Appointed Lecturer of Jazz Bass at Leeds College of Music
I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ve been appointed Lecturer of Jazz Bass at Leeds College of Music! I can’t wait to start working with there this month!
I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that I’ve been appointed Lecturer of Jazz Bass at Leeds College of Music! I can’t wait to start working with there this month!
Excited to hit the road again this week with Bjørn Solli, and powerhouse rhythm section comrades Pete Johnstone on Piano and Doug Hough on drums. Check us out at:
Wednesday 19th – The Jazz Bar
Thursday 20th – The Blue Lamp
Saturday 22nd – The Blue Arrow
Super excited to be doing a mini tour of the UK this week with Norwegian guitar legend Bjørn Solli. I met Bjørn in Oslo back in 2017 after having a couple of sessions together, and i’m delighted to be able to bring him to the UK. Hope to see some of you at these dates below!
Friday 21st – Ronnie Scott’s Late Show
Saturday 22nd – Ronnie Scott’s Late Show
Sunday 23rd – Glasgow Jazz Festival
I’m delighted to announce that Juncture’s recent performance at the London Jazz Festival was broadcast for Mezzo TV which is one of the largest arts television networks in Europe! Here’s a link to the video of our set!
I’ve had an exciting few weeks travelling and playing around the UK, Norway and Denmark. Since last year i’ve been trying to write some new music and there should some exciting news in a month or so regarding a new project.
In the meantime I can’t wait to play at Herr Nilsen this Saturday with the Dave Edge/Roy Nikolaisen kvintett! It will feature Dave, Roy, Magne Arnesen and Roger Johansen and we will be playing some music by Cedar Walton among others! More info here! https://www.facebook.com/events/180983295980909/?active_tab=about
Here’s the latest video in the series of transcriptions that i’ve been learning all by ear. It’s a walking bass line from the great Sam Jones playing Oleo with Bill Evans and Philly Joe Jones off the album “Everybody Digs Bill Evans” which is a fantastic record. What I love about this track is how each musician pulls or pushes the time around at certain points. Learning and following playing like this by ear is challenging and takes some time to do accurately (I spent around a month learning this one!) but it’s really rewarding and forces you to listen extra hard for those details. Have listen (ideally with headphones) and let me know what you think!
P.S. I’m aware that I can seem a bit grumpy when i’m playing, my partner says I look like a moody dog but it’s only because i’m concentrating! I’m really a happy chappy so if you make it to the end you might just be rewarded with a smile!!
Playing in Alan Benzie‘s trio alongside Marton Juhasz is one of my main projects. Please support us if you can! https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/alan-benzie-trio-new-album/
Here’s a bit more from Alan about the project:
Who am I?
Hello and thanks for taking the time to read this! I am Alan Benzie, a jazz pianist and composer from Glasgow, Scotland. You may be familiar with me or my trio – but if not, then here are a couple of videos from our debut album to check out:
What are we doing?
We are finishing our second album of original music for release in February 2018. Our debut helped us to find lots of people who enjoy our music, through touring, reviews, radio and so on. We wanted to keep giving our fans new music to enjoy, and also reach many more new people, so we went into the studio to record another album in August. We are really excited about how the rough tracks are sounding (you can hear wee bits throughout the video, above). However, making a high quality album of original music is quite an undertaking, and while I was able to finance the initial costs of recording audio and video, there are still some steps needed to bring the record to completion. These include mixing and mastering, artwork, pressing the CDs and editing/refining video.
We are so close, but we need your help to get there. The simplest way you can help us is to pre-order the record now, and we will send it to you (or you can download it) for your listening pleasure when it is done. However, we have a range of cool options that might be of interest, so do check them out. Alternatively, if you have an idea that would particularly interest you, get in touch and let me know – I’m up for pretty much anything, short of the physically impossible or unlawful! We’d also really appreciate your help with getting the project out there by sharing, tweeting etc – please help us spread the word!
Already up for it? Great, you can see the various pledges and rewards at the side. Want to know a little more? Let me tell you a little more about us and our music.
The Trio
While I have had my own trio since my days at Berklee College of Music in Boston, I started this line-up, with Andrew Robb on bass, and Marton Juhasz on drums, in 2013. I met Marton at Berklee, where we were best friends and played together almost daily, and I’ve known Andrew since we were 13, back when I played classical violin in the National Children’s Orchestra of Scotland! To have a band with such great friends and incredible, award-winning musicians is a total joy, and we have a great time making music together for people to enjoy. Since our first mini-tour in 2013, we’ve spent a lot of time quite far apart (Scotland, Austria and Norway), and we’ve had times where keeping things going was really difficult, but we still managed to find ways to gig, tour, rehearse, record and spend many hours on Skype sharing ideas. I’ve had some of the best musical experiences of my life on the road with these guys, and I do think all that work and friendship shines through in the music to make something special. Each year that passes has seen us get tighter, more creative and more empathetic, and this album is a great milestone in that journey.
The Music
I write most of the music – it is creative modern jazz, but takes a lot of influences from impressionist piano music (if you love the piano, this album is for you!), film music (especially Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki, like Spirited Away), and also smatterings of folk, rock and even country. I also love stories and animation, especially those with some elements of fantasy, and so a lot of the music actually has strong imagery behind the tunes, rather than just being a collection of cool sounds that I’ve put together and then stuck a name on. Whether it’s whispering and mysterious, a raucous explosion of energy, a lush soundscape or a groovy dance, I want to take you on a journey away from the everyday for a while, the same way that my favourite music, stories and animations do for me.
We are so keen to get this music out there for people to enjoy, and we know we have got some really great stuff down in the studio – all we need now is some help to get over the line. If you are interested in hearing the music, or indeed, in any of the other rewards we are offering (or you just like our faces and would like to donate) we would be incredibly grateful for your support.
Many thanks,
Alan
Here’s another transcription I did this summer, it’s Lester Young’s famous solo on ‘Oh Lady Be Good’. This was a lot of fun to do! I enjoyed the challenge of taking his saxophone phrasing/expression and figuring a way to make it work on the bass. Enjoy!
I’m delighted that I’m apart of Alan Benzie’s second album recording which is currently taking place with Marton Juhasz at Castlesound Studios with studio wizard Stuart Hamilton. I’ve been a part of this trio since 2013 and it’s great to have the opportunity to document the musical journey. If you haven’t checked out Alan’s music before you can find his debut album “Travellers Tales on his website here: http://www.alanbenzie.com/travellers-tales/
If you want to try before you buy, then here’s a video of a piece of that album called “Glass”
This Saturday just passed was an extremely exciting day as it was the National Youth Jazz Collective‘s ten year anniversary. To celebrate they had a fundraising concert at Kings Place.
For those of you unfamiliar with Issie Barratt and the tireless work that she and NYJC does, NYJC runs regional jazz workshops for young people as well two summer schools with some of the best tutors in the country. They also run an ambassador training scheme for recent music college graduates which provides training in how to teach workshops. You can find out more about them here: www.nyjc.co.uk
Aside from some of the many talented students that were performing there was a whole host of great musicians and teachers playing. The musicians featured in the concert were Laura Jurd, Julian Joseph, Cleveland Watkiss,Tori Freestone, Nikki Iles, Martin Speake, Mark Mondesir, Mick Foster, Nikki Yeoh, Karen Sharp, Tom Hewson, Mark Hodgson, Digby Fairweather Malcolm Earle-Smith, Dominic Ashworth, Orphy Robinson, Chris Batchelor, Nic France, Norma Winstone and Dave Holland!
It was truly a humbling experience to share the stage with those musicians as well as meeting Dave Holland again. Last time I met him I was a bit star struck and never had the balls to tell him how much his playing had inspired me. However I managed to have the guts this time to tell him that he was one of my bass heroes to which he graciously accepted. To put his day as president of NYJC into context, he watched student ensembles perform from 1pm until 6pm, talked to the students after each performance, rehearsed his music, performed it, had a glass of wine with all the musicians afterwards and personally thanked each person for for their contributions that day. AND HE’S 70!! He is truly one of the most gracious, inspiring human beings i’ve ever met. Legend.