Hello there! Fantastic news that Alan Benzie got his album successfully crowdfunded!!!! Him, myself and Marton Juhasz will be looking forward to it being released in February 2018 with a European Tour to help promote the release, so watch this space and thanks again !!
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!
This summer I spent some time learning some transcriptions by ear. Here’s a full take of Jimmy Blanton’s playing on a duet written and performed with Duke Ellington called Pitter Panther Patter. It’s definitely been one of the toughest transcriptions i’ve done due to the tempo rushing on the recording and the repetitive but varied nature of what Jimmy plays. It requires a lot of left hand stamina and it’s tricky to replicate the sound on my set up so i’ve still got a bit of work to do to perfect the phrasing like him. But I think it’s a good start and i think it’s pretty impressive bass playing from a then 22 year old in 1940! Have a listen with some headphones and i’d love to hear your thoughts.
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”
I’m very much looking forward to playing with New Focus tonight and tomorrow night supporting James Taylor Quartet at Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club! Myself, Euan Stevenson Konrad Wiszniewski and Jon Scott will be playing music from New Focus’s most recent album “On Song” released on Whirlwind Recordings. You can buy tickets for tonight here: https://www.ronniescotts.co.uk/
Also, LondonJazz wrote a nice preview for a concert we are playing on Friday night at Jazzlive at The Crypt. You can book tickets here: http://www.jazzlive.co.uk/guide.html
And check out the article here: http://www.londonjazznews.com/…/preview-new-focus-quartet
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.
Hello again and I hope you’re all enjoying your weekend. I just spent a very relaxing few days in Perthshire with my family and spending some precious uncle time with my two nieces Rose and Grace. I’m back in Edinburgh tonight playing at the The Jazz Bar 8:45pm-11:30pm with local heroes Colin Steele Martin Kershaw Pete Johnstone and John Lowrie.
Info for tonight here: http://www.thejazzbar.co.uk/contact-us/
In other news my super talented cousin Hiatus has written some fantastic music for his latest album and i’m very fortunate to have my playing featured on it. Here’s a beautiful video he made to accompany the music of his piece called “Father”. Check it out below and here’s a link to his Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/hiatusmusic/
Hello again! I hope you are having a great summer, it’s been a rather busy few weeks but here’s what’s been going on. I flew to Edinburgh to visit my family briefly and playing couple of gigs in the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival 2017 before heading to the south of France to recharge my batteries with my partner in crime Emily Davis. I then flew back to Scotland and headed straight to Perth to teach on the The National Youth Orchestras of Scotland – NYOS Children’s Orchestra String Training Course where I coached the bass section, did some jazz workshops and taught all the string players how to improvise! I’ve done this course for 5 years and each year the students are more keen than ever to do some jazz playing which is great!
If you are interesting in applying for any of the NYOS ensembles or are just curious about participating on one of their courses, check out their website here www.nyos.co.uk
Here are some pictures from the summer!
I’ve been playing trumpeter Henry Spencer’s music for several years and i’m delighted to say that the album his debut album has been successfully launched. It features the talents of Matt Robinson on Piano, David Ingamells on Drums, Nick Costley-White on Guitar as well as The Guastalla String Quartet. It’s been released on Michael Janisch’s Whirlind Records and was mastered by the grammy award winning Dave Darlington. It has already received some fantastic reviews, one tipping it to be a contender for album of the year!
You can check out Henry’s website here https://www.henryspencermusic.com and the official album trailer below