Equivox Trio Recordings & Publications Summer School Contact Links
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Biography Forthcoming Events Apollo Saxophone Quartet Gallery Equivox Trio Recordings & Publications Summer School Contact Links |
|||||||||
robbuckland.com
The gigs and recording in early July went fantastically, but the real highlight was the set we performed as support for the Yellowjackets on a televised gig for the Selmer Jazz Night at the World Saxophone Congress in Slovenia. Everyone in the band played out of their skins - although special mention must go to Simon Willescroft (whose playing just keeps getting better and better - he really is a world class musician) and drummer Elliott Henshaw, who drives the band at 110% - his shout of "have some of that!" at the end of the drum solo in the opener in Slovenia exactly matched the mood of the whole group! (I can't wait to see the TV footage!). The Yellowjacket's set (with the Slovenian Radio Big Band) was unbelievable, and it was great to see Bob Mintzer again - he and all the 'jackets are such incredible musicians, and such great guys to spend time with. The following night, John Harle and I gave the European premiere of "Dark Rain", Andy Scott's fantastic double concerto, with the Slovenia Army Wind Orchestra, in a concerto gala concert of the World Saxophone Congress. As always, the piece got an amazing reaction, and certainly turned a few heads to the style and soundworld of the British classical Saxophone movement! It was fascinating to see the different reactions of players from around the world - most were very open minded, although, inevitably some of the more traditional, conservative minded players were, shall we say, all little disconcerted by the whole experience! But then, that's exactly why Henri Selmer Paris worked so hard to get Sax Assault and Dark Rain on the programme - in their words, they want to look to the present and the future. There were some great performances throughout the Congress, but special mention must go to the Eclipse Quartet (Carl Raven, Mark White, Neil Crossley and Jim Fieldhouse), who gave a world class performance and brought the house down - stunning playing, and stunning arrangements by Jim! Bravo chaps! After returning to the UK, I spent three days with the Northern Sinfonia in the Sage, Gateshead, performing a new programme of original Paul Whiteman Band compositions, and the small band version of Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue". We had a great team of Saxes on the gig - myself, Andy Scott, Tim Redpath, Val Stark and vintage jazz/Whiteman specialist Mattheus Seuffert, from Germany. To work under the direction of Keith Nichols (himself a respected authority on vintage jazz) was a real privilege, and to play this great music in a really authentic way was challenging and very rewarding. I was playing Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Baritone Saxes, Flute, and Clarinet - I even got to play the solo Clarinet part in Rhapsody in Blue! - and the solo at the beginning twice, as 30 seconds into the performance, one of the on-stage monitors blew up, and we had to wait for it to be switched off, and then start again from the top!!! The last week of July was my International Saxophone Summer School, at Woldingham School in Surrey. Sponsored by Jonathan Myall Woodwind, this is the eighth year (I think!) of the course, and we had 19 fantastic sax players on the course, from all backgrounds, and with very different levels of experience. Everyone pulled together, and we had a great week, playing sax orchestra music, quartets, masterclasses, technique classes, a day of jazz with a real live rhythm section, concerts in the evenings, and of course the jazz night (Andy Scott, also tutoring on the course, myself and the rhythm section, with a couple of special guests dropping in for a blow). Check out the links above for info on the course next year. August gives me a couple of weeks much needed rest, to spend some time with my daughters, catch up on some more writing, and hopefully, by the end of the month, to have put the finishing touches to my new CD with my Equivox Trio "The Time is Now", which should be available by the end of September at the latest. Don't forget the 6th RNCM Saxophone Day on Sunday 12th November - visit www.rncm.ac.uk for booking and info - special guests this year are Christian Forshaw, with his stunning "Sanctuary" project, and Tim Garland and the Lighthouse Trio. Hopefully, I'll see you all there! Harrogate Saxophone Summer School is coming up - August 20-24th - Andy Scott is in charge of this one and I'll be there all year this time too. And check out astute-music.com for our expanding catalogue of new music for Saxophones, (now on the Associated Board syllabus). There are new versions of most of the Sax stuff coming out anytime now for Clarinet too - tell your friends! Finally, with the Saxophone grapevine being what it is, I know there are all sorts of stories flying around about the Apollo Saxophone Quartet - so here are the facts! We've been playing together almost constantly for 21 years now, but many of the other individual projects that we are involved in at the moment are really taking off, and need all of our energies directing towards them right now, so we have decided to take a well earned break from the ASQ for a couple of years to allow each of us time to fully pursue the other areas of our lives that have taken second place to the ASQ for so long and then to return to the ASQ after a sabbatical. We still have plans and ambitions for the Quartet in the future, and indeed, our latest CD "Three Quartets - the music of Barbara Thompson" has just been released (on the Celestial Harmonies label - visit www.harmonies.com for info). There are several exciting projects waiting for the ASQ to pick up when the time is right…watch this space! Keep the emails coming - it's great to hear from you all. Be safe, stay healthy and happy, and keep on blowin'!
Archive News |
|||
 |
|||
 |
|||
 |
