UPDATES AND NEWS

May 12th   A piano version of Kadriya   (Кадия) is now on the Solo Piano page. I'd better write some pure jazz pieces soon or the jazz police will get to me!

April 28th   A tango, El baile con Maquiavelo/Dancing with Machiavelli can be found at the bottom of the second Small Band page. The title stems from the fact that it has a 33-bar sequence. Sorry to visitors from Argentina. If any Argentinians would like to try it out for free, let me know.

April 25th   New solo piano piece, La fille qui aime á dancer added to Solo Piano page.  This was inspired by and dedicated to my good friend, la belle Geraldine.

April 7th   New tune, Kadrya, or in Cyrillic: Ладия, dedicated to a singer I know, added to the 3rd page of the Small Band section.

April 4th   New tune, Viktoria, named after a lovely Slovakian friend of mine, added to the 3rd page of the Small Band section.

March 25th   New song, I never knew the world was round on the second page of the Songs.

February 28th   New tune, Minerva at bottom of second page of Small Band section.

February 26th New big band arrangement, The Wrong Song added to bottom of first Big Band page and new trombone arrangement,Rachael's Peace, dedicated to Rachael Corrie, added to bottom of second Trombone page.

February 15th Sorry if you have attempted to download Hangover Street and got Favelas instead. The problem has now been rectified.

February 6th Redesigned the Juke-box page as the videos were taking too long to download. This way I can include a lot more. Have added a Monica Zetterlund and Bill Evans clip and a Shahram Nazeri (The Iranian Pavarotti) clip, which isn't jazz, but it's lovely.

January 31st Added Mkunjufu and The Wrong Song to the third page of the Small Band section.

January 19th Lots more video clips added to the Jukebox page, including interviews with Miles and a session, interview with Bill Evans, and the legendry Buddy Rich bus rant.

January 11th New tune (a blues) called Stewart's Enclosure added to third page of Small Band section. (Stewart was the owner of Pissarros in Hastings and has provided gigs for very many musicians over the years.)

January 9th  Added new song to second Song page - Hope you're feeling better and new tune to third page of Small Band section - Maybe Tomorrow .

January 3rd  To play the jukebox you need to have Flash version 9 installed in your brower. If you don't and it doesn't work you will need to install it. It's free and only takes a few minutes. Click here to get it.

January 1st  I've decided to remove the jazz stories which I got from a feed as they were taking too long to load. However, I will make up for it by adding more video-clips. Any suggestions for others, please contact me (they must come from a source like youtube.)

December 23rd  I've added a jazz juke box to the website. Click on any of the pictures and hey presto, entire jazz tracks. Throw away your CD player, cassettes and record collection.

December 2nd Re-written part of Gaia's Song, so if you've already downloaded it, my apologies. The new adobe file has parts for piano, bass and drums. There is also a stereo backing track you can download.

November 30th  New tune at end of 2-horn section called Las Bellas Sevillanas dedicated to the beautiful ladies of Seville.  New song Gaia's Song (Ok, look up Gaia in Google if you need to) is on the first Song page. As this issue (global warming) is so urgent, I've made it a freebie.   Please note that this is the last day of freebies on the Collections page - there is a Latin set of tunes you can download there at the bottom.   For trombonists, I've added a link to very funny video clip which can be found at the bottom of the first Trombone page. My thanks to Mark Bassey for drawing my attention to this.

November 24th My apologies for lack of new things lately. I've been busy helping out various vocalists, rehearsing with the big band, rehearsing with an all-ladies choir, and doing some recording as well as my usual gigs. However, I have added some new things to the website. On the Tips page, you will now see a tip from Maria Schneider about not losing heart when the first run-through of an arrangement makes you want to give up writing. At the end of the first page of the Funnies section, there are some more jokes. At the bottom of the first Song page, there is a video clip of how a pianist should accompany a singer. And on the Stories page (which you can find where it says "F0R A ROUNDUP..." above) I've added some different news clips and a video clip of Bill Evans playing Waltz for Debbie. While you are there, take a look at the previous clip of the Lisbon Underground Music Ensemble. There's also a video of the Tubby Hayes Big Band at the end of the obituary to Ian Hamer, which you can find at the top of the Big Band page.

November 2nd New big band arrangement of El Toro, Berto or, since it is a samba, should that be O Tauro, Berto. Actually his family name is Bullock, not Bull, but I thought it best not to translate it too literally as that would be O Tauro Castrado, Berto which would raise a few eyebrows as he has a family. Anyway, the tune - whatever you choose to call it - can be found at the end of the first big band page.

October 22nd  New tip added from Maria Schneider on Tips from Top Players page.

October 22nd  Would any Chinese visitor please visit the Campaigns page and let us know if there is any jazz in China and who the players are. Judging by the number of downloads by people from China, there must be some jazz there.

October 13th  A big band arrangement - Sherpa has been reinstated after some editing and is on page 2 of the big band page.

October 8th  A big band arrangement of Peace Mongers is on page 2 of the Big Band section.

October 2nd  Chocolate Eclair on the Big Band page is free for a short period of time.

September 24th Big Band version of The Best of Friends is on the second page of the Big Band section.

August 22nd  The combo version of Sofa, So Good is now available as a Freebie on the second page of the Four Horn section.

August 18th  A new solo piano piece The Dawning is on the solo piano page. Also the tune Sofa, So Good for a piano trio - this is the music featured in the tutorial The Origin of Pieces. A small band version will be ready in a few day's time.

August 15th  A new tutorial The Origin of Pieces which shows how pieces of music can be created and what decisions must be made in the process, can be found on the Tutorials page. It will shortly be added as a solo piano piece too.

July 30th  Big band arrangement of Ouagadougou which can be found on the first page of the Big Band section.

July 1st   Statistics - the total hits for June was 26,846 with 742 music downloads and 1,650 tutorials downloaded.

May 26th Big band arrangement of Para Uma Amiga added to page 2 of the Big Band section. I'm concentrating on big band writing at the moment and am hoping to write feature numbers for different members of the Sussex Jazz Orchestra, so check back fairly regularly, although it does take a time to write and prepare them.

April 22nd  It is with sadness that I heard about the death of Brian Fahey, the celebrated British arranger and composer on 4th April. His wife, Audrey, a cousin of my mother's, died last November. Brian gave me a lot of useful advice when I was still a teenager, thinking of becoming a professional musician. You can see an obituary to him here.

April 1st  Here are some statistics for the last month.   Total hits: 20,601 (including 1,491 from China and various robots), 510 written music downloads and 1,050 tutorials. Thank you for visiting the site everyone. If you have any ideas how I can improve it, please contact me.

March 22nd Welcome to visitors to this site from the Polynesian island of Niue, or should I say: Fakalofa lahi atu.

CD's

Your chance to plug your CD free of charge. Don't forget to say where it can be obtained.

MARK BASSEY'S TELLING STORIES - The superb trombone player, Mark Bassey, with Dave Frankel, piano, Simon Thorpe - bass and Sean Randle, drums playing some of Mark's originals. Available from: www.markbassey.com

Now Hear This and The Story So Far - 2 CD's by Terry Seabrook's Cubana Bop are now available from the Cubana Bop website: www.cubanabop/music. Both have had rave reviews.

HIGH WIRE - jazz vocalist, Brennie Richards with Pete White, piano, Terry Pack, bass, Sam Glasson, drums, Paul Christmas, trumpet, and Stan Robinson, tenor.    Jazz and standards, including Sugar, Pretty Eyes, Blue in Green, The Gentle Rain, Moonlight in Vermont.    For more details, click on www.brennierichards.co.uk.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW - Terry Pack's new CD out soon on Symbol Records, featuring Terry Pack, Phil Hudson, Ian Price, Frances Knight, Dave Storey, Rob Leake, Will Fry and Enrico Pinna.    Terry Pack plays double-bass and bass guitar and is a composer and teacher in the jazz, rock and pop fields.    Tel. 10323 738529 and mobile, 07801 482984 (East Sussex area).

SAME AIR - New CD from Jan Ponsford (vocals), with Frances Knight (piano), Terry Pack (bass) and Winston Clifford (drums), includes 4 of Jan's originals.   CD released by Symbol Records

TUITION

If you teach and are looking for more students, submit your name, and how you can be contacted. Again it's all free.

UK  Chip Jenkins, vocal tutor at Chichester University and the Academy of Contemporary Music for 9 years. Available for private tuition in Brighton. Visit www.performersagency.com or call 01273 624099 or 07958 610334 for more information. Prices are on the website.

UK  Jazz workshops on the second Wednesday of every month at the Grange Centre, Midhurst, West Sussex, 8-10pm, run by tenor-player, Brian White.   Brian also does teaches saxes, clarinet and flute in Bognar Regis.  Contact him on 01243 821281.

UK  Wayne McConnell - jazz piano and improvisation teacher, all levels/ages. (Brighton area) Contact him on 07813 438681 or visit his website www.wayneconnell.com

UK  Matilda Eeles, BMus and trained with ENO.   Versatile singer who now specialises in Jazz and can help with repertoire, scatting and technique.   Preferably in East Sussex area.   Tel 01273 683610.

UK  Jazz workshops (intermediate standard) most Tuesdays at 73a London Rd, Bexhill-On-Sea, East Sussex.   For details, contact Pete Burden (tutor) 01424 437664.

UK   The Brighton Jazz Co-op Workshop, every Tuesday at the Openhouse, Springfield Rd, Brighton at 7.30pm. For details, ring 01273 508033.

UK  Brian Powell - Jazz, Blues, Rock Guitar tuition  (RGT registered tutor).   Beginners to advanced.    01273 565600    For more details, go to www.brianguitar.co.uk.

UK Roger Kerr - Drum tuition, comprehensive approach to small-band, big-band jazz drumming, theatre, Latin American, all aspects of pop, rock and soul.   Emphasis on reading and interpreting drum parts.   South London/Surrey area.  Tel:  0208 6686580,  mobile: 0793 1315851.

UK Drum tuition by experienced professional player.   All levels and styles.   Call Loz on 07963 940951 (Brighton)

UK   Lewes Jazz Workshop, alternate Fridays at the Lewes Arms, Mount Place, Lewes, East Sussex.  Contact Piers Clarke, 01273 496782 for details.

Indonesia  Piano lessons online

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