First off, here is a video of our Voice of The North gig in Saltburn last week - the piece is Chuck's $400, written by Scottish saxophonist and composer Graeme Wilson.
It's been a busy month or so, most notably in the world of arts funding. I have joined the Voluntary Promoters Network, a consortium of 23 jazz promoters in the North of England who have welcomed HEART in as one of their newest venues. We met a few weeks ago to discuss the future of the VPN in light of the successful Arts Council bid for Jazz North to take over as the funding body for Jazz in the North of England, as of October 2012. As a musician and promoter and educator in Yorkshire, I was incredibly pleased to see that Nigel Slee, Steve Mead and their partners had been successful in this bid - they are a motivated, forward-thinking group of people who, I'm certain, will make sure Jazz North provides support and opportunity for musicians and the entire jazz community. I was also pleased to hear that the Arts Council want the funding to be artist-centred and also that uptake of brass instruments is a key part of their future plans.
Visit http://www.jazznorth.org/ to read the recent press release and for more information about the organisation.
However, back to the VPN. As the venues no longer have continued funding, the decision had to made as to what was the next move of jazz promoters. We formed a working group to look into two possible funding opportunities on behalf of the VPN, and we're aiming to enter an exciting bid at the end of June this year.There will be more news of that soon!
Other news...
As part of my commission project for Seven Jazz, I have begun preparations for a set of music to be played by the people I teach, both at Seven Arts and at HEART. Later in the year, we'll run some workshops rehearsing the material, and the group will perform 5-7 tunes in a set before my own group, 6 for 7, play on November 22nd. I'm really thrilled we've been able to feature these guys - I have been teaching many of them in workshops and privately for almost 3 years now and I love being involved with them - this is a great chance to show how their hard work has paid off!
My big band is playing at Seven Arts on May 20th, 1-4pm, playing Carnival of Animals by Duncan Lamont, and music by young composers Tom Riviere and Michael De Souza.Then we're back a few weeks later, as part of the Jubilee celebrations, on June 3rd, on Briggate Leeds.
6 for 7 will be appearing at Wakefield Jazz on June 22nd, playing the music of myself and other band members (Declan Forde, Riley Stone-Lonergan, Tom Wheatley, Ant Law and Steve Hanley)
And a bit later, I'll be appearing with Paul Baxter's Give A Little Love Jazz Orchestra (Tribute to Horace Silver) at Pave in Hull, on July 29th.
