Tim Pulleyn joins the band

We'd like to welcome Tim Pulleyn into the band as the latest member of our mighty trumpet section!

Tim began playing the cornet at the age of 7, originally playing for JS87 Junior Brass band in Yorkshire. He then moved to Sellers International Junior Brass Band and took the role of principal cornet for 3 years, winning a few awards along the way (including 'Youth in Brass' 1st Prize & Best Principal Cornet). Tim comes from a musical family; his dad is a trombonist, his mum a singer and his brother a pianist. As well as majoring in Brass Bands, Tim diversified and joined Kirklees Youth Wind & Symphony Orchestras and toured Italy, Spain and Poland.

Tim played his first 'pit gig' at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield at the age of 16 in the show South Pacific. Since then he's worked in various bands and orchestras and performed in many major venues such as The Sheffield Crucible, Bradford Alhambra and Leeds Grand Theatre and he's also appeared on Yorkshire Television.

Tim currently is a student studying Sculpture & Environmental Art at the Glasgow School of Art, working part time in The Apple Store in Glasgow. A selection of the Art Works from TIm's studies can be viewed in Tim's own blog here.

Next Gig: Ardfern, Saturday 4 April, 2009 at 8pm

We're back 'on the road' for our next gig and this time we're off to The Craignish Village Hall at Ardfern, Argyle.

The gig starts at 8pm. The venue is set in the Scottish Highlands and situated on the shore of Loch Craignish. With views across to the hills towards Kilmartin, the hall has arguably one of the best outlooks of any Village Hall in Scotland. It's easily reached from both Oban (25 miles) and Lochgilphead (15 miles) it is developing a reputation as a popular venue for bands and other musical performances. Full details of the location of the hall & travel directions can be found here.

If you're going to be in the area and would like to reserve tickets to see the band perform then please call: 01852 500689.

Please note that the organisers state: "bring your own bottle" !

It promises to be a wonderful night in a fantastic location. Hope to see you there.

Cafe Source Gig, 27 March 2009

It seems like the gigs are really coming thick and fast these days and after playing 'away' recently in Altrincham, Wakefield and The Barony it was nice to be 'back home' in our regular monthly residency in Cafe Source. The band play the venue at 9pm on the last Friday of every month from January to June. Admission to our gigs in Cafe Source is free and all are very welcome to attend. A full list of our gigs is published on the band's website at: www.subbjazz.com.

The band line up varies from gig to gig and tonight it was good to see Rana Campbell in the sax section, 'new boy' Tim Pulleyn standing in for Gordon and playing lead in the Trumpet section and Maren Hatch mixing the sound (all pictured below). Maren comes from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She's a student at the University studying Bass with Andy Sharkey and Composition with our very own multi-talented Gerry Rossi.














As usual the Cafe was 'packed' with an enthusiastic crowd of fellow musicians, former band members, regulars, friends, family and a few new faces too. Thanks to everyone who turned out to support the band and make it another very special gig for us. The venue always generates an incredible atmosphere and we all love playing there.

A few more photos from the gig tonight (below) capture Jennifer & Claire relaxing at the interval, Gerry taking a break from piano and warming up on drums, and our trombonist Tim Bedford sporting a 'natty' ethnic style tunic !













Tonight's set list was as follows:

























Next gig for the band is on 4th April in The Craignish Village Hall in Ardfern on the remote and beautiful West Coast of Scotland.

We're back in Cafe Source on 24 April at 9pm performing another selection of big band charts including an original composition by Scott Free from Berklee College of Music, Boston, USA.

Barony Prom Gig, 26 March 2009

Each year the University Music Society present a joint concert featuring the University Concert Band (conducted by Colin Suckling) and the Big Band (conducted by our very own John Davies).

The annual concert - this year known as 'The Barony Prom' - was organised by Alan Tavener, Director of Music at the University (Alan is pictured here on the right with John Davies, Musical Director of the Big Band). This year the concert took place on Thursday 26th March in the majestic Barony Hall on the University Campus.

Membership of the Concert Band is open to all members of the University without audition and it numbers over 60 players at full strength! Add the 20+ members of the Big Band and you have a small army of musicians, technicians and crew to accommodate before even thinking about letting an audience in! Luckily The Barony is a huge venue and, as always, the concert was very well attended and both bands received a very warm reception.

The Big Band played nine charts on the night including a cool version of Work Song (by Nat Adderley arr Geoff Keezer), the Herbie Hancock classic Maiden Voyage (arr Erik Morales) and an Alan Baylock arrangement of another Herbie Hancock tune, Chameleon. Our vocalist Stefanie also joined us for three vocal charts.

On the night there were some rousing solos from the saxes of Benji, Claire, Chris & Angus, Jahan on trumpet and Nigel on the Gibson 335.

All in all it was a great evening of music from both bands and a wonderful warm-up for our regular free monthly residency in Cafe Source on Friday 27th March at 9pm.

Guest Composer from Berklee College of Music, Boston to join the band in April !

Scott Free is Professor of Jazz Composition at Berklee College of Music in Boston. Originally from New Orleans, Scott studied music at the University of Southern Mississippi. He then went on to study Composition at Berklee and he also completed a Master of Music Degree in Jazz Studies at New England Conservatory .
He has studied composition with Herb Pomeroy, Jaxon Stock, George Russell, Mike Gibbs, W. Thomas McKinley, Gerald O'Neil, Larry Monroe, and Hugo Norden.

He is also an exceptionally accomplished jazz guitarist (he has studied with Pat Metheny among others).

A gifted composer, arranger and teacher, Scott’s compositions and arrangements have been performed by Joe Hunt, George Garzone, Phil Wilson, and Walter Beasley. Many of his arrangements have appeared in textbooks and have been performed by bands all around the world and he has written highly acclaimed books on composition.

In April he will be coming to Glasgow to follow up on a teaching visit our pianist Gerry Rossi made to Berklee (Gerry is also Course Director for the acclaimed BA Applied Music Degree at Strathclyde) and will deliver a class on composition to the BA Applied Music Creative Skills students, and rehearse some new compositions with the band.

We are very fortunate to have him come all the way over to visit and work with us. We will feature one of Scott’s new charts at our Café Source Gig on 24th April. Scott will also be there for the gig too so please come along and meet him and hear some wonderful new big band music from a world class composer at the height of his powers.

Visit Scott on MySpace

Wakefield Jazz Gig, Saturday 14 March 2009

The next stop on our annual tour was the short hop over the Pennines to the Yorkshire town of Wakefield where we were met by Mr Chris De Saram.

Chris & our band leader John Davies go back 'a long way' to their student days so they had a lot to catch up on! Chris and his colleagues at Wakefield Jazz run a cracking little jazz club (if only there was one like that in Glasgow!) attracting many top names from the world of Jazz. Needless to say we were honoured to be invited to play the venue.

Thanks to the good folk of Wakefield for coming out to hear the band and for giving us such an amazing reception on the night.

For a second night running the marvelous Mike Walker joined us as a featured guest artist and his playing was, once again, totally impeccable. Mike's solo on La Fiesta was quite inspired and almost nearly raised the roof on the venue!

After the gig there were some fond farewells and thank-you's then the band made a swift exit to the tour bus where our wonderful 'regular' coach driver Gerry from Prestige Corporate whisked us back 'up the road' in record time.

Our two days on the road proved to be a huge success and, as always, lots of fun.

A special vote of thanks goes to Nigel Chadwick our guitarist who took on the lions share of organising the whole trip! Thanks Nige!

Cinnamon Club Gig, 13 March 2009

The band played to a packed Cinnamon Club in Altrincham (Greater Manachester area) on Friday 13th March 2009.

The Cinnamon Club is located in Bowden, a lovely suburb of Manchester.

Thank-you from all of the band firstly to the club owner Neil Hughes who was a wonderful host. He made us feel very welcome and even kept the venue open late for an open jam session with some of his regulars. Neil runs a great jazz venue and we'd urge anyone with a love of live music to check it out if you're in the area.

The second vote of thanks goes to our Special Guest for the gig, the amazing Mike Walker. As well as being a true gent Mike is a guitar player of stellar proportions. Mike guested on several tunes much to the delight of the band and the audience. Mike is a virtuoso performer who blew everyone away with his tasteful comping and powerful creative solos. Thanks Mike!

This gig was also a 'triumphal homecoming' for Jahan Hunter our trumpet player, pictured here (right) with fellow trumpet section members Shaun, Gordon & Tim (left to right). Jahan is a local lad from Bowden who was raised a mere stone's throw from the Cinnamon Club! Jahan's family & friends attended en-masse and even joined in the impromtu jam session until the wee small hours !


Gerry Rossi (left) our piano player was tucked away in the corner of the Cinnamon Club all evening and hidden from sight albeit behind the club's beautiful full size grand piano !




The mighty Mike Walker and our guitarist Nigel Chadwick (right) agree jointly to set their amps volume controls to '11' and create a massive wall of sound before the Cinnamon Club gig kicks off!









The 'Best Outfit on the Bandstand' award for the evening goes to our 'bone player' Kenny Shand (left) for his exceptional sartorial creativity. Thanks Kenny!










Read a review of the gig here!