05/08/24

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A fun May, June and July and August has taken in Gigs with my Quintet at Ronnies on Friday 17th May a spell with legendary US Saxophonist

 Eric Marienthal at The Pizza Express, Dean Street on 23rd - 25th May a Thunderthumbs Gig at a packed Bulls Head, Barnes in Friday 31st May and a few Deps for Dave Troke on the amazing Beverley Knights Gigs starting with Birmingham Pride on Sunday 26th May.

In July there were two more Festivals with Bev, Bedford with Tom Jones and Wolverhampton, a new Venue, the Login Lounge in Camberley with Thunderthumbs, a good few show reps in Mrs Doubtfire, Standing At The Sky's Edge and Mamma Mia and I was re-united with the amazing Tony O'Malley at the 606 Club for a great Gig. I used to play with Tony from 1999-2005 at various times.

I also had the honour to play my first BBC Prom Concert at the Albert Hall taking part in the Disco Prom playing songs by Chic, Gloria Gaynor, The Trammps, Donna Summer, David Shire, Boney M, Odyssey and quite a few more. I actually played with quite a few of these artists in the 80s and 90s.

Callum Au wrote some great arrangements and I got to groove the night away with my good friend, the amazing Mike Smith on the drums. You can catch on the BBC iPlayer as audio or on the TV on September 30th. 

My Bass Album 'From The Vaults Part 1', a collection of tracks that have composed is out on my Frith and Dean imprint shortly. 

This is quite an achievement for me!

Check out my Solo take from 'Heavy On The One' from the album here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vly49tV75yQ

The tracks, 'Bass in your Face' and 'For Dukey, Maurice and Marcus', are out now on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and many other streaming platforms. 'For Dukey' has had around 50 plays on Jazz FM since late November, with the legendary Robbie Vincent kicking things off. It was featured track on Simon Phillips' afternoon Show for a week and has also had many plays on Nia Visser, Danielle Perry, Nigel Williams and John Osborne's Shows.

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Recent work in February has included a Session at Abbey Road Studio 3 for a Tim Burton Film, an album session for the incredible arranger Callum Au at Angel Studios and a home Session for Disney Plus. 

On the 14th December I played with the fantastic Triple H Horns at Ronnie Scotts on and presented a 'Bass Influences' evening playing tracks by my heroes on 15th/16th December for the Ronnie Scott's late set from midnight. I put together a Quintet with Adrian Revell on Sax, Justin Quinn on guitar, Rob Taggart on Keys and Jack Pollitt on drums. We had a blast, playing tracks featuring James Jamerson, Robert 'Pops' Popwell, Byron Miller, Jaco, Marcus Miller and Jimmy Haslip amongst others.

I also played gigs with Thunderthumbs Band at The Spice of Life, Soho on 24th Jan and the 606 Club in Chelsea on 26th Feb. They were both great nights and the Band goes from strength to strength.

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I have been playing with some great artists and Bands around town, most recently Katriona Taylor at The Bulls Head, Barnes for the EFG London Jazz Festival, 'Reach For It', the George Duke Tribute, featuring Carl Hudson and Fire with Erwin Keiles on guitar. Recent thunderthumbs Gigs have been at the 606 Club, Chelsea where we had a great audience and the Hampton Hub which was an amazing night. Check the 'Thunderthumbs' page for imformation on the Band

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For a review of our recent Gig at The Factory Live!, Worthing us this link;

https://scenesussex.uk/thunderthumbs-back-and-live-in-worthing/

I had the great privilege to play with Beverley Knight for her 50th Birthday Gig at Lafayette in Kings Cross, London on 23rd March. What a great Band and an amazing night. Thank to my good buddy Dave Troke for the Dep. 

Session wise two home sessions for Netflix shows, the release of some Audio Network tracks I played on for Saxophonist and writer, Martin Williams, a session at Angel Studios recording some new songs by Robert J. Sherman and sessions for a major Walt Disney film at Air Lyndhurst Studios have been in the work load.

Some more notable Gigs have been 4 nights at the Pizza Express, Soho, with U.S. sax legend Eric Marienthal, an appearance with drummer Gordy Marshall's 'Go Now', his tribute to his long standing stint with The Moody Blues and a few Shows with the great UK singer Tommy Blaize.

Aside from all this I have, during lockdown produced a couple of Library music projects for The Sorting House and have written quite a few new tracks for various projects. To access my You Tube channel and videos of things I have been up to over the years click the You Tube Icon in the title above.

The left hand Facebook link takes you to my Homepage and the right to the Thunderthumbs page.

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