have joined the faculty of The Music Study, a brand new service in Leeds offering one on one instrumental tuition and workshops.
10 April 2012 - Last weekend I organized two clinics (one for the Jazz Yorkshire Futures Scheme) with NY supergroup Snarky Puppy. My band, The Allsorts supported their gig in Leeds. What an inspirational weekend!
4 April 2012 - Had a great day recording percussion in the studio with Laura Cole's project - her band from London, Metamorphic plus the Cole Bennett Orchestra based in Leeds. 2 drummers, percussion, piano, 2 double bass players, string section, tuba, 2 trombones, bass clarinet, clarinet, 3 saxes...hope I haven't forgotten anyone! The track 'Light Up Yourself' will be featured on the upcoming Metamorphic album.
20 March 2012 - I have been awarded Jazz Yorkshire Young Musician of the Year! Wow!! What an honour. Special thanks to everyone at Jazz Yorkshire for a great ceremony last night.
24 February 2012 - I'm back in Leeds now on a Post Study Work Visa which allows me to work in the UK for 2 years with no work restrictions at all. Woohoo!
17 February 2012 - I received my new visa and will be heading back to England shortly. Watch this space for dates! :D
13 January 2012 - Back in Nova Scotia, Canada sorting out my visa. Hoping to be back in Leeds by late February.
13 December 2011 - I'm very excited to be on the Jazz Yorkshire Futures Scheme this year with Sam Gardner and Aubin Vanns. We had a fantastic masterclass with Gary Husband in November and we all feel so privileged to be a part of the scheme.

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